@JKWAustin pointed it out first, but yeah you are using airplay. The 512 is not roon certified yet, but close I was told. Roon is notoriously slow with this process. The 512 will loose roon connection from time to time because of this. if you do not see it in the list of roon devices, you may have to reboot as this seems to reset it with roon server. At least for me. It lasts maybe a week at a time. it may depend how often you use it. Once you do that it should sound better an dnot downgrade DSD. But 512DSD I have not got to work w/o skipping.
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Paul, do you have an estimate time on Roon certification for PMG 512? Hopefully by then all the little bugs are fixed too.
I sent an email to your sales department but hear nothing back yet. The old contacts I have with PSA are not there anymore apparently.
My 512 has been networked hardwired for about two weeks now wihout Roon issues. I am old school (meaning my involvement predates WiFi) and have always preferred hard wired connections. Yea, I know WiFi is vastly better than those early years were I suffered, but…..Can you suggest a couple of 512DSD files for me to try streaming to see what happens here?
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I am about to update the firmware for the 512 and was wondering about the files to include from the (unzipped) folder. It says to include all files but I would think only the bin file is needed, the other two are just informational. Is this just a holdover from the DS Mk2 instructions (the extra files were not needed for Mk2 updates) or is the 512 somehow different?
So for anyone who has updated what files did you use? I am guessing it makes no difference as with the Mk2, but I am curious.
I was like you until two days ago, when my PMG Sig 512 arrived to take over for my trusty DSD Mk1. I settled in to listen to some familiar performances on the DSD, then to quickly switch to the PMG to listen again to detect the nuances that, hopefully, showed the superiority of the new DAC.
Maybe flabbergasted is too strong a word to describe what I heard, but I think it’ll do. There are no nuances. Everything is obvious, and better, and not in a small way. Instruments are precisely placed, not only across the soundstage but also front-to-back. I didn’t realize my DSD was smearing the size and placement and the actual sound of the sound until I heard the same pieces via the PMG. It’s as though there was always cloud of chaff, diffusing, dulling, and modifying the sound, but I never noticed it until it was gone. Bass is significantly more articulate.
The space between instruments is q u i e t. The timbre and tone of instruments is blatantly clear, and it’s a joy to hear. This fact improves the sound of percussion to perhaps an even greater degree. Transients of any sort are much cleaner.
Please don’t think I’m effecting the persona of some golden-eared audiophile and exaggerating the differences between the two DACs. I’m not. The differences are immediately apparent.
For what it’s worth, for quite some time after I acquired my DSD Mk1 I drove my amplifiers directly with the DAC. When I eventually dusted off my preamp and inserted it between the DSD and amps the sound improvement, particularly with bass, was notable. The PMG, though, has no trouble directly driving my amps with no assistance from my preamp to supply the current they require.
Except for smaller tweaks, I haven’t upgraded my system in quite some time, having decided I’m near enough to end-game to spend our retirement income on wine and other stuff Melanie and I both enjoy. There are undoubtedly many much more expensive ways to incrementally improve its sound, but the PMG Signature 512 DAC is, in my system, a great leap in improvement. I now realize I hadn’t been taking full advantage of the capabilities of my gear.
My stuff: Vandersteen 5A Carbon speakers, Atma-Sphere MA-1 Mk3.2 amplifiers, Sonic Frontiers Line 1 SE w/ NOS Mullard tubes, Auralic (RIP) Aries/Matrix X-SPDIF 2, DirectStream DAC Mk1=>PMG Signature 512 DAC. I won’t bore you with the specifics of power cords/cables/interconnects, though I’ve pretty much standardized on Analysis Plus for the fat cables.
—Chris
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I’m with you 100 percent on your evaluation of the PMG. Same can be said for retirement and wine!
We’re right in the middle with Roon and it’s likely a few more weeks. Sorry for the department’s slow response. They’re getting hammered right now with PMG 512 requests. 
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Thanks, mine can wait since I have an Asia trip coming up soon. But I do plan to upgrade my MK2 to PMG, maybe SACD transport next year too.
The hard decision will be which color to pick. I am a silver guy, but the audiophile dark lord lured me to the dark side now. I have four components in black and two PSA components in silver sitting on top of the racks. Should I stay with silver for contrast, or should I change to all black? My FR30 is in white, and I will never switch to black on that one.
Birdseye Mape color will be my first choice should PSA ever produces one.
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the pavlov’s dog in me is now salivating! mahalos for that!
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To me the color decision comes down to how you want your components to interact with your room. If you want to show them off more go with silver. If you want them to disappear, particularly in a darkened room, go with black. And there is nothing wrong with mixing them up a bit. Sometimes I like the look of black with one component (like the preamp) in silver.
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Good idea! I will let the boss of the house make a final decision, assuming she will approve any more upgrades at all.
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I like mixing things up too. My preamp, DAC, and transport are all silver. These sit on the top shelves of my rack and are the components that I actually interact with. The rack, my P12, BHK250, and various power supplies and stuff are all black and sit at the bottom.
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Re: firmware files (above post). I did the update using only the “bin” file, so (no surprise) the other two files are not needed.
The same should be true for streamer updates, but I did not do that update. I don’t use the streamer and have no internet connection there so no choice.
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Two thumbs up, one for each!
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Okay, I can’t resist to ask about Paul’s comment above regarding TIDAL.
Tidal, in their infinite wisdom and failing business model…
Without derailing this topic, what’s specifically failing with their model? The MQA debacle?
So this is from an article earlier this year from a website called “soundguys”:
It is widely known that Spotify is the most popular music streaming service in the United States. In fact, a recent survey conducted by Digital Music News found Spotify enjoyed a staggering 36% market share last year. Apple Music and Amazon Music came second and third, with a 30.7% and 23.8% split of the market respectively. Quick math tells us that as of February 2024, the three companies owned a cumulative music streaming subscriber share of 90.5% in the USA.
By comparison, Tidal had roughly 721,400 US-based users in 2024, representing approximately 0.5% of the country’s total music streamers. This fell behind YouTube Music’s 6.8% stake and Pandora Premium’s 1.9% market share. These numbers alone may not necessarily represent the end of Tidal. However, news that Tidal’s parent company, Block, is scaling back investment in the platform will alarm fans.
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Would you happen to have access to, or know, Qobuz subscription numbers?
TIA.
I believe Qobuz is growing, and I subscribe to their top tier Sublime, and I do buy albums from them from time to time. I also subscribed to Tidal. However, it seems that I only listen to it when I am driving in my car using Apple Car Play.
I am still subscribing to Tidal, and I hope it does not go away. 
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That did the trick (good catch). Via WiFi I can stream everything but DSD512 (there were continuous dropouts at this resolution - guess I am at least as far as everyone else now). Haven’t tested whether a hardwire connection to the Ethernet port will solve this issue.
According to Google, in order to implement a Tidal Connect endpoint in your hardware you have to contact Tidal to initiate an approval process. Following acceptance, Tidal will supply the manufacturer with a non-public SDK for the OS being used so that the manufacturer can implement its endpoint. It’s sort of implied that Tidal is all-in on Tidal Connect.
— Chris