It's All True: My Directstream Listening Experience

Just standby on that thought for a while. We don’t yet know if the DMP replacement will play SACD. The latest version of the news is it might. The previous version of the news was it definitely wouldn’t. And somewhere in between the different versions of news they were sitting on the fence.

I went from I2S to XLR, no thoughts of going back to I2S yet.

With those Crystal Cable Ultra Diamonds I can imagine that :joy:

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Actually, my XLR cable is a Shunyata Sigma and it was “night and day” better than the stock standard I2S that shipped with the DMP. I really was surprised that an XLR anything would sound better than an I2S anything.

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Maybe I’m missing something here. XLR does not output the dsd layer from a SACD, does it? I’ve compare the dsd layer with the cd layer and there’s no way the cd layer sounds better, no matter the cable.

Yes it does, on Esoteric. No it can’t, on PS Audio (and others).

You mean to tell me Esoteric can output on XLR to a DS? Or are you talking outputting to a Esoteric dac?
I don’t think we’re comparing the same thing here.
I did do some more comparing. Playing cd’s, the I2s is more dimensional and clearer than the XLR from the DMP to the DS, using a Wireworld platinum 7 hdmi cable and a Wireworld platinum eclipse 7 XLR cable for comparison. As for cd vs sacd layers, forget about the cd layer, no comparison.

Esoteric>Esoteric: DSD via XLR.
PS Audio>PS Audio: DSD via I2S only.
Esoteric>PS Audio: No DSD possible.

I can only do PS Audio to PS Audio for now, but someday when I get Esoteric, I will do Esoteric.
I believe I won’t have to, since Esoteric is in a different universe when it comes to sound and built quality.

Suncoast Audio have a trade-in Esoteric Grandioso K1 for $16K. That would be a great buy for somebody wanting to invest in sound and build quality.

Hmm, that’s something to think about, although I’m thinking more in line of separates.

Me too waymanchen11.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they'll include SACD playback if they can. Otherwise, I guess there's always the second hand market but I doubt many would be willing to part with theirs.

For now there's still DSD download files.

Hope to God Brod is getting a discount from Esoteric and Magico for plugging their gear here. After all, he doesn’t do PS stuff anymore, just as he doesn’t do vinyl.

So, easy peasy - just post on an established site with a bunch of users that have a massively higher than average probability of moving up to a more costly brand than the interweb average.

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Brodric by XLR do you mean AES/EBU, ie. the balanced digital connection that also uses XLR connectors? Obviously both ends of the interlink must understand the digital information as you Esoteric units apparently do send/receive native DSD coding on both sides. And hopefully the sending unit does a handshake first before sending the DSD code which could have a detrimental effect on the non DSD AES/EBU (PCM only) receiver.

Yes…(dot dot dot)

Yep, massive discount, from both, they love me. Almost as massive as what PS Audio used to give me prior to their distributor getting upset about it.

For AES/EBU balanced XLR cables the cable impedance should be 110 Ohm vs. analog audio XLR cables the cable impedance should be 45 Ohm, so optically the AES/EBU and Analog balanced cables look the same with their XLR connectors, their impedance is different and you need to pay attention on which one you buy and connect, in case you have a bunch of both types in your system.

I only have one AES/EBU and it connects the transport to the DAC.

Just saying there is a difference.
Some systems need more and analog and digital balanced mixed, connected to one unit like when you utilize active speakers from Dutch&Dutch, Backes&Müller, Grimm, and I believe Kii, with those speakers you need to loop the AES/EBU through for Left and Right channels (and a XLR connector to terminate the second speaker in the loop).