Lundahl’s !
Lonely Raven said Speaking of transformers, Paul - why was it again you guys chose to use the output transformers you did, vs the higher end Jensens? I think you mentioned it at your Chicago visit recently, but I don't recall you explained why. I've seen it come up in a couple forums that people are already talking about upgrading those transformers on the DS - and from what you said in Chicago, that probably wouldn't be a good idea, but I don't understand why.For two reasons: cost and the need for a 'bad' transformer. The Jensens are hideously expensive and would have raised the price of DirectStream significantly. But had that made a lot of performance difference we wouldn't have hesitated.
A stock high end Jensen isn’t the best choice for DirectStream’s output stage. What Ted wanted was a ‘bad’ transformer, meaning a device that has relatively high leakage current and rolls off on the top end above a certain frequency. DS output transformer is custom designed to be our low pass filter, giving you flat frequency response in the audio band, but above the cutoff, start rolling off the noise. To do this you don’t want a ‘perfect’ transformer that extends out too far and has low leakage. You want the opposite. So what we use is custom designed for us, then Ted writes code to match perfectly the response of the transformer.
Perhaps someday, if we wanted to do a ‘whack DAC’, we would look to Jensen to wind us a custom transformer and see if it was better, worse or indifferent. But bottom line, we don’t want a ‘perfect’ transformer for DS output - because the perfect transformer is one that doesn’t measure so good in normal circumstances.
I can still hear the fellow from Jensen when I asked for a particular leakage: “You mean you want a worse transformer?”
Their production line wasn’t keeping up with the demand that their well selling ISOMax products used, so they weren’t really interested in building us a “worse” transformer.
Ted Smith said I can still hear the fellow from Jensen when I asked for a particular leakage: "You mean you want a worse transformer?"Their production line wasn’t keeping up with the demand that their well selling ISOMax products used, so they weren’t really interested in building us a “worse” transformer.
And your next call was to the crystal supplier asking for a timing device that was not accurate in the long run
Actually, essentially yes 
I asked both Vectron and Crystek if they had crystals with low phase noise that were cheaper than the ones designed for extremely good long term accuracy. At the time they weren’t really set up to optimize those parameters separately. The ones I got from Vectron cost me about $200 a piece.
Wonderfully clever.
And two great examples why non-engineer tweaks often make the sound worse. “Creativity” in “improving” a circuit typically fails. Swapping in a fancier transformer would be deleterious, no matter how much it costs.
This reminds me when I was sight reading a new composition for chamber ensemble and made a note error. The composer, who was conducting, stopped us to make certain there was not a mistake in the part. Upon telling him it was me that failed, he commented: “Improvising with my music is fine. Impoverishing is not.”
Just say no to circuit impoverishing.
Just to be clear, I’m not claiming no transformer will make it sound better, but you’d better have a bullet proof system if you want to let more of the high frequency noise thru.
I like the quote.
Elk. Very funny. Is this why my cheap interconnects sound fantastic or is it still my horrendous judgement
al
Ted: This is a good clarification to make.
And good tweeters are expensive to replace.
I finally got the DS today, Paul thanks again for your help.
I’m officially the first one in Japan to own the DS, maybe I should wear a special hat or something
It is of course too early for impressions about the sound, but I thought I’d share my experience with the setup, which was in a word a breeze. I plugged the DS in a consent that has my PC, telephone and a bunch of other stuff, without earth, then I made the USB connection with a $8 USB cable that I’d bought for the occasion. My idea? If it works like this, it can only get better. Downloaded and installed the driver, opened Audiogate, selected the DS driver and… no music! I forgot to turn on my amp! Then turned on the amp, and lots of beautiful music with no noise at all! Next I tried JRiver, changed the settings for DSD and voila, the DS showed DSD as the source. Less than 10 minutes from opening the box until straight DSD!
We have a three day weekend here, so I’ll have plenty of time to listen to the DS, after which I’d like to share some of my impressions on that.
For the burn in, I thought I’d play “Fire” by the Crazy World of Arthur Brown a couple of times, that should speed things up!
Great! Sorry it was so tough getting it but our distributor is very finicky about making sure everything is perfect - something I applaud him for as they do a great job! But it can take time.
You might want to make sure it’s bit perfect.
Wonderful to hear, Wim. You have been very patient.
Let us know if you get a special hat. And post pictures.
My Saturday so far…
I’ve been copying about 750GB of music files (about half my digital collection) over to a dedicated hard drive in an aluminum case with no fan. Until I get the bit perfect test under my belt – and my gut tells me it’s my 25-foot active USB cable – I’ll be listening to music from the Oppo to the DS DAC via coax.
I have a buddy coming over later to sit and listen to the tube amps and then to the Bryston. This guy designs his own tube guitar amps and has a pretty good ear. The listening session will pretty much decide for me whether or not I’ll keep the solid-state amp and go all tubes in my amplification. I’ll also make this an A-B comparison, once again, now that I have the correct output setting in the Oppo for the coax going to the DS DAC.
Well I finally have close to 200 hours on my kit and thought I should add to this topic. Let me begin by saying that I really liked the sound of the MK11 especially the voicing after the last firmware update. It was so sweet sounding that I was afraid a bear might steal it. The DSD is another story however. I tried playing the DSD after approximately 24 hours and I found that there was more detail then the MK11 but there wasn’t enough meat on the bone . I put on another 60 hours and there was an improvement but not enough so I installed the 6115 firmware and things were beginning to get interesting. Wednesday night I had enough time so after warming up the stereo I got down to some serious listening. First up was Mr. Szabo from Santanas, Shape Shifter album. Gabor Szabor was a gypsy jazz guitarist during the 60’s to 70’s. I know this song very well and if your system is up to it the bass will energize your room. Ditto and then some! Santanas guitar playing is amazing as he mixes Szabor’s sound with his. While I was on the bass, I next tried Joe Jackson’s Volume 4 disc 2 Got the Time. Graham Maby his bass player does a solo that is jaw dropping and the DSD brought out every thundering detail. Following this, I tried So We Meet Again My Heartache form Melody Gardot’s album ,The Absence. The detail through the DSD was incredible and the best I ever heard , I thought her lips were going to touch my forehead. Next I tried a DSD download of Santanas Abraxas. It sounded really nice but lacked the punch of my 180 gram MOFI album. I need to try some more current DSD recordings before I can form an opinion on the playback capabilities. Following this, I played Stanley Jordan’s State of Nature Album. If you are lucky enough to hear him live on his recording Song For My Father, he plays guitar and piano simultaneously. Through the DSD you could really feel the resonance of the piano strings.Detail, detail, detail. By now I am really getting into this DAC so I thought I would check out the stereo separation with Chrissie Hynde’s new album Stockholm. For this album, she apparently recruited the musicians from Sweden and they can play and then some. The song A Place Too Far has twin guitars taking turns with the lead in the left and right channels. With the DSD each guitar was spotlighted with a wonderful chunky rocking presence. After this, I can’t remember everything I played but as I said earlier, I really liked the MK11 but in the areas of inner detail, soundstage, presence and accuracy to the recorded musical event the DSD is obviously better. I think the folks at PS Audio are shortchanging this unit because they have not said a word as to what it does with MP3 playback. The term "turning a pigs ear into a silk purse’, comes to mind. My playback system is listed under my profile for those who may be interested.
I have now played a while direct between DS DAC and my power amps.
But I can’t help it. I just prefer having my pre in the loop. There is just so much more ‘body’ present.
The sound is fuller. There is more meat on the bone.
It might be that the direct connection have a higher fidelity, but to me there is just too much of a ‘polite English gentleman’ present when going direct. I guess it boils down to personal preferences.
Whatever sounds best to you, is.
Oh my, at around 215 hours and I’m just glued to my seat. Simply amazing how much this bit of equipment can change after a couple hundred hours of use. Nothing but applause from me. 
With only 50 or 60 hours DS playtime. My impressions are far better than my first impressions. There is more power in low frequencies better dynamics etc.
From the first moment on I like the USB input better than I2S and bridge. An even bigger step was made when I connected a Nad M50 streamer to take the Job from my PC. The Nad was connected with Coax. The music was so much cleaner and had far more power in low frequencies. I think a streamer like the Nad M50 is a must to have to get the last peaces of the puzzle (how to stream music) on place. To bad I only had the Nad on trial.
The PC I use is a dedicated music streamer and was better than all the rest I tested.
blitzxgene said Oh my, at around 215 hours and I'm just glued to my seat. Simply amazing how much this bit of equipment can change after a couple hundred hours of use. Nothing but applause from me."Glued to my seat" is a term I hear a lot from DirectStream owners. It's one I use myself. There's times when I just hide in Music Room One playing and finding new tracks, so good the system is.
I did have a bad experience recently. Bascom had to take back his prototype amp so he could keep working on the new PS Amp he’s designing and we put back in the former reference.
Sometimes a slap in the face is very instructive. I’ve now gotten used to the sound again, it took perhaps a week of staying away from the system.
Paul I am Doing my very best in not asking an WHEN ??? but what you post about it , well that’s not fair .!!!
al