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Opinions on PS Audio Direct Stream DAC (Mk 1)

PS Audio is clearing out factory refurbished Direct Stream DACs, the original version from 2014 or 2015, for about $1800. I'm wondering if I could get opinions on this DAC. It's old technology as far as digital goes, but it got nice reviews when it was new. It can do DSD64 and DSD128. It upsamples everything internally to DSD.

I'm interested in musicality and musical involvement, especially dynamics (macro and micro), accuracy of instrumental timbre and extracting the beauty out of the recording, low noise floor and high resolution.

magon
audphile1's avatar
audphile1
4,766 posts
 

@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. 

shooter41
72 posts
 

@magon  Yes, I have Black Dragon and Silver Dragon cables. I go with whichever one sounds better with the particular headphones I'm using. Usually, that's the (copper) Black Dragon, but with the Susvara it's the Silver Dragon.

I found the Clear Mg to be preferable to the Og but boy, do we have disparate tastes! My opinion of them vs. the LCD-X is literally the opposite of yours. So much so that I can't imagine the cable making that much of a difference. Maybe explains why we also differ so much on the DAC.

Isn't it great that this "hobby" has so many choices?

jk_richards's avatar
jk_richards
122 posts
 

Quote from magon OP

"I sensed it as too bright. For instance, in chamber music, the instruments in the upper registers tended to stand out much more than the lower instruments. Or in a piece by Chopin, the pianist’s right hand dominated the texture far too much.

The bass had poor pitch definition. First, the midbass was recessed. I could barely hear some midbass notes in classical pieces. Easier in rock, but didn’t really provide a firm foundation. The deep bass sounded like an unpitched thump (poor pitch definition)."

All these issues have been resolved with the Modded MK1. The Signature Series PLUS Directstream MK1 DAC is one of the best sounding DAC’s in the sub $20k range and even better than some costing more.

 

APS Audio Transformers is having a Father’s Day Flash Sale on the Signature Series PLUS DAC Starting today. Just include DAD in the Order Comments when checking out to $ave $200.00.

 

 

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