A mini review from a real customer . I have had several “Hi End “ DAC’s in my stereo system over the years and while they all sounded good none ever made me want to give up buying and listening to vinyl, that is until I heard the PSAudio DirectStream DAC. The rest of my stereo system is comprised of Sonus Faber Stradivari speakers, PS Audio PPP, Mcintosh MC501 mono amps. , Mcintosh C2300, turntable JA Mitchel Gyro SE with SME 3 tone arm/ Shelter 501 mkIII cart., music server is a macmini 16 gig ram -Roon Core( I won’t get into all the cables).
Without any break in , instantly upon playing the first song my jaw literally dropped , I had goose bumps. The dynamics and detail were at another level from what I was used to hearing, I always had great midrange and bass but now the imaging was near 3 dimensional, the soundstage was wider than my speakers. I know hard to believe, I didn’t have to write this, nobody put me up to it, I have never gone on a manufacturer forum and written my opinion. This DAC simply put is marvelous, I may be preaching to the choir here but I wanted to take a minute to say thank you to Paul and the team . I have had this dac for 3 weeks now and could not be happier, bravo
So your first experience with the DAC was with RedCoud OS, right?
Remember, for those who started out with 1.1.6 it was a long road to get to RedCloud. Which is testament to the beauty of new DAC with each new software concept.
I am using usb out from my music server to the DirectStream dac, I understand you only get the album artwork on the display when using the bridge II while the sd card is installed. Is there a way to get this artwork with the usb ? I’m waiting for the bridge III as I read this will provide more of a new music server functionality?
To my understanding album art isn’t passed over USB, so the bridge and an ethernet connection are required. I have a similar setup, USB to a matrix then I2S (HDMI) to the DSD and don’t see album art either.
No… my point was that if you are a Roon user and you are seeking a way to display current track info and album artwork while playing to your DS DAC, you could use one of the supported Roon displays. The Bridge is the only way to get the album artwork to display on the DS DAC’s own screen as far as I know.
I love it, too since many years. Easily the digital best buy of all times and really reveals the music! I can guess why it needs a 16k price difference to the next higher Ted Smith DAC.
Its a UK design, a Michell Orbe with SME V arm.
An earlier turntable from the company was used in the film Clockwork Orange, a more recent one in the film Looper with Bruce Willis
I had that exact same Sony 3 Head Dolby S HX Pro Cassette Deck. It had a tendency to chew certain brands and others would play/record fine. Good times.
