I have the direct stream dac and it sounds exactly the opposite of how you described it. I’m puzzled. But…another dac to consider that’s warm and has body is Bryston BDA-3. Out of curiosity what interconnects and power cables have you tried with the ps audio? And what firmware version are you running?
dac recommendations for turntable listener?
hi everyone, kindly asking for your dac suggestions. im almost 100% a turntable listener, but recently picked up a DirectStream Dac for those times I cant find the vinyl, its too expensive, or it simply doesn't exist. im looking for suggestions as im not happy with the DirectStream dac, its just not to my liking. its too sharp up top, too thin in the lower midrange, other than that everything else is pretty great. id like to get, if possible, a dac that sounds more like my turntable. I feel like I would get mostly there if the midrange was fuller, and the top end was softer.
my current system is marantz tt15 , dynavector 20x2, icon audio ps3 mk ii, primaluna prologue premium, and elysian 4 speakers.
the current dacs I was looking to switch to were lab 12 dac, primaluna evo 100 dac, lampizators entry model, or Merason DAC 1. does anyone have experience with these and can recommend them?
thanks a lot!
Anthony
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we have had the lab 12in house it is very warm and lacks resolution just looked at the Mearson it doesn’t have USB so it cant handle high resolution files so I would also pass on that one, the lampis are excellent sounding.
We would recommend you look at the Aqua hifi Lascala: It is very musical, tube based: and r2r so very analog like. plays all high resolution files. the dac is built on a modular, upgradable, platform so as technology improves the dac can improve as well
Dave and Troy audio Intellect NJ Aqua Hifi dealers |
@audphile1 that's very interesting, the only other external dac ive ever had is the denafrips aeries ii, I thought it was nice sounding and relaxed, but still lacked midrange body compared to my entry level turntable at the time with a 2m blue cartridge. the ps dsd is very shouty in comparison to the denfrips and my turntables, it doesn't have that effortless sound to my ears. the high frequencies are very sharp and I cant listen for more than an hour at a time. I feel like I always have to turn it up in order to get that lower midrange presence, and then the highs are too loud by that time. there is also a lot of sibilance with female vocals, going from sunlight to the one before it reduced this sibilance a tiny amount, and also going from usb input to optical also helped a tiny bit too, but its still there. my turntable throws a huge soundstage not only is it 3d but the images within that soundstage are 3d, this is where the dsd sounds flat in comparison (even though its soundstage is deeper than my turntable, the images themselves are very 2d). the turntable is also very effortless like music just flows out of the speakers (its really a hard thing for my to describe so please bare with me) and all the details are there they're just very smooth. the dsd is lacking that body and weight. im streaming from Qobuz mostly, and regular cds, as well as some local dsd files. rcd's are bluejeans or silver serpant, and power cord is ps audio ac5. I will look into the bryston. |
@audiotroy thank you for that suggestion I will look into it! |
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