Elk said
oddeophile said
A sense of liveliness, dynamic shading and instrumental color only hinted at with the PWD MK II.
This is precisely what I have been hoping for; improved microdynamics and richer timbre, my two most important measures of an excellent system.
It is great to start seeing specific observations as people become better acquainted with the DS.
Elk,
I think you are going to find you’ll love the DS. I have struggled, like so many others, to truly describe this. Today, I thought about it for some time. I am thinking the best way to go about his is to go back to old school thought. Harry Pearson (HP), the venerable editor of TAS several about 3 decades ago had been struggling to describe what he was hearing between two different tube designs and solid state of the era.
HP described one tube unit of the era as having a “paper ships on paper sea” sonic texture. Another tube unit had body galore, rounded imaging and superb midrange. In describing these he came up with the idea of the sonic picture developed as a paint by numbers picture. The picture being the grand image in front of you produced by the system, presumably an orchestra, which HP used to describe the realism of a system. The tube unit producing the rounded imagery and beauty produced, as HP stated, more paint on the right numbers in the right places than any other tube unit he had heard to that date. Each paint color or shade being a representation of an individual instrumental tonal color, placement within that sonic picture and the depth from the listener, etc.
I would state the PWD MK II was more like the “paper ships on a paper sea” effect HP was attempting to describe, and the DS the unit that produced the paint-by-numbers imagery with more correct paint in the right places. The colors and shading of which completed the sonic palette more completely, and thus, more like a masters painting. To me, the DS does just that and is the best ideology I can come up with, thanks to HP, to describe it. The PWD MK II had images, albeit definitely not real, flattened as a paper ship floating on a sea of digital reproduction short of what could be allowed with the technology of the time.
I also firmly note a more solid and firm upper bass, lower midrange completing the picture than the PWD MK II, as well; much more, in fact. More like a superb tube unit vs. an older S/S unit of the 1980’s era.
One normally describes the image as a window between the artist and the listener. That window had been previously cleaned in the PWD MK II to very little dirt on the panes of glass we were listening through in that window. Ted’s design has, it largely appears to me, to have not further cleaned that glass. Its more as if someone just opened that window, allowing the realism of the artist to come through that window with nothing between them and us. An open breath of air to breathe in. The sweetness of the fresh color. Wonderful.
Lastly, it is clear to me as well, that in that sonic palette, as HP described it, SS of the era had a fog or grit, fine sand that filled the spaces between images, which the finest tube units did not elicit. The DS is just the same. I noted a very dramatic difference in that fine sandy grit between the spaces which is now gone, and I mean gone! This is allowing, like tubes, for the air, and presence to come forth.
All I can say is, I have an immense admiration for HP for what he brought to bear to attempt to describe what he heard. So many of his descriptions are still used today.
Further, without the immense vision of Ted, Gus, Paul and his staff for seeing what this is and can be, to so many we would not have the further joy of a very large step forward in digital reproduction. Had Ted not pursued his dream, had Gus not made the connection with Paul, and Paul’s vision to bring it to bring Ted on with his staff and bring this beauty to market, we’d not have such joy in our lives.
I just wish I had tubes in my system to enjoy this further. Tube owners are going to go nuts over this. I see this as not a benchmark. It is clearly a game changing giant killer that will play with the mega cost DAC’s out there running squarely with the pack, each providing something perhaps a bit different to a particular listener’s desires; the difference is, those with the vision to see the DS will have a whole lot more in their pocket in doing so.
My admiration and immense thanks to you all, Ted, Gus, Paul and team.
Odd
