Directstream Mk 2 observations

As with my girlfriend as well, although she also posses greater knowledge of wines.

I have needed glasses to read for a good time now.

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Thanks Vince. The pasted photo caption indicated Rossini,

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Don’t fight it. Just get yourself multi focal glasses or lenses and you’ll be fine again.

Have you started using your phone’s flashlight to read a menu?

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I just request our server to sing it to us while I hum along!

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Since years, my friend! Or taking a pic to zoom in!
Hard to admit I need a new pair of lens!

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I am at a point that even phone flashllight seems not strong enough :worried:

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14 posts were merged into an existing topic: We also love cars

I see that audio is way off topic, but can someone explain how the MKII volume control works?

I believe in the MKI any volume about 50 didn’t reduce bits, or something to that effect.

Now that I’m using the Internal volume I’d love to know the specifics and why it sounds so much more transparent than the MKI’s volume.

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The volume control on both the mk 1 and the mk 2 do not loose bits at any level. Ted said that he preferred some settings over other in
The mk 1 because of how in the mk1 it interacted with fpga programming. This is a non issue in the mk 2.

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Very substantial review of DSD Mk2 in my point of view! First insights in sound discrepancies compared with Meitner’s MA-3 and some much more expensive audio gear offered by Bricasti and T+A. The author is describing different sound shapes, characters or patterns of the mentioned 4 conterparts. Really good. I love it …

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A very fair sounding review. Nice!

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Paul Wilson quotes and comments the PS Audio Website in his Article in Future Audiophile Magazine:

<<On their website, PS Audio states: “There has never been a better sounding DAC at anywhere close to the price of DirectStream MK2.” Obviously, I have not tested every DAC at this price point, so I’m not qualified to confirm or refute the company’s claim. What I can confirm is for the comparatively low cost of the DirectStream DAC MK2 (versus a number of the big boys in the audiophile digital world), the user will be greeted by an eminently excellent sounding DAC. Additionally, it performed outstandingly well in my listening room as compared to other, some much-more-expensive, DACs.>>

Right. There are many reasons to be very satisfied with Mk2’s Qualities!

In Paul Wilson’s comparison between DSD Mk2 and Meitner’s MA-3 in Future Audiophile Magazine he states, that both sound very different, but are in the same League of really good Sound Quality:

<<PS Audio renders a more analytical presentation, somewhat more forward, with sharper dynamics. Meitner, by comparison, offers a warmer, softer, more rounded sonic picture. Both are equally capable in terms of clarity, accuracy, and imaging.>>

I have 2 class AB power amps at my home. Hegel H30 and Luxman M-10X.

I got below observations with MK2 and my amps.

Fact #1

When I connect MK2 directly to Hegel H30 with XLR, I hear excessive hissing.

Fact #2

When I connect MK2 directly to Luxman M-10X with XLR, I hear very little hissing.

*So I think the hissing is nothing to to with amplifier’s class D or AB.

Fact #3

When I connect MK2 to Hegel H30 via pre-amp (EAR 912), I hear very little hissing.

Fact #4

When I switched Hegel H30 to mono-mode (BTL) and connected directly to MK2 with XLR, I hear very little hissing.

** So, I think the hissing is not caused only by MK2 nor only by the amp. It is caused when some specific conditions/characteristics of MK2 and the amp’s circuit are (unfavourablly) met.

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Welcome, Daiji! Great observations!

So with two excellent amps you get some hissing (when you say “very little” I assume that means you still hear hissing) regardless of the configuration? That doesn’t sound good. Hissing from a dac is not good.

Do you get any hissing at all with any other dac and those two amps? That’s probably the most pertinent question

Apologies if this has already been posted:

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Future Audiophile review is pretty useful due to the comparisons, although usually when offering comparisons the reviewer will choose a competitor that he can say the Mk2 is better than, even if it’s a lower cost dac. Here he doesn’t do that. He says the T&A and Bricasti are better than Mk2, and seems to say the Meitner is comparable (some will prefer one and others the other), but that’s still useful (we can assume they’re in the same class). Useful review for sure, and the reviewer certainly liked the mk2, so that’s good

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When I said “very little” I would like to say “almost no additional” hissing (in addition to what supposed to be included in recordings. (Sorry, my English might not be good. I’m a Japanese.)

So among amps I own and their combinations with MK2, I hear extra/obvious hissing only when I connected MK2 directly to Hegel which operates in stereo mode.

I had read somewhere that Hegel H30 operates in FULLY balanced mode when it is switched to mono (BTL) mode. Elsewhere I remember I read about the Luxman amp operate in fully balanced mode in both stereo and mono mode.

I had also read Stereophile’s review in which JA mentioned about ultrasonic and in-band noise and said as “This is concerning because amplifiers with a wide ultrasonic bandwidth but poor compensation will suffer more in-band modulation noise, which may impact subjective performance”.

So, my guess is that the source of the noise is in MK2. Then, any modulation/intermodulation occurred in the amp which causes the ultrasonic/in-band noise to become loud/audible hissing (white noise). However this noise maybe cancelled-out in the amp when it operates in a certain conditions/modes. (In my Hegel’s case, when it operates in BTL mode.)

I don’t have any technical background so above is just an amateur’s guess.

As for your last question, No, I have never heard such hissing from other DACs at home.

Btw, while you say “That’s probably the most pertinent question” (and I see not only you but so many people are eager to discuss about dCS or other alternatives here) , my more pertinent question at least at this moment is whether this hissing can be resolved by any setups or updates as I already paid for and owns MK2. I like MK2’s sound characters very much.

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