There was no public Beta phase.
It would be nice to know if the problems Brian F. has experienced was a singular issue or if others are having problems as well.
The 512 was originally intended for July release (pre in June, DAC in July, Transport in August; this was mentioned I believe by Paul in the forum some time around Axpona). When I finalized the preamp order, June 25, I asked about the DAC and was told the first batch went to Europe and the delay for the US was because PS wanted to fix any problems from that batch before sending out the US units. I donāt know if PS called those beta or production units.
I now have about 300 hrs on the pre and transport and about 60 on the 512. I havenāt posted much about the sonics because I am still digesting what I am hearing. The overall sense is the presentation is so well balanced and to my ears so right that just focusing on the most noticeable strengths does not do it justice.
But here are a couple anyway. The resolution in the bass is amazing, even in low bass (in the upper 20ās). It still seems kind of unbelievable, but itās repeatable (call me delusional). Excellent soundstage, images are well defined and clearly separated. One thing I listen for is images in the room corners. That was present before the PMG components but now the the corner images are as solid as the others.
There are other positives I could mention but Iāll just say that the amazing thing about all of the sonic pieces is the way the PMG components put them together. It is easier to listen to the music without the distraction of system weaknesses. They are not being covered up, there are just fewer of them.
For what itās worth the support team said the engineers never saw this happen to any units before. So they wanted it back. As far as I know I have the worst luck and thatās that.
Ugh.
At least you are getting a replacement quickly.
Yeah - agree thatās possible that some of the DACs went to non-forum members but there were lots of PMG Preamp reviews within days on this forum. So not sure why there would be a difference?
I think more than 25 of those were sent out
Tough luck. I know you were anxious to get the 512 and share your thoughts with us. I feel for you. Look forward to you sharing your opinions in the future.
Well my new dac arrived last night. Set up fast but no sound. Quick reset poof sound. I did get the skipping again. They suggested to increase the resync time and convert DSD to pcm. They are still working through Roon certification so some things not exactly working as supposed as roon does not support as Ready device.
I did get some skipping again. She was not sure about the DSD setting so I put back to native. I also increased the resync to max. Works great. One thing I do have is two filters in Muse going. They take a few seconds to kick in. My thought is that is what is causing my issue. I ahared my setting and will share the zip file for the convolution filter if they want to see if they can reproduce. I may turn it off and listen with resync lowered to 0 to see if it runs fine too.
But now I am just listening and Loving it. Details, dynamics, space all better. The bass slams w no bloating. From my memory (sold MKII over two months ago) it sounds better than my old setup rose 130 MKII w APS. Only 28 hours burn in tonight. I will keep it going.
Itās like you are a post-release beta tester. Your patience is admirable and we all thank you for the updates.
Not sure why he is a āpost release beta testerā when all of his issues are with the streamer only and those are with Roon which is clearly stated it doesnāt yet support and he acknowledges. A fair test would be to test the streamer with free software like mConnect and see if the problems he is having persist. If they do the streamer module has issues and if not itās Roon specific.
I can do some quick testing with qobuz connect. I did with the first unit and it worked fine. found it right away and connected. Only issue with current firmware is you have to turn off streamer and re-initialize it to get it to let go of qobuz connect. I am being told a fix for that is coming.
So yeah, not so much beta, but def. early adaptor issues going on here which I 100% expected and not surprised. I was disappointed it was not yet certified, but I know many other manufacturers that went through the same thing and watched those people post their disappointment. if You want to play early, most of the time that comes with issues, especially when there is software involved.
One thing I did notice as i listened more last night is the skipping (which was very infrequent and only 1 song did it after I settled in on the right settings in my system) I do not think its the processor overloading. I had that number backwards. its when roon says its 2.0x or a low number is when its bad, not a high number. I was in the 70-90x range, so I do not think its roons filters doing it.
Thatās a fair criticism in general, but what got my attention was āFor what itās worth the support team said the engineers never saw this happen to any units before.ā
Given the multitude of problems such as loosing network settings and skipping as well as PS Audioās indication that they are holding back the next shipment of units to do some fixes, I stand behind my statement of post-release beta tester.
Thoughts?
If the problems only exist with Roon then the mystery is solved from my perspective. Easy enough to verify with Qobuz Connect which he has or other free UPnP software. If the problems persist after certification then itās the unit at fault.
I see your point of view. I donāt think you understood mine. No worries.
I understand youāre point of view based on other recent releases, but not sure they apply in this case if the issue is only with one piece of software that it is not certified to work with. PSA has no control over Roonās process or schedule.
Doing some more listening today and the streamer is really in need for a firmware update. Talked with Delia and she is taking my feedback and testing back to the engineering team.
The DAC side works fine with external streamer. The streaming side, not so much. skipping and syncing issues (same issue?). Right now no sound from streamer input. Roon sees it, plays it, but no sound. Once I just changed inputs and it came back. So clearly there is a firmware fix that is needed on that side. Delia hinted they knew about the issue, so I hope soon.
They have my old DAC now, so very interested to see whats going on there.
I figured Iād let the situation play out a bit before addressing your reply. Now we see that PS Audio has marked the new DAC as sold out. I wish I was wrong the whole time about post release beta testingā¦ go figure.
interesting - made deposit but never heard from them. must be part of the 2nd trancheā¦
Theyāll get it sorted out. The delay will serve you well. Iād love to read your impressions when you get the DAC.