Just took receipt of my Directstream Dac, upgrading my M2Tech Young dac which served me well for years.
Looking forward to trying the Dac as a Pre direct into my 300B SET power amp, maybe time to retire the Densen preamp too?
The Directstream’s an upgrade to my digital source as well, a Logitech Transporter, so going the PS Audio route is an upgrade in 3 fronts!
Packaging and presentation is top notch, though I was quite disappointed that my black Dac was bundled with a silver remote?
Hadn’t expected that.
Can it be swapped for a black one?
All the rest of my kit is black and my (black) remotes all sit together…
Only black mark on the unboxing experience guys, not sure what happened!
I just got mine a couple of weeks ago and the card in the box was empty. If your DS shipped with Huron you will need the included card to download Red Cloud. If it has Red Cloud from factory then you only need the empty SD card for album art.
You don’t need to have an SD card in the back of the DAC for normal playback. (Once you get your Bridge, you will need to keep the SD card inserted if you wish to see album art on the screen.)
Your DAC should have come with the new Redcloud firmware. It should initialize with no problem. I would contact the dealer for help since something is not right— perhaps the firmware somehow got corrupted. If he is closed for the holidays, you might try the following:
Download a previous firmware version such as Huron from the PS audio website
Remove all existing files from the SD card and copy over the firmware you just downloaded (and be sure to eject the card properly from your computer)
Insert the SD card and power cycle the DAC; it should load the earlier firmware
Now delete the Huron files, reinstall the Redcloud files on your SD card, put it back in the DAC, and power cycle again
The way it works is that if the DAC senses a different firmware loaded on an inserted SD card, it will install that firmware; if the card contains the same firmware as already installed, the DS just ignores it.
Guys, Redcloud was released a couple of weeks ago. My guess is that a dealer or distributor in Scotland with inventory, would have Huron. Unless the dealer opened the box and updated it.
I would follow the instructions above, maybe go back to the version before Huron, then Redcloud. I have read enough posts on this subject, that say that the above procedure works.
One other thing would be to get a new card, and follow the instructions on formatting, and loading the firmware.
Welcome to our new Scottish friend. Looking forward to your contributions here -really chuffed that they are written and not verbal as I would then struggle to get anything with that accent of yours!
PMac -is the remote for the memory player silver only as well? Bummer, I’m saving up for this one in black as all of my equipment is indeed black, and I think I have some kind of disorder with everything having to match haha.
Those of us who upgraded from the PWD MKII to the Directstream DAC got to keep our black remote controllers. The newer Directstreams use a different IR receiver and I assume this is why they went with a new remote. Aesthetically I like the cleaner look of the PWD MKII chassis but I understand why they changed the IR receiver as the line of sight was very narrow with the old IR receiver. The remote really needs to be at the same height as the IR receiver for it to pick up the IR signals. But for the better aesthetics I don’t mind the hassle.
You might want to consider doing a full reformat on your SD cards before using them for updates as you can end up with a “half - baked” update otherwise.
You might want to consider doing a full reformat on your SD cards before using them for updates as you can end up with a “half - baked” update otherwise.
I agree with avoiding the “quick format” and spending the extra time to do a full format. Like nuking the entire site from orbit; it’s the only way to be sure.
I’d posted that my DS was stuck on “Initializing” screen and asked for any suggestions.
Tech Support sent me some Force Redcloud firmware files to put onto an SD card and flash.
Did that and this happens:
Blue PSA button flashes (normal)
Initializing screen pops up with progress bar (normal)
Progress bar gets to 100% (normal?)
and…
Nothing else. Stays stuck at that.
I’ve let it sit like that for 20 minutes with no change.
Is this normal? How long should the Firmware upgrade process take?
As usual I hit the forums looking for answers.
Had been suggested elsewhere here to install an earlier version of the firmware THEN upgrade to Redcloud?
So…downloaded and installed Torres Final.
Progress bar to 100%, then nothing. Stuck again.
Shouldn’t the Dac just have plugged and played, even if it wasn’t the latest Redcloud firmware?
There was a blank SD card shipped with it.
I attended the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg and the University of Salzburg in Austria. I had to make sure people understood to address letters to Austria, not Australia. i received an astounding amount of mail routed through Australia.
