Treasure maps hidden in circuit board traces?
My DS upgrade is just wonderful. Irish people, and anyone with an interest in Irish music, will be aware of the contralto vocalist Delores Keane. Her rendition of Nothing To Show has been known to make an Irishman cry. If all the expat Irish could hear it through the DS there would be an ocean of tears and a mile long cue at Aer Lingus trying to buy a ticket back home.
Its that good.
You have an album name for that Delores Keane track youāre talking about? Iād like to check it out.
Ted Smith said The DS is about 3dB lower in output than many CD players or DACs. Most of us have much more than that amount of headroom so it's not usually a problem. The thing is that the PWD is hotter than many DACs so some people have systems with no preamp that work with the PWD but perhaps not without a preamp with the DS. (BTW other people have systems for which the PWD has too high of output level and are happy that the DS has a lower output level.)The balanced output of the DS is 6dB higher in output than the unbalanced so some may be able to use a balanced connection to gain 6dB.
The output of the DS isnāt going to get higher without significant hardware work (i.e. if I could have given it it a higher output by just changing a few resistors I would have before we released it.)
Ted,
Why not offer a 1 to 2 transformer for people who want a higher DS output?
BTW, I never felt the PWD MK IIās output was too high.
Lonely Raven said You have an album name for that Delores Keane track you're talking about? I'd like to check it out.Hi LR...That song is from the 1993 album Solid Ground but your best bet is the 1998, Best of Delores Keane. You may want to check her out on YouTube doing the song Sonny's Dream (with Emmylou Harris & Mary Black). She takes the final verse.
Mary Blackās vocals are one of my tried and true acid tests when assessing changes to my system. If Maryās in the room, I get goose bumps!
I just ordered The Best of Delores Keane. I had not previously heard of her (not significant onto itself; there are many excellent performers with whom I am unfamiliar).
Thanks for bringing her to our attention.
I just ordered it as well off Amazon. They are probably getting confused why there is a run on that CD today. LOL
dan saidTed,
Why not offer a 1 to 2 transformer for people who want a higher DS output?
BTW, I never felt the PWD MK IIās output was too high.
A 1:2 transformer also raises the output impedance by 4, not always a good tradeoff. That would also require changing the value of all components downstream from the transformer. It could all be done, but keeping track of different versions of the hardware (and delivering the correct version in the first place) wouldnāt be trivial either.
Iāve read posts lately about some popping in the DS.
For a while Iāve noticed mine has a popping whenever I hit the on or dim buttons.
Same with pause.
Same with phase each time.
Anybody getting those too?
Most annoying and hoping that gets addressed somehow shortly.
Odd
Unrelated to the above, butā¦
Todayās the day. Final A/B test of the DS to the PWDII.
Paul & Ted, Iāll be shipping the PWDII back to you in the morning!
oddeophile said I've read posts lately about some popping in the DS.Popping when buttons are pressed (especially, say, dim which doesn't involve the FPGA in any way) have to be control processor related or a hardware problem in the control board/touchscreen. I suspect hardware since I've not heard of this problem with the control processor (nor have I ever experienced something like it when debugging.) Unless someone has some sort of quick magic answer I'd call customer support.For a while Iāve noticed mine has a popping whenever I hit the on or dim buttons.
Same with pause.
Same with phase each time.
Anybody getting those too?
Most annoying and hoping that gets addressed somehow shortly.
Odd
Paul McGowan said I don't even know what a steam punk is, let alone write about one.@Paul McGowan - Steampunk (one word): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk
ā¦although, today, people also use the term āsteampunkā to refer to a style of art/design. (picture of headphones)
Seeing as how my wife is writing a Steampunk comic and sheās on a panel at San Diego ComicCon Thursday, I should know what it is.
Think of Steampunk as late 19th century (Victorian) tech, much like the Wild Wild West TV show (not that awful movie). It encompasses fashion, culture, and literature. It can also be considered as a sub-genre of Science Fiction.
āSSW
Elk said there are many excellent performers with whom I am unfamiliar).Me too
Streets Still Works said Seeing as how my wife is writing a Steampunk comic and she's on a panel at San Diego ComicCon Thursday, I should know what it is.Think of Steampunk as late 19th century (Victorian) tech, much like the Wild Wild West TV show (not that awful movie). It encompasses fashion, culture, and literature. It can also be considered as a sub-genre of Science Fiction.
āSSW
High-Five - SSW.
What comic? Iād like to expand my Steam-lore. 
Just pulled the trigger on the DS upgrade kit. Unfortunately, I will have to wait until the distributor in Oz gets more in stock. I was extremely happy with the PWD II - until I heard the DS at PS Audio a few weeks ago.
Paul was kind enough to show me around and listen to his main system - just before the amplifier was sent away for mods.
Listening to a few redbook streams from the MacMini was all it took. Alison Krauss on Down to the River to Pray was stunning, it is a track I know well but the opening up in clarity of the backing choir was startling. You could feel you were hearing each chorister singing in their own space, something I have never experienced before.
Another late 50ās pop song (canāt remember which one) gave you the feeling of the recording studio and that lovely microphone sound that characterises many of the recordings of that period. Also listened to Take Five and Freddie Freeloader, some good old standards that were rendered with such liquidity, clarity and ease.
Adjectives that came to mind when listening were unforced, natural, open, sweet and detailed (detailed nice not detailed nasty and etched). I found the highs to be easy on the ear, I tend to have a bias against bright recordings or equipment and I loved the presentation of the DS. Following bass lines was pretty easy and as many others have noted, different bass instruments could be easily identified.
I have only one issue in that I have not dared to tell my wife about the new purchase. When I take the PWD II in for its new innards, I might have to say it is going in for a service and hope she does not notice how different it sounds when it comes back! 
On the plus side, because of the upgrade path provided by PS Audio, I donāt have to faff around trying to sell the PWD to timewasters trying to grind a deal and can get a brand new DAC for half new price.
cerobo saidOn the plus side, because of the upgrade path provided by PS Audio, I donāt have to faff around trying to sell the PWD to timewasters trying to grind a deal and can get a brand new DAC for half new price.
The upgrade is the way to go IMO.
oddeophile said I've read posts lately about some popping in the DS.For a while Iāve noticed mine has a popping whenever I hit the on or dim buttons.
Same with pause.
Same with phase each time.
Anybody getting those too?
Most annoying and hoping that gets addressed somehow shortly.
Odd
Yes exactly the same happens to my DS
It was time to upgrade my dac and the announcement about the new DS dac came just in right time. I pondered the decision for some time but finally made the decision. I got my kit last Friday and yesterday I made the upgrade. Installation went fine (there was some of those fitting problems with boards and xlr-screws were wrong - but with some care they really werenāt big issues). I think the original PWDII boards were also a little a bit wrong size as well. It took about an hour and a half because I took it really slow and carefully.
I took first test with my desktop systems to just check that everything worked. It was first time to me listen DSD tracks. Later at evening I took it to my main system for a serious test. DS worked fine with my Auraliti PK-90 player. First thing I noticed how āclearā the singer was. I had thought that my system brings solo singer very well into ālifeā but DS made a clear improvement to that.
Since DS had been in use for just few hour it was clear that it needs some break in. Summer is really hot here now and sitting inside with doors and windows closed listening music isnāt the best way to spent some time. I think it will take all the way to fall to get really into this new toy. But so far Iām very excited. 
Well after reading all the problems with fitting boards, firmware & run in I was worried about doing the upgrade.
Did it last Friday when the kit arrived from Mike here in Aus but I took my time 2.5 hrs all up between start & running. All went well no real problems just HATE all the different screws that I had to sort, what as pain.
Result now at over 100hrs l like what I hear. Had it crash a few times along the way as I only use my NAS with the old network card ( Twonky & PlugPlayer) and this is why I got the original model 1 to start.
I might have to look at the NuWave Phono Converter to see how that works with this but I canāt find much on how it all goes together in SOUND but any thoughts or reviews would be welcome.
Thanks Mike here in Aus and you lads at PS Audio.