I would like to take this opportunity to thank Paul, Ted and the entire team at PS Audio for the past few months, during which I have been able to enjoy countless hours of music. Together with my subsequently purchased BHK PreAmp, I have found a dream combination that will not be leaving my listening room any time soon. And even if it sounds cheesy, the sweetest Christmas songs are playing right now! Happy holidays everyone! 
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Thanks! That means a lot. Same to you and yours!
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Enjoy!
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Mariah Carey’s Oh Holy Night shows off her talent well.
I hope to finally have a MKll in my system in the coming weeks. A dream coming true. I’ve read countless hours of content about it here over the years in the forum and my head spins. Can anyone give me advice that might be useful to someone in my position concerning initial setup, burn in, and how best to use the 30 day trial period. Also, is it useful to use balanced cables out if I can’t use them all the way through? My power amp only has rca inputs.
If you have equipment with truly balanced outputs or inputs (not just XLR jacks), I believe it would be wise to use XLR cables in the signal chain right up to the point you cannot.
Balanced out of the MK II and into your preamplifier and unbalanced out to you power amplifier in your case(?).
And, you can always try both and see what sounds better if that is not an undue financial burden.
Looking forward to hearing about you experience with the MK II once you have it and it has settled in.
Cheers.
I would look for any noise issue, especially with unbalanced connections. Try both direct to amp and through preamp if you can. I never have the best of luck when dealing with PSA unbalanced setup. My MKI DAC going into BHK250 unbalanced resulted in high noise level. This won’t go away with firmware update so something to watch out for during your 30 days trial.
My ds dac mk2 single ended into don sachs tube pre and then single ended into his kootenai tube amp is glorious. I use all iconoclast tpc gen2 rca.
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TAS has finally dropped the MKll review in its February issue. It’s a very positive review.
Summing Up
The PS Audio DirectStream DAC MK2 is a truly excellent unit whose sound exemplifies the increasingly subtle advances being made in digital technology. As is always the case, these advances will continue, and I cannot promise you “pure, perfect sound forever,” any more than Sony and Phillips could 40 years ago. However, the PS Audio DirectStream DAC MK2 shows that digital has made immense advances over time. I was particularly impressed with the sound of SACD and DSD, even when it was compared to the best PCM recordings. It is now one of my reference DACs.
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Impressive!
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Who did the review ? Thanks
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Anthony H. Cordesman was the author/reviewer.
Always liked his reviews…he loved the original DirectStream, and owns the FR30…
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More from the review
Even the best digital front ends are voiced in ways where each sounds somewhat different in frequency response and timbre, in sonic detail and dynamics, in soundstage, and in all the other measures of high-end sound quality. At the same time, the differences between the best digital front ends are now generally smaller than the differences in the sound of the best phono cartridges and tape recorders, most phono and high-level preamps, many power amps, and most loudspeakers.
Put simply, reviewing the sound of a component like the DirectStream MK2 poses the problem that the better digital gets, the more the colorations in the sound of other components in the system, the listening room and position, and the recording drive the overall sound and synergy, which inevitably is marked by its most “colored” elements.
I did, however, find the sound of the MK2 to be some of the best that I’ve ever heard. It did not lift seven veils from any recording, to deliberately mix a metaphor, but it did do a significantly better job of exposing the strengths of both older and new digital recordings than its predecessor, the MK1, and then the other DACs that I’ve had in my system to date.
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I just read it. It was a good review for the unit. Talked a ton about the DAC market as a whole, and how its getting harder to tell the difference etc. Good Read overall.
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I now own speakers, turntable and DAC that he has recommended and owned. 
it was always fun to see him on TV doing his day job…
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A fascinating man.
How do you guys get your TAS issues so early? 
I just got my January issue like two weeks ago!
Mayhaps your mail carrier is an audiophile? 
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