I guess we shall see, or rather hear. Also will be interesting when the new PMG Signature DAC can be compared to a fully modded DSD MkI by JK Richards.
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While reading the information on the PMG DAC I notice the mention of the use of an op amp as the output stage. I sure hope that in a unit of this expense that it is using a discrete op amp and not a chip op amp. The limiting factor of so many DACS is the use of an op amp as the output. It is also hard to let go of all the advantages that using an FPGA instead of a chip converter gave his design. This was presented at the release of the mk 1. The mk 2 went way beyond the mk 1 design. I look forward to hearing the PMG DAC. It will take allot to unseat the mk 2 for me.
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Thanks, Alex, and great thoughts here. Indeed, your idea of marrying the DSMKII digital board with the SpoectraWave sequencer, thus preserving the FPGA upsampler, is a good idea and one we tried already. It certainly worked but to no advantage we could tell, sonically or measurement wise.
We actually found lower jitter and better sonics when we implemented instead the PureStream engine which takes a similar approach but produces less jitter.
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DSMKII DACs can run at either voltage already. They just need to be internally configured for the countryās voltage
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Thanks Paul, I did wonder. Iām often in contact with Kevin about trying at least two Mk IIs to check that nothing untoward happens driving my BHK250s for mid and treble and to check that the audible noise isnāt unbearable. I love the sound I get with the Mk 1s and on a good day canāt imagine anything better. Dan.
My point is the passage āachieving state-of-the-art performance is what sets the stageā. This is,the first time I see such a statement from psaudio, giving so much relevance to measurements.
This is a big turn, that I find it hard to understand, specially because:
-all of the previous product lines are very far from state-of-the -art performance. Statements like Paul saying that the best sounding amp (BHK) is the one with the worst measuments now sound somewhat empty (another quote from Darren on this thread feels the same)
-psaudio customers (including myself) donāt care much for this kind of measurement contest
- the PMG line public measurements are not state-of-the-art. In fact they are not even in the same league as Benchmark products, also built in the US, and costing half, measuring one or two orders of magnitude better (dac and preamp) (not to mention RME and the Chinese products)
PSAudio is at the risk of being caught in no-manās-land, emphasizing a feature that will not be delivered, and can be felt like a deviation of their core values.
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If I got it right, the PMG is not a chip dac, but a custom ladder dac, with an over sampling sector, called now as PureStream, that is followed by a fairly short 64-tap digital filter called spectra wave just compared its length to the 1 million taps filter used by chord, for example).
I didnāt see any hints whether it is a true ladder dac (like MSB or Holo) or a thermometer coded dac, similar to dcs).
The -100dB SINAD (assuming this is the right spec, because the 0,1% THD+N is absolutely awful) indicates to be a true ladder dac, but with measured performance almost two orders of magnitude worse then holo (-118db SINAD) and one order of magnitude worse than topping Centaurus ladder dac (-112dB SINAD).
I believe we will get to know more technical details as time passes and reviews are made.
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I suspect getting constantly hammered by the measurement based reviews may have been a factor. āSounds absolutely fabulous, butā¦ā
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Agreed. I am just remembering that Schiit took a similar path, after being bashed by measurements. Now they publish full AP reports of their flagship products (the full disclosure is truly commendable - see their Modius dac, with -110dB measured SINAD).
Like others, I was initially miffed with the end of the MK2, or more accurately, the end of updates for it since that was one of the āfeaturesā trumpeted by PS Audio. However, it is certainly not the end of the world and consumers almost always take the risk of companies replacing their products with new ones. PS Audio is a business, not a family (altough the sentiment is nice), and it has to make business decisions in its own self-interest which may rub some of its customers the wrong way, which is not a bad thing. Itās just a business reality.
I was deliriously happy with the MK2 before the announcement and that hasnāt changed. Itās still a great Dac and one that I can happily live with for a long time; or at least until the āupgradeā itch needs to be scratched again.
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Nice to point out Murray. I adore my PST and DSD Mk II combo, and my NuWave Phono Converter, I look forward to sitting in front of this system every day I am home. No new product line changes that!
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The sad thing is, I suspect the usual measurement suspect sites will look at the new DAC, measure the -100dB SINAD and say āthis is the best they can do?ā. And once again, they will not listen to it. The only thing that will make them happy is -118dB or better. 
Replace the index finger with the one next to it.
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Agreed one more time. This is a trap, and in my opinion a path that should not have been taken. Bold statements like state of the art will bite back.
The bashing will continue, specially that 0.1% THD+N doesnāt get corrected quickly.
I was not speaking of the DAC conversion but of the output stage. Op amps can be discrete or chip based. A DAC in this price category should if using any op amp use discrete. Now that you mentioned ladder DAC I distinctly remember Ted in his explanation of his design stating that you cannot get the accuracy of the steps in a ladder dac that you can get using his method.
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Sorry for not understanding you correctly the first time.
And I have the same recollection from Ted: to avoid noise and distortion, the tolerance for the performance of each of the resistors of the ladder dac is very strict.
That is why they are overly expensive (as MSB) or carry lots of inherent noise and distortion. And the industry steered away from ladder dacs to delta-sigma ones, that perform better (in regards to measurements) with low cost. Ted built a delta sigma using his fpga technic, same as playback designs (Andreas Koch, from playback designs, one of the fathers of DSD, holds Ted in the highest regard).
Also, this is the reason dcs does not build a true ladder dac, instead using their mapping technology (ring dac) to randomly assign the bits to different resistors, averaging out noise and distortion (as far as I have understood).
Holo seems to have found a different path, with a good performant dac keeping prices at bay. But I donāt know of the details of their tech. Topping is using holo resistor ladder module in their dad.
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I even found the link to his post
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You never know! Ted is lurking! 
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Fortunately, I think any of us who care about sound really donāt listen to those guys all that much.
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I have to agree here. I can figure out THD-N and SINAD but never would of looked it up. And I
couldnt care less what the measurement sites say.
However a comment by Stereophile or similar source referring to noise may be cause to investigate further. Will be interested in how the Pre and DAC review.
Ill know what I need to know about the PMG when i hear it in the audition room and/or my own area.
At that point, its a price vs performance equation. Not a price vs measurement equation.
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