So. I agree with the sentiment that it should sound good out of the box. Yes -there might be some break in - but not to take you from unhappy to happy.
What music are you playing thru it? Are you pushing good recordings? Are you USB?/ bridge? Are you playing cd/ripped files/ hi Rez sources ? Has the music source changed at all from the nuwave?
This is puzzling - because I can guarantee you the DS sounds better than the nuwave. And I’m not questioning what you are hearing. Did you buy from brick n mortar? If so - go listen to his - and bring your nuwave to compare.
Be sure you have the phase setting correct too. For some reason after an update my phase setting reset to out of phase, and that gave me big disappointment until I figured out that the setting was wrong.
Not mentioned yet is the -20db attenuator. Your initial description of the sound you were getting sounds exactly the way mine sounds when I have the attenuator engaged. Make sure your’s is off.
I can tell you this, you are not even close to fully breaking-in your new DSD. It wasn’t until I reached close to 800 to 1000 hrs, that I became satisfied with the sound. There is even a certain amount of break-in required when updating the firmware, but at this point I can’t say for sure how many hrs are needed. Hang in there, the sound will improve.
The suggestions to downgrade to an earlier firmware, and then re-upgrade is a good one. On occasion it seems like the initial loads of a given firmware can be off somewhat, and going through this process clears out whatever the issue was.
And while I agree that the DAC improves a lot during the first few weeks or so (I had mine on nearly continuous playback 24/7 for about 3 weeks), if it sounds as bad as you claim, then this sounds like there might be some sort of incompatibility with the way that it is connected up to your system.
If you have loud hum it would be worthwhile checking all the connections in the signal and power path - in the past I’ve found hum due to a poor connection.
I realise it’s a total pain trying all these suggestions but I’m sure the effort will be worthwhile in the end when you hear the ‘real’ Snowmass.
I can tell you that my GCD + M700 conbo improved dramaticly when I got close to the 200 h recomended brake-in time. Initially, I was not impressed with the sound, but after brake-in, I was…
You cannot judge the Directstream when you are having a hum issue. You must find the ground loop or whatever is causing the issue. That issue is the source of your unhappiness with the Directstream DAC. Can’t believe it took that many messages before a symptom so obvious was mentioned!
Following this thread over the past few days I believe there are one of two root causes here, either the author has a defective unit or we’re being trolled. I don’t believe it is a break-in issue because out of the box the unit is not going to sound as poor as described here. The DS doesn’t go from un-listenable to heaven just by breaking it in. Rather it goes from very good to heaven. Either his unit has a problem or the whole thread is a hoax. I’ll take the route in believing the author is honest and his unit has a problem.
I have to agree. As I stated in my first reply something is up as what he describes is not the DAC that we all know and love. It is so far superior to the Nuwave DAC or the Gain cell DAC. It is a system specific issue or a defective unit. I would lean more to the first option.
I’d also agree - the DS was better than my Brooklyn out of the box. After a few weeks there was no contest. With Snowmass it’s another animal entirely. Should also have at least 30 days to return so it’s not the end of the world either way. I see Nuwave dacs on ebay for about $800.
We have, however, seen a number of posts from users claiming that the DS goes through a period of nearly unlistenable during break-in. These reports always struck me as audiophile drama, but perceptions and opinions differ. Sfrounds1 may be experiencing one of these downturns.
Glad you qualified your statement with “perceptions and opinions differ.” I went through phases with the DSD, as it was breaking-in, where I just couldn’t listen. A lot of it depends on what your previous reference was. It took all of 800 to 1000 hrs before I stopped listening the my system, and started to really enjoy the music through the DSD.
Nearly every post here should be read through “perceptions and opinions differ" colored glasses. I do not understand why so many routinely forget this (not at all aimed at Gary_M, rather a general observation).
Even so, I continue to view such pronouncements as audiophile hyperbole.
