The DS takes Digital Product of the Year First Place along with the MSB Analog DAC and the Sony HAP-Z1ES. Congratulations Paul, Ted, and the PS Audio team.
And BTW, JA in a footnote indicated that they would be publishing a Follow Up for “a major user-installable firmware upgrade”. One assumes the result will be as we expect.
Are we ever going to get a review from Chris Connaker of Compute Audiophile?
ted_b is working on this, not Chris.
It is in the pipeline. I talked with Ted yesterday.
I gave up waiting on ted_b’s review - I know he’s a smart dude, and clearly spent a lot of time with the DS and other devices that I like…but at this point, his review would have to be so very much different/thorough/creative for me to care…I mean, seriously, between all we’ve hashed out here and poked Ted and Paul about (I’m looking at myself in the mirror here LOL), and all the usual suspects reviews…what is there to bring to the table at this point that we’ve not already seen or hashed out.
That said, I’ve spoken with Ted as well about this (months ago!) and other devices, and I do like that he has a sense of texture and density that jibes with what I hear. I know I hear things a little differently than others, so I find a trust what he says since he catches some of the same stuff I do.
LR, I’m afraid to say I agree. At this point (given the electronic review world and what’s already come out on paper) the CA review may run the risk of becoming the equivalent of an interesting anecdote. It’s too bad because I really like ted_b’s approach. But you never know - he may find some other quirky thing that (our) Ted can use to create the next FW update.
Yes, for us the review is somewhat unnecessary and late. But for the computeraudiophile folks it could be a blessing from the pope, and translate into a sales boost for Ted and Paul. After all, the mag reviews are taken more seriously by people who buy new kit and CA appears to have a large diy contingent who are (like us?) pretty sceptical of them. Anyhoo, I’d like to see the DS on the CASH list where it belongs.
I agree that it is much too late, however one edge is that many DS reviews were taken with previous firmware versions which will not be the case here. Recent comments indicates that the change for the better is significant and hopefully this will be reflected in his review.
Ted-B is a bit infatuated with Aries these days and a good source of info for those of us already on board.
Now that it streams Tidal and other lossless services [as well as Songcast the Linn equivalent of WaveStream] His final review of 1.21 may include the streaming as well as storage playback.
I think some of the best “endorsement” reviews have come from this forum but I do recognize the importance of the mag “mavens”.