In all fairness, there was a pretty significant bug inside of 1.21, (and probably previous, firmwares as well) which were not able to be verified until after the release of Pikes Peak because of how infrequently it occurred in the field. If this ever happened to you (as it did to me), then your DAC would have turned into something of an echo chamber (on redbook only) as one of the libraries Ted was calling back then went into a strange form of oscillation (if I am not mistaken) until it was rebooted. After reboot this bug would vanish, until some particular set of events happened which triggered it again either days, weeks, or months later. Fortunately Ted stopped using this library years ago.
So I think that some of the bad experiences which some early adopters had with the DS should not be blamed on the burn-in alone.
I still preferred the musical aspect of 1.2.1 over Pikes Peak. I seem to remember you praised 1.2.1.
Out of all the O/S releases Pikes Peak was the one that troubled me the most. I kinda liked aspects of P.P. but I would get bored with it and end up reverting back to 1.2.1: I felt P.P. wasnāt as tuneful as 1.2.1. On a musical level I thought Pikes Peak wasnāt as convincing. I was glad that it wasnāt a long wait until Yale arrived.
Granted, and agreed - and yetā¦Iāve used mine extensively with and without, and it is better with. Itās a āproperā gain-staging thing - which BTW cures nearly all the issues people have with the OP levels and the whole ādo I run the DS at 100, 99, attenuators in, etc.? - thing.
Iāve been hesitant to put my favorite old pre back in (VTL TL2.5) as it is single-ended, and everything else is balanced. Did it anyway once I set up here in CO, and even though my aging NOS Mullards and Telefunkens are starting to make noiseā¦No Question in my mind.
Saturday night, Darren and I went over to a neighborās house who has a wonderful system in a huge room, to hear it with the BHK he just got Friday. Justā¦Wow. Transformed it.
One subjective impression is that it went from a Very Impressive System to a āSlap Yer Pappyā System.
Indeed I did prefer the sound of 1.21 for quite a while. But this was even despite its bugs. Yale almost made the cut for me, but I still found it to lack the kind of musicality that I expected. But the next release (Torrys was it? I canāt keep these all straight anymore) finally convinced me to upgrade. And, for the most part, Iāve been running the latest releases ever since that time.
To OP - Iāve had a roller coaster of a ride with the DS. Itās almost like the unit regresses to a lower performance level before rising up to a new level. Iāve had periods where bass was wimpy and soundstage collapsed. But things seem to be on the right trajectory for me now. I am about 250hrs done with burn-in. I like what i am hearing. Some (including Paul) say that the output stage of DS particularly takes longer time vs DSJ.
PS - I tried driving my amp directly with DS and I just thought it sucked the life out of music. I prefer having an active preamp in between.
While you do need a good line stage to hear this, I fully agree. I tried with and without preamp when I had the perfect wave, and after upgrading to the DS I just assumed it would be similar.
I did notice when using the DS 20db attenuation, the life is truly sucked out.
I am using PS Audio amps and very resolute speakers. Maybe your DS is better than the one I received. So far, for me, using the volume function in the DS is like musical suffocation. Have you tried it just as a dacā¦ just curious.
Yes but I prefer no preamp. I donāt own a BHK preamp and mine uses a potentiometer for volume control there is more loss in that than the digital volume control in the DS. The advantage of no preamp is that you are not running the DAC up to 100 so never any issues with noises. I do beleive that was a Red Cloud thing and has been resolved in Snowmass. My speakers are B&W 800 Matrix. They are very revealing of what they are being fed. That is why I cannot enjoy my Wyred 4 Sound DAC 2DSDse any longer. I never thought it was harsh until I got the Directstream and now It no longer appeals to me. With the Directstream volume control i can play the system all the way down to 1 and still not loose anything.
The digital volume control is totally transparent. The -20dB level drop control is not transparent to my ears though. To me it sucks some of the life out of the music. So I simply donāt use it, and I suggest that you donāt either.
If you donāt want a preamp in your system then what is the point of you being told you need one in your system.
At the end of the day itās all down to your decision.
There is no preamp like no preamp - until we start selling preamps!
I think the key is what quality of preamp is being compared to direct. If itās not a particularly transparent unit (many use fairly cheap volume pots) or has a good tube section, then the DS output might be preferable. Once youāre into much higher end preamps, then you can appreciate the benefit (one of which is keeping the DS at full volume). With the perfect wave dac I noticed a big deficit of quality even a a few clicks below 100. With the DS even around 90 is still quite good (but still not as good at 100).
The balanced stepped volume pot of my all tube Atmasphere pre takes about a day to build and they have a custom motor attached for volume (as opposed to what many use - an off the shelf motorized Alps pot).
While I havenāt heard it, the BHK preamps (quasi gain cell like) variable architecture is quite novel and extremely transparent. Itās priced extremely well and thatās why Paul prefers it to direct from the DS.
I prefer not to doctor the sound with a preamp and another reason for my reluctance to a preamp is We find that in general, vacuum tubes lose some of their life and energy after about a year of play. Freshen up with a new set of tubes. I donāt want to be spending my time and money replacing tubes whoās performance is ever changing and deteriorating.
Paul Didnāt want to make tubes mandatory in the BHK amps, until it was demonstrated to him that they were far superior to even the best solid state input section PS could build. He chose to not offer the solid state input option because the tubes were simply far better in that section of the amp. They didnāt color or distort the sound, they were the soundā¦ Of the best amp they could possibly build. But yes they do require replacement.
Power tubes like EL34ās and KT88ās are good for about 2500 hours or more. But may go longer in an amplifier with a conservative design. Small signal tubes with numbers like 12AX7, 12AU7, and 6922, and rectifier tubes like 5AR4 may go 10,000 hours. So you get years and years of enjoyment. Using a tube tester may or may not tell you if you need a replacement. The best approach is to buy a new set of tubes, and install them. If they donāt sound a lot better, put in the old ones and suck every bit of life out of them.
I use the BHK preamp and I agree with you that it is better than the DS on its own. In my system I hear a sizeable improvement and not just a different flavour, but a BIG improvement musically, with the BHK preamp over using the DS with its inbuilt volume.
But, that said, sixpack1 doesnāt want to use a preamp and that is entirely up to sixpack1, regardless of what I or others think/prefer ā¦ That was the gist of my post.
If adding a preamp between the DS and power amp is adding color please give me more color? It sounds so much better with my tube preamp Iāll take it. Tube maintenance is a non issue for me and tube rolling is fun and no different than any other tweek.
Like I said - I do use a BHK preamp and I definitely prefer it with a preamp in situāā¦ sixpack1, his preference being to use the DS inbuilt volume ā if thatās what sixpack1 prefers then good on himā¦
I just have to chime in here that this is a bit of a whacky thread ; ). IMO, On my System (iPad Pro) and In my Room (living room couch with the dog), at any rate. YMMV.
