Howdy
Just got word of a review at Audiophilia by Karl Sigman: http://www.audiophilia.com/wp/?p=13620
-Ted
Couldn’t ask for better… Good review very through…Congrats Ted.
erikm saidCouldn’t ask for better… Good review very through…Congrats Ted.
Thank you. My wife and I were both laughing: calling me eccentric might be considered understatement by some - I agree he was thorough - I may not have chosen the Norah Jones for that test
Great review! …of course, we knew that it would be
The comments are right in line with what the PS Audio forum crazies have been saying all along.
Hopefully the first of many to come for Ted and Paul.
Gordon, now that we know that you had a hand in this you should be proud, too!
Well, in my case it was more like I was a spectator at the launch 0f the first space shuttle, but I was certainly fortunate and proud to be there when it happened.
Your mention is nevertheless appreciated.
I could not resist a chuckle when he wrote “The sound from the DS truly made me believe that the percussionists were in my apartment.”
G
Whew! At least he masterfully avoided the “r” word.
It’s a shame he didn’t compare the DS to any DACs other than the PWD.
Great review, and the same as what i hear! Congrats to all at PSA!!!
The first of many positive reviews to come, I expect. Congratulations and well done! 
Interesting how we often want to compare to another machine or product for purchase confirmation. I suppose we are heavily trained by product advertising where cars, for example] are compared by specs, performance, gas mileage etc and of course the internet has opened up a whole new world of real time reviews and customer forums to research. Ironically, many people make impulse or experience based purchases and THEN google to see if it was the right choice or if there is something “better”. Often there is by the time we start looking.
I too value these reviews but try not to let the “crowd” bias or even an individual review over run my own sense of enjoyment factor vs price for a purchase unless it is of a category in which I have little or no knowledge or experience.
Certainly, while reading the comments, I did enjoy some reaffirmation of my own findings and posts but I doubt that Karl really needs to pop the PWD or other comparable DAC back into his system at this point. It is not his first time doing this and he and his friend, as he wrote, decided to just sit back and enjoy it. His articulation easily eclipsed my rudimentary descriptions.
I personally know of no DAC on the market that has the enjoyment factor of the DS anywhere near it’s price point. If a 15K DAC is close or bested then that serves as a notable compliment but really has not much to do with my fun with the DS. 15K was twice the original price of my parents home. Wow, no wonder my DAD could never afford a HiFi.
gordon saidI personally know of no DAC on the market that has the enjoyment factor of the DS anywhere near it’s price point.
There are a number of DACs in the same price range as the DS that have recently received excellent reviews.
The Resonessence Labs Mirus DAC which cost $1K less than the DS, just got an excellent reviiew from Jeff Fritz:
Jeff says:
“I’ve not heard anything in my system*, or at a show or dealer, that would lead me to believe that it’s not at least fully competitive with anything, at any price, on the market today. As I listened to it in my system, the sound wanted for nothing – and I was mesmerized by how the Mirus was able to fully reveal the spatial qualities of live recordings.”
* Associated Equipment
- Speakers -- Magico Q7 and S1, Sonus Faber Venere 3.0
- Amplifiers -- Ayre Acoustics MX-R monoblocks
- Preamplifiers -- Ayre Acoustics KX-R and KX-R Twenty
- Sources -- Apple MacBook running OS X Snow Leopard, iTunes, Amarra 2.4.1, Audirvana; Calyx Audio Femto DAC; Aurender X100L music server
- Cables -- Nordost Valhalla interconnects, speaker cables, power cables; AudioQuest Meteor speaker cables, Niagara interconnects, Carbon USB cable; Siltech Explorer speaker cables, interconnects, power cords
I think people just needs to boost their own confidence for their ability to select the best product for the price point. It is as simple as that.
Frode said I think people just needs to boost their own confidence for their ability to select the best product for the price point. It is as simple as that.Yes, auditioning can be somewhat daunting even for the very experienced. It can also be a fun way to challenge our confidence levels and by sharing our experiences and findings we can discover new insight, terms and protocols to further enhance the process.
The next time you introduce a new gadget into your rig take a few minutes [while it is warming up, to relax and watch yourself [as if you are a 3rd party making a video]. I find it helps me keep things in perspective and relaxed.
“Hindsight is 20/20, catching as you do it is perhaps 10/10”
gordon said“Hindsight is 20/20, catching as you do it is perhaps 10/10”
‘Hindsight - Beforehand’ has allways been a favourite expression of mine
wglenn said Whew! At least he masterfully avoided the "r" word.Are you sure?
“I even sat at my kitchen table, way to the side of my system, and yet, the gorgeous and delicate cymbal work came through with just amazing realism.”
Here’s a post from Headfi:
Originally Posted by SoupRKnowva
DACs
The last thing I will discuss is full sized DACs. This is for one main reason, and that is that I only had my JH13 FPs and for a bit of the festival the Pure II portable amp to use. Not the best for evaluation DACs with. Not to mention I was spending most of my time listening to portable gear, mainly CIEMs and amp/DAC combo units to use with my macbook. Also to add onto that further, I am incredibly happy with my current Audio-GD Master 7, though I still need to purchase an OffRamp for it. But anyways, there were a few units that I still had to check out.
The first of which was the new PerfectWave Direct Stream DAC from PS Audio. I sat down and plugged in my laptop running Audirvana with iTunes. Took some fiddling to even get it to work, turned out you cant use Integer mode with the Direct Stream’s USB. Anyways, from the first moment I started listening to music, it basically blew me away, the detail, the bass, and the imagine and soundstage. From a technical perspective I will admit I was not expecting much from this thing, it sounded like it was trying to hard. But after hearing it, I will say that I definitely would love to get one in house for several weeks to compare against the Master 7, it was good. Really good. So good in fact that I sat and listened to it for almost half an hour, transfixed with my 13s in ear running through the Vorzuge Pure II.
The only other DAC I listened to was the MSB Analog DAC. I have long wanted to hear an MSB DAC so I was pretty excited and it was only two tables away, though from the same distributor, as the Direct Stream, which would turn out to be a bad thing. Going straight to this unit from that one, made for a bit of a let down. Not that the Analog DAC was bad, it was incredible as well, and I don’t necessarily want to say that one is better than the other, but on first impression and which one I remember the most it would have to be the Direct Stream DAC.
Before I wrap up completely onto my best of show. The best of show was for me, without a doubt, the PS Audio PerfectWave Direct Stream DAC, it really did blow me away.
Regarding the above report by SoupRKnowva, I am not completely sure that it is indeed the DS : if you look at the picture, it is written “PerfectWave DAC”. Could that be in fact the previous model (PWD), and not the new one (DS) ?
http://www.head-fi.org/t/718268/tokyo-2014-spring-fujiya-avic-headphone-festival-impressions/30 (see post #41)
Perhaps Paul and/or Ted could confirm if a DS was indeed shown at the “Tokyo 2014 Spring Fujiya Avic Headphone Festival” ?
rothosand said Regarding the above report by SoupRKnowva, I am not completely sure that it is indeed the DS : if you look at the picture, it is written "PerfectWave DAC". Could that be in fact the previous model (PWD), and not the new one (DS) ?http://www.head-fi.org/t/718268/tokyo-2014-spring-fujiya-avic-headphone-festival-impressions/30 (see post #41)
Perhaps Paul and/or Ted could confirm if a DS was indeed shown at the “Tokyo 2014 Spring Fujiya Avic Headphone Festival” ?
If not Darko brought it…