……"“This DAC takes a ridiculously amount of time to break-in and reach it’s full potential.”"
It sure does. But, going by my first experience of the DS - even straight from the box/packing I could tell it was a ‘very special product’. It bettered my Linn Klimax dac - which cost twice the price of the DS.
Yes it went through the rollercoaster ride of burn-in, but I still enjoyed listening to the DS, and at no point did I have any regrets about buying the DS. It was only when I bought my second DS and compared it against my then 18 month older DS1 that’s when I really appreciated how much the DS changed sonically as it went through a cycle of burn-in goodish days and then days of burn-in dirge.
The Linn Klimax was/is a top dac and it would comprehensively wipe the floor with the NuWave so I find it difficult to believe the NuWave outperforms ‘any DS dac’ unless the DS is faulty……?
Fuse - come on… Who knows what the reason is. I’d be happy that I thought the Nuwave is better and move on. Return and bank the difference and be done with it. No need to be Sad be happy - you’ll save a boatload of $ down the road.
I’m more inclined to think he has a lemon. Something is just not right. I too had a NuWave DAC (and Perfectwave MKII DAC) and the upgrade the Directstream brings is easily noticeable. This was also on older, lesser performing operating systems too. Snowmass puts itself even further ahead of the pack. Though I do have a pair of revealing speakers and a revealing amplifier. I don’t know what the OPs other hardware is but it could be a synergy thing or there is something wrong somewhere in his chain of hardware/software holding back the potential advantage we all know the Directstream has.
Dude - this road has been gone down far too many times by far too many people for this to be imagination. I specifically didn’t want it to be real, but it was night and day. That’s all.
since i was one of the guys who fussed about the DSD SQ - i’ll share my personal experience. IMHO - there are two aspects - the burn-in topic which has been beaten to death. So i wont go there. For me personally - the second aspect about the DSD (or any good DAC) was that i had to learn to appreciate good music reproduction. I used to throw around terms like sound stage, depth, focus, presence etc casually. It wasn’t until i listened to “The Ultimate Demonstration Disk” - that i learnt how to appreciate the nuances of good music reproduction. It’s a pretty slick disk which has segments of theory followed by music that highlights the theory. The DSD just simply shines when you know how to spot and appreciate these aspects. I can say the DSD has made me a better listener and elevates my senses when listening to good recording - YMMV.
Be careful about generalizations. I have both the DS and the W4S 2v2SE LE DAC’s. Both are outstanding and sound slightly different from one another. Although I prefer the DS in my main rig, the W4S sounds amazing in its own right and is certainly not outclassed.
Forget that and whatever you read or were told.There is no way you can get optimal sound without a preamp. A preamp is essential so you can run the DAC at 100 on the volume and get the best SNR out of the device.
If you lower the volume digitally in the Mac Mini then this is no different from the digital volume control in the DS Sr - you are lowering the analog output and low level details in your musical signal will quickly sink below the analog noise floor.
Here is some good technical information in layman’s terms
My other DAC is a Benchmark DAC 3 and it is excellent but forward sounding (front row). I like the PS Audio Directstream presentation - just as detailed but more like row 10 and yielding a deeper soundstage and better still you can hear more detail without the distraction (and excitement) of front row transients/dynamics. There is no doubt that with Snowmass the DS Sr is absolutely superb.
I’m going to throw in my vote with seegs that sfsound’s unit is fundamentally effed up in some way. That was my first thought, as with Brodric and his DMP. Return the thing already! ; ). But hey, we’ve had YEARS of fun arguing over “The DMP Under The Bed”. Woooo…sounds like a Scary Bedtime Story.
I imagine myself reading to a youngster…“Jimmy…when Firmware Update Time comes around, the DMP Under The Bed comes out and Scares Everyone!” ; )
Also - though I’m sure that Elk can give better insight into this from long experience in Cat-Herding - that this has turned out to be one of the more diverse threads, topic-wise, that I have read, particularly given the starting point, and especially given the comparative lack of posts by the OP.
I found myself thinking a while back (not knowing how much Forum time the OP had) that if I was him, I’d be thinking, “Wow - pretty darn easy to Get Something Going on this Forum” ; )
UPDATE: per Elks question, I re-read the posts and I kinda misread some… anywho… it may be fun to read my post anyway…
Forgive me if it sounds like I am condescending… I don’t mean to be… but why is an unsophisticated buyer spending so darn much money? And then what is this person to expect?
I got into this hobby in my teens and am still doing it now in my late 50s… I could never imagine spending so darn much money on something I don’t have the “education” for and then complaining about it. Its like someone driving a VW Beetle for their whole lives and then buying a Porsche 911… and then complaining it is not a good sports car.
It is OK not to like something… but… I love the DS… but I also haven’t tried all the other stuff since retail is no longer. I have gone into stores with money in hand after reading reviews in the Absolute Sound and Stereoephile only to walk out very disappointed when I heard whatever it was. It is OK to not like the DS. Really.
Example: I was (thought I was) going to buy the B&W top of the line 801… I sat there in disbelief… how could anyone think they were so good? Left me flat. But I could only make that judgement given the years of hearing comparable equipment. If the speakers I had was a Close N Play, how could I pass a negative judgement on what is established, high quality equipment.
regardless of who is being referred to - the problem in this hobby is - quality, objective education on HIFI is not readily available. everybody has an opinion (and you know what else they do ) - and it means nothing until the buyer has realized the value of a product for himself. i researched for months on DAC design techniques, principles, audio reproduction etc and the aha moment came only when i tried the product for myself. this is why i applaud companies like PSA which offer no hassle free trial.
My experience with Snowmass 2 was not great.
I originally had the beta version of Snowmass 1 and was thrilled with the sound.
I updated to Snowmass 2 with the understanding that it sounded the same as Snowmass 1.
It sounded just OK at first but I assumed it would improve over time.
For 10 days i never really got sucked into the music even though there was nothing
obviously wrong with the sound.
I did all the usual suggestions like reboots, reloads, and letting music play 24/7 with the 20db pad engaged.
3 days ago, just to try something, I went back to Snowmass 1 and all the magic has returned.
Any theories as to what was going on? The only source I listen to is CDs from the DMP.
To be clear, I said that in some systems one might not need a preamp. Unfortunately more DS users need a preamp than there are those using one. I think the best advice is that if you have a preamp, try it both ways.
) - and it means nothing until the buyer has realized the value of a product for himself. i researched for months on DAC design techniques, principles, audio reproduction etc and the aha moment came only when i tried the product for myself. this is why i applaud companies like PSA which offer no hassle free trial.