On my bucket list
Ditto
Or take the MK2 on a ride to the mothership.
It is very unlikely that any one box CD player comes anywhere near the Mk 2 Massive and PST Transport.
Holy Moly, I hadn’t heard of Bonerama, wow thanks for the heads up! That drum sound is incredible!
eh the compression is a bit much, it sucks on the kick drum hits but I suppose it’s in keeping with the original.
Having owned the MK2 pre Massive, I would argue the Luxman D10X is probably a better combo, but not having heard Massive or the transport I’ll just leave it at a strong competitor to the PS Audio combo.
I am a little surprised by the near universal love for the 233 version of Massive. I have my system set up so I have two other DACs I can use as a reference, all streaming Roon and precisely level matched and using the same streamer. All are on separate inputs to my Audio Research Reference 5SE preamplifier going into PS Audio BHK 300 mono blocks driving Magnepan 20.7s so switching between them is instantaneous. The Directstream MK2 is better than the other DACs but they serve as a reference that permits me to compare the changes in sound quality when I switch between Antero 208, Massive 228 and the final Massive 233 without having to rely heavily on my spotty audio memory.
Massive 233 clearly has the best soundstage and more of that 3D holographic effect which is very nice and definitely something to celebrate. But Massive 233 is also noticeably rolled off on the top end and significantly less dynamic than either Antero or Massive 228. On various tracks that incorporate hand claps or marimbas or the sharp transients of something like sticks hitting each other information actually seems to be missing in 233’s reproduction. I’m really quite torn because there is a lot to like about 233, but it almost feels like it has become too polished and smoothed out and that some of the edges are missing. Perhaps 233 is treating some of this high end information as noise and simply removing it? I think you can hear this quite clearly on “Naacals” which is track 4 off the “Naacals” album by Hajna. This is only available on Tidal but you can download it from free from Bandcamp https://hajna.bandcamp.com/album/naacals If you listen from 3:45 to 4:15 there is a scratchy marimba like sound that is quite prominent on my other sources but has been nearly scrubbed out with Massive 233. It is more prominent with Antero and 228.
It is one thing for the firmware to sound different, which is often a matter of preference, but to me it seems like high end transient information is simply missing. I’m surprised no one else is talking about this.
The frequency responses of all three releases are identical. Any differences you hear are caused by low level noise or distortion differences. 233 has the least noise interference and he least low level distortion. Any “missing info” in the highs are actually missing noise or missing distortion, not missing signal. However what you hear is what you hear. Some have found that each release of DS software should be treated like a new component, i.e. you might consider checking your whole system setup, perhaps speaker toe-in, perhaps cable selections, etc.
Also, there may be a little change as the new code burns in in the FPGA. I’m not sure if this could account for what you hear or not, but, say, 100 hours makes a difference with new FPGA code.
I listened to it. It is all there on 233 with Bacch DSP it is just set back deep in the soundstage left of center. All the other instruments arrle more forward when listening to bacch-dsp cross ralk cancellation signal fed to the MK2. Maybe the Mk2 233 massive is better at depicting the actual soundstage depth? The Bacch-dspis king in laying out true soundstage relationships to microphones.
@aangen what do you hear on this with bacch-dsp and you DAC collection?
My version 233 is fully burned in. I think 233 just does spatial references more true to life.
I had a Bacch SP here for a month. There is a lot to like and dislike about the Bacch SP but the one thing it absolutely isn’t is any kind of reference for sound or soundstage. It does its own thing which is often great but sometimes just comes out of left field and sounds completely wrong.
Which version of Bacch hardware anf firmware?
I agree studio mixes can get funky. But live stuff not over mixed and mic’ed is awesome.
What you are calling noise or distortion sure sounds a lot like instruments to me LOL. And I clearly hear a difference in how the three versions of the firmware present that information. The idea of rejiggering all my other equipment if the frequency responses are identical seems odd to me but you are the expert.
I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to wrap my head around software burning in 
. I received my MkII a few days after the Massive final release, and did not even bother to listen with the shipped code - I upgraded immediately to the latest.
However, like Ted says: “… what you hear is what you hear”.
This brings up another question though: Assuming my intuition is wrong, and that software burn in does make a difference: Are the FPGA’s of the first MkII owners that went thru’ all the firmware upgrades … Are those FPGA’s “better burnt in”?
I had the Bacch SP Adio with the analog inputs and integrated DACs etc. etc… As far as I know it was the latest firmware. A friend lent it to me for a month and I tested it extensively. As I said a lot to like but I was always left second guessing whether it was really how the music ought to sound or whether it even sounded better. Mostly yes but sometimes no and that uncertainty was reason enough for me not to buy it.
With each release of the DS Mk I code there were always people who asked “Where did the bass go?” while others asked “Why is the bass so heavy now?”. Similarly, some would note that the mid range is more pronounced while others said it is more recessed. The effects of changes in very low-level noise affect different people differently and different systems differently.
Each release uses various resources in the FPGA differently. The burn-in for each resource is cumulative over time, but specifically Massive 233 uses some clocking features that weren’t used in any previous release so there is something new that needs burnin with Massive 233. My FPGA has had so many versions of code running on it that I’m reasonably sure everything has been used a lot, but that’s not true for perhaps anyone else.
The Adio’s are just starting to get upgraded processor and latest software like Bach4mac unless the source is mono nearly all songs lose their luster for me. Nice of your friend to lian you a unit.