Lol, yes I’m very aware. I own a dsd DAC and I use it every day. It’s a good DAC but I wouldn’t say it’s the greatest DAC ever made. All I’m trying to say is that your already starting out with a good DAC and the part of money you already spent on the MA9000 went towards that DAC. In my opinion it seems repetitive to buy another DAC when you already have a good one. That money could be used to buy something else such as a high quality streamer or whatever else you like.
can you suggest some high quality streamers that are better than the DirectStream?
I’m still a fan of the idea of having both the McIntosh DAC and PS Audio DAC (which appears to have a lot more press and positive reviews) and contrasting both in the same way someone might play SACD one day and Stream the next, but ok…
PS… wish I’d get some more direct answers to my question … such as how do I get ahold of good DSD recordings, and MQA? I’ve run thru the Tidal app and it seems most of the content is just “High” sampling which I assume is 96Khz PCM…
btw, in a perfect world, I’d never have sold my vinyl records 30 years ago and would spend the $6900 on a decent turn table…
The Directstream is not a streamer it is just a DAC. The optional Bridge II is nothing more than a streamer on an add on card and is almost six years old. “Good” streamers that come with quality software of their own for a reasonable price are the Lumin U1 Mini, the Innuos Zen Mk III, the Aurender N-100 and the Auralic Aries G-1. All are in the $2000-$2600 range. If you don’t have ripped files and are just going to stream Tidal or Qobuz then any of their native software packages will do all you need without Roon and it’s added expense. Not really sure why you seemed to be determined to make this process more complicated than it needs to be. With the gear you have already payed for all you need to complete the process is just a streamer and not additional parts and pieces.
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Because it
a)offers FPGA architecture which makes it theoretically future proof
b) upsamples everything to DSD, something I did some reading on and believe makes a lot of sense
c) gives me a I2S DAC to expand into a PSAudio SACD player (my next goal)
d) gives me a different, DAC to play my music thru from the less than stellar smoothness of McIntosh DAC which might work better for when I listen to rock music.
I’m sure there’s an “e” but it’s late and I am ready for bed. 
here…both these guys talk about the smoothness,… the smoothness of the sound is something I really gravitate to, especially when listening to Baroque music.
I guess it depends on how you listen to music.
Before Roon, and before I purchased a 2 channel system after 30 years of not having one, I listened to iTunes on my iPhone or desktop near-field setup with a bunch of tracks purchased through iTunes. These tracks were mostly hits as my CD collection got lost in a move. I almost exclusively used smart play lists in iTunes.
After I bought a new 2 channel setup and started using Roon, I went back to listening to full albums like I did in my youth with vinyl. I now rarely use playlists and Roon has all the playlist functionality that I need. I do hope Roon adds the same abilities iTunes has in regards to playlists though.
The PS Audio Direct stream DAC may be utilized with the Perfect Wave SACD transport (separate) and Octave Player (hardware 1 GB) server streamer.
With this combo (3 units) your question about Qoubus, Tidal, DSD, red book CD, SACD, FLAC is definitely answered. I.e. it covers the complete digital spectrum except of Blue Ray high res audio and DVD Audio, formats more rare than DSD and SACD. The combo plays and streams all of those formats. Which is rare, probably unique.
PS Audio claims Octave Play (the service and software player installed in The Octave Player) will outperform Sound Quality of Roon (Logic as hardware and software are developed by the same company) and that the user interface will be equal.
But, you will have to wait on the Octave.
If you can not wait, the Innuos Zenith MKIII + Phoenix USB reclocker or Innuos Statement + optionally Roon (Innuos has it’s own player and server software with less bells and whistles in the UI but some say better SQ) will do the same as the Octave Player and Octave Play in high end quality as well and it is proven technology that is available right now.
The Innuos comes with both isolated Ethernet and USB output, you miss out on the I2S HDMI of PS Audio, but with USB and Ethernet you can hook it up to any DAC / streamer of your choice.
You can also consider AURALiC Server/Streamer + DAC combo. It has HDMI proprietary (expect a different implementation of I2S via HDMI, not compatible with PS Audio) and the units look sleek and match each other.
Than there is Lumin.
With any of the listed non PS Audio DAC solution, you will get all digital formats (PCM and DSD) but you don’t get SACD DSD over I2S or any other connection into your DAC. It works only in a PS Audio combo. But if you sold all your SACD’s that might not be your concern.
Hope this helps you seeing less wood and more forest.
If neither SACD nor Octave nor particularly high definition DSD are of your interest there are too many good choices and it all comes down to your own preference of sound you hear through your system.
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You buy an integrated amplifier with a very good DAC and start asking about streaming (it’s in your header), and start complaining about lack of straight answers when you go off on tangents about SACD and outboard DACs.
FPGA architecture does not future-proof anything. If there is anything that future-proofs it’s a sizeable hardware and software team making modular hifi with replaceable components. So far as I am aware, the PS Audio FPGA programming is 100% dependent on one man, and PS Audio do not make modular components.
If you are interested in upscaling, you can try a separate upscaler like the Auralic G2 or
the Chord M-Scaler.
How do you know the Mackintosh DAC is not as smooth as you want? If you don’t have a streamer, what are you feeding it with? USB from a computer?
You were advised that you need a decent streamer. Lots of shout-outs for Auralic, rightly, the dCS Bridge is also regarded as pretty unbeatable. PS Audio have been developing a streamer, called the Octave, it is not yet on the market, so no one here can say how good or bad it is.
The PS Audio DSD DAC is not a streamer. It has an optional network card that is generally not considered to be very good because it is rather old and is way out of date.
If you want DSD, you either get a SACD player from Marantz ($2,500), the PS Audio SACD/DSD combination ($12,000?) or a SCAD player from T+A or Esoteric ($20,000+?). It seems mad to start collecting discs that went out of fashion 15 years ago and that hardly anyone makes, and for which there is precious little hardware. If you want to listen to DSD files, and as I said you have to buy them individually online, you need to store them on a streamer or server that can play native DSD files, rather than converting them to PCM. Innuos and Auralic can, no doubt others as well. You also have to use a wired connection that can transport DSD.
@Rudolf_Appel gives a very good summary, but you could of course just buy everything going until you run out of money and make a lot of audio manufacturers very happy.
p.s. Don’t believe everything you see on the internet, especially YouTube.
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Oh @stevensegal, you leave so many options out…
@sam.samaha, there are many options for streaming and Roon is actually quite wonderful. If you are interested in DSD and SACDs, I can recommend buying SACDs and ripping them to DSF files and playing them from a hard drive via Roon. You need about $50 in hardware to rip SACDs. If you want to upsample PCM and DSD, I can highly recommend HQPlayer which works great with Roon too. For streaming, I use something called an ultraRendu. In fact, here is my setup:
sonicTransporter i9 (Ethernet) --> ultraRendu (USB) --> Matrix SPDIF 2 (I2S) --> DirectStream (XLR) --> Tube Preamp (SE) --> Tube Amp
The sonicTransporter i9 is the Roon Core and also runs HQPlayer Embedded. The ultraRendu is setup to be a HQPlayer NAA. I much prefer the I2S input of the DirectStream to the USB input so I use a Matrix SPDIF 2 DDC to convert the USB output of the ultraRendu to I2S. With this setup I get the best sound I have heard out of my 2 channel system.
My home audio is based around Roon as well. Four systems last time I counted. I agree, it is quite wonderful, my wife agrees as she uses it as well. I don’t use usb or I2S, my signal path before the speakers is entirely Cat 6a ethernet cable.
Agreed, loads of options. When I made my choice of server I spoke to the UK distributor of SonicTransporter and Sonore and considered it, but went elsewhere. One reason being my system was Roon Ready, where PS Audio is not. So all I had to do was connect a Roon Core.
You’re right, I guess we’ll have to wait to see how much of a difference Octave will have sonically over Roon. I think this will be hard to do since we are changing two things at once (the streamer and the streaming server software). Even if there is a difference I can’t imagine it being a night and day difference and since Roon is so ingrained in so many people’s ecosystems I would have a hard time believing people will give that up and it’s subjectively great UI for what I’m guessing will be a small difference in sound quality. I also don’t trust PS Audio’s software development capabilities. It’s taken them a year to fix the server issue with the Power Plants. I believe the reason had to do with them using their resources on other products. I don’t believe it’s right for me to comment on how someone runs their business but in my opinion you should have enough resources to take care of your existing customers while still being able to develop new products. On the other hand I could be wrong, Octave might be the best thing since sliced bread. We will just have to see.
In case you wait for Octave, you could utilize your McIntosh DAC and wait with the separate DAC as well.
The Japanese chip manufacturer and major sponsor of music teaching and concert events globally, “ROHM” have developed a brand new A/D chip From scratch that seems to outperform high end discrete R2R DACS, it also upsamples to DSD.
It’s installed in the Flagship Luxman SACD player / USB DAC (D10x) of +US$ 16k. Not that I can afford that, but that unit sounds so good according to Steve Gutenberg that it beats his R2R DAC.
A dedicated chip will most likely trickle down the ladder to more budget minded DAC,s faster than the labor intensive PFGA or discrete R2R solutions. I can not imagine ROHM developed that seemingly high end chip for the Luxman flagship SACD players only.
Interesting developments.
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So the take away for me form this Stevensegal is that you are a fan of the ESS 9018 implementation in the DA-2 and don’t think very highly of the PSAudio DAC… so what I will do is try them both! I have a month to listen to the PSA and I can easily plug directly into the DA-2 on the MA9000… if there is no difference, or I prefer the DA-2 then it’s as easy as getting an RMA and contacting PSAudio.
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Steven is one of our resident naysayers and a contrarian. One learns to temper and filter his comments.
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Thats not what I’m saying. I asked what your current source is. A computer? If you get a good streamer you may find that the sound improves dramatically and that the DAC inside the MA9000 is perfectly fine. Of course you are free to buy as many external DACs as you like, but at least first find out what your baseline is with a quality digital source.
Incidentally, I did have a PS Audio DAC,.
“Hurry and worry” is my motto.
To speak for myself, I am figuring out the options. If a PS Audio product is the best apparatus for my situation I won’t say no. Like with the Stellar Gain Cell DAC in my home office / our multi purpose room.
I just figure @stevensegal has a similar attitude, and he encourages people to do so. That is something different than a nay sayer.
We are talking about a budget that suffers from being dedicated to the lower end of the true needs in life. Therefore it is a rare budget and once spent its gone (for the biggest part).
Sounds only logic to explore all options which is part of the fun.
I started streaming in 2009 when the only option was network storage, and was using Linn Kinsky. Since about 2012 I’ve used Qobuz and network storage via Auralic Lightning, Devialet Air on OSX, Bubble uPnP on Android and since February 2019 via Roon and I also sometimes use Bluesound’s BluOs on my office desktop. These are all now mature products after years of ongoing development. Because PS Audio is so late into the market (Linn DS machines with Kinsky and then Kazoo operating systems have now been available for 14 years) they have a mountain to climb to be competitive. Even if a system works, there are different ways of doing things and users will have their preferences. Plenty of people like jRiver, but I tried and hated it. I really hope Octave Play succeeds or PS Audio quickly adopts Roon.