I just received my Stellar DAC, the one for sale, and I am very happy. Since I didn’t find much information here on the forum, I figured I would start a thread for this DAC.
1 - Can I put this DAC on its side? PS Audio responded to my email denoting they did not recommend this. Yea I really wanted to do this… the DAC is at my desk feeding a headphone amp.
2 - Is there a way I can prove I am getting bit-perfect file transfer to the DAC? PS Audio responded to my email saying, “No”. I have a Direct Stream DAC and PS Audio provides a music file to play and if the DAC recieves it bit perfect, it illuminates a lamp. Dang I wanted this.
3 - Can I turn off the display without the remote? I did not ask PS Audio this question. I never opened the remote and it is stored in the packing box. It does not look like I can turn off the display without the remote, but I discovered my DirectStream remote will. To relight the display, just press the center button and the display will light and then turn off after a few seconds. The DAC sits inches from my keyboard where I find the display distracting and don’t want more junk on my desk. If I want to see the sampling rate, I just touch the center button. Nice.
4 - Can I rename the driver that shows in Windows? PS responded “No” however I did figure out how. I really need to do this, see my use case below. There are two ways, the first is easy: Go to System → Sound and you will see the driver there… click on the “>” to the right of the device name, and you will see you can rename this device. It does not rename the whole driver you will see when you select the driver such as from windows or your player (foobar2000 for me), the beginning of the name is now your new name. It works. The second way is to edit the Windows registry. I did not try this but there are instructions out there on the ‘net. You will need to reboot to have it show. I think I will try this as I am just such a geek and would like the driver name to appear short and sweet instead of the long thing now.
My use case: I have two PS Audio DACs (DirectStream MkI and Stellar) connected to my main Windows computer (a monster AMD/ASUS I just built a few months ago). The computer is located at my desk and both DACs are connected via USB. The DirectStream is located on the other side of my room via a powered USB cable, and Stellar is located at my desk and is connected to a Woo Audio WA7 Fireflies tube headphone amp/DAC (you can deactivate the DAC chip and use the Woo as a pure amp). So when I am using Foobar 2000, I have a drop down to select the DAC I want to send the USB signal too… the two that present itself are way too similar so it is 50/50 to select the correct one hence my desire to rename it.
I also have a pair of AudioEngine HD4 powered/DAC speakers under my monitor for regular computer listening. So I have a bunch of USB drivers to select from. BTW, the AudioEngine speakers are meh. Honestly, I had a pair of Creative cheapies connected to my soundcard before this and they weren’t all that bad… kindof a surprise (or disappointment?)
The sound: I love it. The internal Woo Audio DAC is very good and I was really happy with it but it suffered from a bit of digital hard/brightness. No it wasn’t bright, but it didn’t do high frequencies perfectly. You know what I am talking about, certain instruments and recordings that were not great can become a bit annoying. The Stellar DAC took all this away. The big surprise was the soundstage and instrument definition. Yea, it is headphones but this was the biggest improvement in sound and I was not expecting it. Again, I loved the Woo internal DAC, but this Stellar is superior.
Now since the WooAudio is connected via USB, I can A/B the Stellar vs the Woo DAC with a flip of a defeat switch on the Woo and drop down USB driver selection. I can do this pretty quickly. No comparison, the Stellar is smoother, bigger/wider, and just better.
I use Focal Clear headphones and love them. Nothing irritating about this setup.
Peace, Bruce
