Strategy for buying PS DAC

I purchase used gear all the time. My advice is to wait. There’s definitely going to be a good number for sale after the new DAC is available. I’m doing the same thing when the 600’s come out. There will be plenty of used 300’s for sale shortly after the 600 is in the wild.

300 owners: Keep me in mind when you are ready to sell!

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I admit to harboring similar thoughts.

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Competition!

I’ll be looking for Silver.

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I’ll be looking for black.

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Yup. Wde work DirectStream try with TMR for trades.

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TMR is where I picked up my lightly used M1200’s!

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I generally agree with the strategy of watch & wait in the used market, but don’t be afraid to make some “aggressive” offers for used units in the mean time. I suspect most DirectStream owners probably know that they’re sitting on a product that is going to lose value when the DSD Mk II comes out, so they should be willing to take a fair offer.

The old rule-of-thumb is that non-current used audio gear gets ~40% of original MSRP, which would put the market price for a used DSD around $2,400 when it’s replacement becomes available. Perhaps the relative scarcity of new gear, due to the aforementioned supply chain issues, may drive used gear prices higher, but I wouldn’t expect that to be a permanent trend.

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This seems like the winning strategy.

5-6 months will yield about $1000 in savings in used market, making any resale of a factory new unit substantial in depreciation. I agree with your projection of used DirectStream DAC’s selling for $2200-$2400 with the new announcement of availability. We are already seeing some downward pricing pressure on used DirectStream DAC’s.

Not unreasonable to suspect DirectStream DAC pricing to fall to present PerfectWave mkII DAC prices, and for those prices to drop even more significantly.

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Here is some sales history FWIW:

Personally I’d give the PS Audio sales department a call and see what they are currently offering on the units. I get the general impression price reductions are not advertised. I have no idea if demand is off for the current production units, but maybe they would be willing to work with you.

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I’m betting not so much yet, but maybe in 3 months? Funny their sales people don’t seem to have much sales enablement other than extending the trade allowance by a couple percent.

  • A very good friend was auditioning a DirectStream DAC and decided to return it.

  • I called PS sales as simply asked if there was ANY additional discount if I took the unit and forfeited the trial period.

  • PS sales guy told me to work a deal with my friend, as they would rather eat the loss on a return.

  • I asked him why would my friend sell it for any loss when he has an RMA for a full refund? They said “you don’t know unless you ask him”.

I just skipped the obvious reply: “why would I buy a slightly used unit at retail, when a 100% factory new comes from you for same price?”.

This 60 second conservation with PS sales was so nonsensical, I lost interest.

Yes, that is telling, and now I understand your quandry.

Not how these “things” work in my experience…i.e., I expect the DS Sr. average used price to be at a premium as compared to the PW MKII used price and to more or less maintain a relatively consistent price difference as both products age; up to a point somewhere down the road.

The PW MKII was and is a very capable DAC.

FWIW.

I’m pretty hard pressed to come up with a consumer electronics example when the new version did not knockdown price for the legacy used market, even if the new thing was upmarket.

There are a lot of equipment whores who will chase the new unit and sell-off the old.

I agree, in principle.

My comment was meant to focus on the severity of the pending drop in DS Sr. value on the used market due to the presence of well-regarded PW MKIIs still out there.

I probably did not communicate that well.

I think it will be a while before you see DS Sr.s at today’s PW MKII prices.

Time will tell.

If the PW’s used prices drop precipitously upon the release of the new DS I’ll be in the market for one for my office system!

Cheers.

Latest from the Audiogon Bluebook. Updated to show the last sale price and date.

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I almost got a one-year-old unit for $3K including the bridge. It slipped away when he got the same offer from somebody locally and didn’t have to deal with the shipping across the state.

The wait and hunt continues.

How about what’s the best strategy for selling the DSD? If you sell it, what do you replace it with? I’ve thought about it, and the only DAC I would replace it with right now is the Holosprings May Dac, but I’m not sure I’m ready to buy a another Chinese audio product, got burnt once before.

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@Gary_M excellent question. I’ve read. Few threads around the web, and there does not seem to be any consistency of where next or why trade-out.

I’ve seen cases where the PS DSD DAC was rejected without adequate break-in. It takes a serious 10-14 hours to open up.

The biggest issue seems to be challenges with the user interface and connecting it to a quality computer source. Theses are just my own observations. PS Audio as a company I’d bet has insights.

The dividing line seems to be chip verses non-chip DAC’s. Beyond other non-chip DAC’s to the DSD, seems to require significant hand parts selection for matching really driving up cost.