Later today, God, the saints, and Fedex willing, I will be receiving my DirectStream DAC. I will start posting my thoughts as soon as I’ve formulated them. In the meantime, if any of you DS DAC owners have any advice, feel free to add to this thread.
George, I recommend plugging it in stock (don’t mess with other power cords just yet) and play it 24/7. You will get impressions at first, of course, but in all likelihood they will change as the unit burns in. Make sure you make plenty of bathroom stops; it’s going to be a long ride.
tony22 said George, I recommend plugging it in stock (don't mess with other power cords just yet) and play it 24/7. You will get impressions at first, of course, but in all likelihood they will change as the unit burns in. Make sure you make plenty of bathroom stops; it's going to be a long ride.I've only been listening for about three hours so I'll hold off on commenting on the sound until the unit is burned in. I'm pumping music through it from my Mac. I'll repeat play a CD for a week if I have to. (I hope I don't.)
I’ve made two changes. Everything from the DS DAC is going straight to my Bryston. I switched from unbalanced to balanced cables. The extra gain is well worth worth it. (I temporarily removed the passive preamp from the chain.) I also changed the power cord since the new one I purchased is a PS Audio cord. I don’t think it’ll be that critical.
So far, from the Oppo to the DS DAC, I’ve played Blu-ray audio, Blu-ray video, DVDs and, of course, CDs, via (my very modest) coax cable. I have TOSLINK ready for comparison as well.
BTW, what exactly is the function of the “phase” button?
The phase button flips the absolute phase of the output signal.
I’ve been tending to a serious family medical issue so I’ve been away from the DS DAC and my listening room. I’m almost at 48 hours of burn-in time and I have noticed an improvement. Tomorrow I’m off so I’ll be able to sit and listen and compare.
Takes care of the important stuff, George. We’re all here when you’re ready for the next posting.
Hope everything’s ok George. Happy 4th.
My DS kit is scheduled for delivery today 
those who have already gone through the experience know the anticipation - I look forward to assembly and hearing the DS finally for myself
I hope all turns out well George
Thanks, guys. Much appreciated.
Paul and Ted, is there a way to install a previous version of the DSD firmware? I assume the new one could then be reinstalled over it. Just wonderin’…
Yes, you can switch back and forth between various firmwares at will.
My DS kit arrived a couple of hours ago, the DS kit went in beautifully and is playing now.
Thanks Paul and Ted I can tell immediately this will sound way better than the PS Audio DAC mk 2 there is more detail and timing is excellent I was tapping more foot soon as an energetic song played.
initial 5 to 10 minutes unsettled sound but after 15 minutes easily listenable and I’m looking forward to passing 500 hours when I will comment more.
Thanks for this splendid DAC
Regards,
John
George Moneo said I've been tending to a serious family medical issue so I've been away from the DS DAC and my listening room. I'm almost at 48 hours of burn-in time and I have noticed an improvement. Tomorrow I'm off so I'll be able to sit and listen and compare.best wishes. I hope everything on your home front turns out well.
Johno said My DS kit arrived a couple of hours ago, the DS kit went in beautifully and is playing now.Thanks Paul and Ted I can tell immediately this will sound way better than the PS Audio DAC mk 2 there is more detail and timing is excellent I was tapping more foot soon as an energetic song played.
initial 5 to 10 minutes unsettled sound but after 15 minutes easily listenable and I’m looking forward to passing 500 hours when I will comment more.
Thanks for this splendid DAC
Regards,
John
Love it! Thanks John. Have fun.
This thread title is confusing. Shouldn’t it be a great day of rejoice and celebration?
Maybe when the credit card bill comes, that would be ‘the day of reckoning’. 
DEA said This thread title is confusing. Shouldn't it be a great day of rejoice and celebration?Maybe when the credit card bill comes, that would be ‘the day of reckoning’.
It already has…
I’ll post my very first impression on my DS DAC, and add that I’m definitely not finished with the burn-in or comparisons:
The DS DAC cannot make a silk purse out a sow’s ear…
This kinda got lost in the shuffle over on another thread, so I’m reposting it here to see if I can get an answer:
During the burn-in process I’ve been playing a variety of things: CDs, Blu-ray audio discs, DVD movies, files, streaming, etc. Throwing stuff on the wall, as it were. I was playing a Blu-ray Audio of Mahler’s 5th with Karajan and noticed something odd. I have the Oppo outputting LPCM 192kHz out of the coax going to the DS DAC. The BDA is supposedly mastered as show below.
When it’s played by the DS DAC, I get this: 48kHz/16-bit. WHat do you think the issue is here?
Hmmm . . . While it appears you have the Oppo configured correctly, I would double check.
Is there a way to query the Oppo to know what it is indeed sending?
I have seen some odd displays on the optical input which do not appear to match the source, but I use this only for a TiVo so this is not something I have further investigated. I remain a tad suspicious the DS is incorrect at times, but Ted assures me the routine for the display is so simple even a caveman could do it and it essentially cannot be wrong. (Ted is probably right.) 
As a slight extension of what Elk said: if you can hear the sound and it’s not distorted, and you can see the display changing or you can interact with the touchscreen or use the remote then you can believe the sample rate displayed.
We’ve had a few other people believing that their Oppo was set up correctly but not getting music or getting 44.1. I’m not an Oppo user, but I know that setting up DVD-A (or at times, even DVD video) players and knowing what you get out of the digital interfaces is a big pain in the neck.