Hi All,
I just want to say thanks to PS Audio for the chance to beta the strata. I’m a long time audio geek (most of my lawnmowing money as a kid in the 90s went to audio) but relatively new to the world of modern hi fi. I started out with some Sennheiser HD6XXS and a Schiit magni in early 2018 and have gone on from there.
Paul - I love your YouTube videos, entertaining and informative.
I’ve had the Strata hooked up for the last 2 ish weeks (after it sat for a week of quarantine). Until tonight I have focused strictly on the amp/preamp portion. I have been feeding it via balanced cables from a Schiit Bifrost 2, and via RCA with a class A tube amp as a pre/buffer, also fed by the Schiit Bifrost 2.
Up until the Strata arrived my basement system was a Schiit Bifrost 2 --> Schiit Saga --> Schiit Vidar --> Zu Omen DW (with snubbers)
Upstairs I have some KLH Kendalls and a Marantz PM6006.
As far as the amp portion goes, this is my first differential amp. Its very nice. The Strata is a nice (if small) upgrade over the Saga/Vidar combo in terms of detail/imaging/separation.
I understand the concept of class A pre/output and Class D driver/power stages.
I am hearing more detail with the strata, without a total loss of the fullness/body I get from vidar and/or the tubes.
It is quite enjoyable.
It seems like the HP portion and the 2ch portion are boyh always on? That is very disappointing. There are lots of cases where I want HPs only and no Speakers… actually that’s most cases…
I would hope you revisit this arrangement, either through a software update or some other means…I’m a relatively young audio enthusiast and have 2 kids under 6 with another bun in the oven…
Analogue sound quality is exceptional on 2ch via balanced and SE.
I have not tested vinyl yet. More to come.
Regarding digital… so far the PS Audio app on Android leaves much to be desired…
Connecting via WiFi was a huge pain. I had to forget my normal home networks to allow my phone to stay connected to the amp. Lack of 5ghz wifi was very very surprising, and a bit disappointing… on 2.4ghz I’m at 96 percent signal strength, but experiencing buffering delays/pauses with regularity. And this is via IHeart Radio and Amazon Music (not HD)
I am unable to connect to Qobuz or Tidal and I even reset my passwords, to no avail. Spotify only works with premium, which I’m not currently paying for.
I did notice that iHeart Radio and Amazon redirected me to login pages for each app, and Qobuz/Tidal kept it within the PS Audio app, with nothing opening that showed integration between PS audio and the respective services.
I did notice tonight that the visual options are very very tiny. Volume control is visible from 15ft back, but nothing else is.
Good luck knowing what filter is selected untill you put your nose to it…
Fit, finish, build quality all appear to be first rate… Very good quality.
It would have been nice for speaker jacks to be on either side of amp, but I recognize this allows Power supply to be aways away from output areas… Also it might have been nice to have the jacks orientated vertically instead of horizontally, but that’s a minor quibble.
The owners manual is very informative. Filter info is good to know.
Tomorrow I’ll be hooking up an additional Chromecast audio to compare the dac portion to the Bifrost 2.
I will be able to jump between the two endpoints without altering songs volume, attention, etc.