Opinions on PS Audio Direct Stream DAC (Mk 1)

@shooter41 I keep mine on 24/7. It doesn’t like to be disconnected/powered down and it takes about a day to come back to optimal performance. 
I have a set of nobsound springs that are laying around. I was bored and decided to try them under the DSD DAC. I’ve not had good luck with vibration control in the past under any of the components but placing the DAC feet directly onto the springs tightened up the bass and resulted in a bit more clarity and high frequency sparkle. Still getting used to it and will try the springs under the chassis next and will play with loading. Interesting results so far though. Getting used to it for few days before I continue the experiment. 
As far as power cords, I’m using Nordost Heimdall 2 and Frey 2. Nice improvement in details and instrument separation compared to stock cord or the AQ Tornado that I used previously. 
Overall this DAC is a pleasure to listen to. 

@audphile1 Hmm, I always kept my Yggy on 24/7 as it took literally a week to thermally stabilize, but I wasn't as comfortable doing it with the Direct Stream since it has a screen. It just dawned on me to see if the remote had a button to turn the screen off and lo and behold it does! I hadn't even put the batteries in the remote before since I'm using it in a desk top headphone setup and it's within easy reach. Hopefully I'll see further improvement but I listened for a while last night and was honestly pretty satisfied as is. (I gave it about an hour to warm up first). I did switch to my new Morrow I2S cable and while I can't say that it was an immediate improvement, I do think that as the cable has broken in the synergy has improved and is pretty dang good now. I'm still using the knock-off Nordost Gold PC but I'll get around to switching that out at some point, too.

@magon If that’s your experience then yes, I would move on from it. I actually have a similar setup that I’m using mine in. McIntosh tube HP amp, which is known to be a bit warm though I don’t think I would refer to it as dark. My ’phones are HifiMan Susvara, and they are definitely not dark. Yet our 2 systems synergies seem to be much different as I haven’t found the issues that you have, at least not since the DAC settled in. But I’d say you’ve given it a fair try-out so if you’re not feelin’ it then I would contact TMR tomorrow since that will be day 30.

I have had both the LCD-2 and the LCD-X before but I decided that I seem to prefer the HifiMan "house sound". I have also had several different Focals that I liked. The Susvaras are definitely in another league than anything else I’ve had, though they weren’t until thoroughly broken in. I’ve had them about a year now and I’m pretty convinced that they are the last headphones I’ll ever buy.

@shooter41 Do you have aftermarket cables on your Hifiman or Focals? I have a very good cable by Igor Kuznetsoff of the NJ Audiophile Society on my Audeze phones. I tried the Focal Clear OG recently but had only the stock cable, and it wasn't anywhere close to the Audeze LCD-X with Igor's cable in resolution and microdynamics. But I suspect it's not a fair comparison until I get an equally good cable.

@magon synergy is key. If it doesn’t gel in your system, move on.
I have zero brightness with this DAC in my setup and have no issues with bass. Mismatched impedance between components can result in what you’re describing. Send it back. 
 

@shooter41 yep! I turn the screen off on all my components. I was happy to see the PS Audio dac has this option. Safe to keep on. One other thing…I reboot the dac and the streamer about once or twice a week. I also reboot my network biweekly. Just to flush out garbage in memory and buffer and get things running fresh.