No, failing attenuators can only attenuate, they can’t amplify. The volume is set in the FPGA so it’s only FPGA software and UI software that can cause something to get louder, not the hardware.
It’s been two weeks now with the MKII and besides the fact it’s cannot play DSD256 through USB, it’s been working perfectly. Never turn the unit off but on standby overnights and the unit always feels just slightly warm and certainly cooler than the MKI.
It’s really breaking in nicely as I have never heard this level of fidelity from DSD256 before from the MKI. The sound differences shows even a larger gap to the lower formats than the MKI, probably because of the big increase in resolution. I am playing a DSD256 of Bill Evans “Some Other Time”, and I believe time has stopped! I am so totally involved in the music! The sound is mesmerizing! I’m loving it!
I find I do not care about format with the DS2. Everything sounds fab👍🏼
I’ve been really noticing how good 44/16 and 44/24 sound. Sure the higher res sound great, but it’s awesome to have what turns out to be a large part of my library sound better then ever.
I’ve often put in a disc and listened for a while, enjoying it, thinking - wait, this must be an SACD, right? Nope - Redbook. Bonus🤘🏼
Within my short two-day period with MK2, I found my streaming quality has improved more. I mean, PST is always good but DSD256 streams from my SSD is particularly satisfactory. MK1 does not give me that enjoyment.
Boy, I missed it quite a bit.
Exactly! I spent a good bit of time these past two days listening between Optical (CD), USB (laptop and Rendu), and I²S (Rendu via KTE SU-2) often playing the same recording on all three simultaneously while switching between inputs. There was several times when I had to look at the display to see what input I was listening to. They are all very good.
I probably said something along these lines early on, but it hasn’t changed over the ensuing weeks. When I get a piece of gear where I forget all about the technicalities and find myself just listening to the Music - not thinking of what is supposed to be better than this or that - that is a solid Win for me. And it is an indicator of a Great Piece of gear that isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
And come to think on it - with Ted’s DACs - in a while he’s somehow going to manage to make it freakishly better😝
Going to be a bit sad if we have to refer to them as v1.07 Rev.5 or whatever, vs. having a cool name, like “Bob”.
I just listened to Roxy Music’s Avalon, a local 44/16, it’s never sounded better. To think that we might get Mountaintop’s that make it better astounds me.
And then there’s the TSS to contemplate.
I’m good. Many seem to need to think about the Next Thing that Does Not yet Exist, but I prefer the beautifully singing Bird in the Hand.
Oh I get that. I am often the same way. What I meant to say was that this leap was so big, it’s hard to imagine that leap. Or really the next mountaintop.
I vote for naming them after cool rekkids like “Avalon”
“Revolver”
“Sgt. Tedster’s Lonely Hearts Club DAC”
Yesterday My audiophile friend came over to listen to the SoundSmith Hyperion MKII cartridge I got recently. He don’t do digital. He love the sound of the Hyperion. In some ways it’s even more musical than his ClearAudio Goldfinger. The Hyperion is more self effacing. Details are just there without throwing it at your face. Anyway, just for kicks he listened to my digital and playing a 24bit 192k file of Herbie Hancock “Inventions and Dimensions”, the 45rpm completely decimated the file, not even close. The 24bit file’s bass was anemic, it didn’t have the fullness and impact of the 45rpm. The dynamic contrast of the 45rpm is in a different league. It didn’t have the full organic textures, liveness, and atmosphere also. HUGE difference! But when we listened to some excellent DSD256, although it still does not approach the 45rpm’s performance, at lease it was’t nearly as embarrassed, especially with the MKII. With the MKI, forget it.
Thanks for the comparison to your analog front end. Sounds like quite a gap. Is your analog rig a much more expensive setup than the combined digital front end?
No, my analog rig front end excluding preamp and power amp and cables is around $25k. My digital front end is slightly less at around $22k. Add another $10k each for cables and power cords. Cables and power cords are expensive.
Thanks. It’s not so surprising that an analog setup at that level would handily beat a digital setup at roughly same cost level.
But it sounds like the Mk2 closed the gap to some extent and made a game of it. Maybe after it’s further broken in the gap closes further.
Of course it’s all subjective. There are probably others who would hear it the other way.
Appreciate the comparison to non-PSA gear even if this one is apples to oranges, analog to digital. I think this is the first direct comparison (real-time A/B) we’ve had that hasn’t been to Mk1 or DSJ
The puzzling thing is that this even happens when playing the tape transferred to DSD by the same mastering engineer who mastered the 45 RPM. The HDTT DSD direct transfers (without DXD mastering) in comparison keep
much of the magic, they just don’t seem to have all the detail and extension/transients (probably due to the generation down of the sources).
We will see what happens with a TSS and DSD256 transfers of original masters (if any label should ever do this).
It would be interesting to see what the TSS could do. Even if the mastering and recording are exactly from the same source, there is still that conversion that has to be done on one or the other and can affect the sound, and there is also how accurate the playback systems are, but should sound very to the same, if not the same. I am really looking forward to hearing the TSS.
The Techdas and the Axiom together alone should be around 50-75k, no?