alrainbow said
I am glad it's here I cannot wait to try tonight .
Ted and team some thing I think that has not been said about the firmware rolling .
Choices is what audio is about. It starts from how loud to play our music and ends wpth where we sit in our rooms . What ps audio seems to be a pioneer in is giving us many Dacs to pic from in one nice unit . Although some have some filter choices but they do small chage that require attention to detect . This is big obvious changes always for the better of someone .
Digital audio is all magic and now we get to pick what trick is to be used not just how dim or Brite the lights will be .
Honestly I never thought thus product would evolve to this level in the audio arena it’s nice to be completely wrong . We ether I like this roll or not does not change this as the dac now has many views into our music .
Paul and team we are truly lucky to have picked this device from the myriad of stuff to choose from .
As I have been asking for more choices and somehow you guys found a way to achieve so anyone can have the choices we all should have .
As I am an avid tube roller some thing that becomes addictive but always a pleasure the fact that you pay for the rolling is in itself an extremly generous feature . I have a dac that is going to cost about 3k to have a new USB input leaving dop and going pure . Ps audio does this stuff for free thanks .
Paul as my room is getting g Close I plan on trying only two amps your mono and a goldmund great company to be in.
Thanks Al! I look forward to the comparisons. Goldmund has been doing some good work as of late. I have one other customer who decided on BHK over Goldmund but the Goldmund held its own and that is very impressive. Let us know.
Das ist der Hammer! As we say in German. I had installed YF this morning, switched on the speakers and the streamer, so that everything would have the appropriate temperature this afternoon, which is now.
I was hoping for something good, since the previous reviews were pointing in the direction I was hoping for, but I wasn´t up to what happened then.
During the last weeks I established a selection of titles for my reference, which are different from the ones I had before since the DS forced me to listen to different aspects than before.
So I started this first session with Take Five. It took maybe 10 seconds and I knew something big was happening. No more harshness, smooth an flowing but not losing any details. I almost couldn´t believe what I was hearing.
Second song was Van Morrison, Rave On John Donne, which also is from a live album. Van´s voice normally is a little compressed already and if the DAC isn´t doing a good job it becomes even more compressed. That, for example, was the end for the AMR DP 777.
But with YF everything was really good and the saxophone later was also the way it is suppose to be.
And then and then and then came my current ÜBER reference which is from the Phil Collins Big Band album: Against All Odds.
From minute 2 on there is major saxophone and drums and from minute 3 on there is the rest of the brass blowing away to a mind-boggling crescendo. With all previous versions the really high tones from the trumpets hurt the ears but with Yale Final it was very articulate and without any wrong harshness. This in many cases is the difference to live performances and play-back at home: Live saxophone or brass is never harsh but at home it can be if the DAC/streamer doesn´t do it´s job correctly.
Besides that the separation of the different instruments remained superb even during the hardest passages of that song towards the end of it.
I didn´t only have goose bumps but I´ve hardly ever been so touched by music before. Only a live performace of Beethovens Symphonies (four weeksends all nine symphonies) touched me more.
To cut a long story short:
This is far beyond of what I was hoping for and really makes me happy after the bumpy start with the DS.
Great job, guys!
Try Beuna vista social club tital track it’s a piano LEED in.
Listein to it on Yale beta and then Yale final
the impact of the piano is totally gone and becomes lake luster. And please I am not picking at this firmware and my words stink to describe and some tones I may come across as being harsh I am not.
There is many sounds in the back ground they also become more faint as well. In take final
Hi Al,
I am unfamiliar with Buena Vista Social Club, but when I search I see that it is a group as well as an album title. Can you please check to see what is the name/title of the track or tracks you use for comparison?
i am presently on my knees n prostrating westward towards Seattle.
it has been a long time since a new version has had me so spellbound. I even agree with Arnie, this time.
the clarity is such that I keep expecting vices or instruments to crackle under pressure at their limits but They Do Not.
ok. This version gets my 5G award. GGGGG
Holy, moly, Gordon likes it? Now that says something extraordinary. Gordon hasn’t loved anything since before we started naming them and this is a big deal. I trust Gordon’s hearing and perceptions greatly, this is amazing. Thanks Gordon, glad we finally scored one!!
Highstream, I use the JCAT card and find all firmwares, including Yale Final, to be easily and instantly recognized. Your posts indicate further problems. Sorry you are having so many of them.
Let me start off by saying that I have become enamored with finding a DAC’s sweetspot and then using HQPlayer to upsample (using Jussi’s quality filters, dithers and/or modulators) everything to it. With Yale Beta this was a no brainer; set the controls for the heart of DSD128 and be done. It made some sense since the internal machinations of the FPGA goes to this place anyway, whether directly or indirectly. And furthermore, if I was going to set and forget, I would choose DSD128 over any high PCM rate due to the fact that I feel that Yale Beta plays DSD64 and DSD128 better than PCM (more tonality, same dynamics).
Enter Yale Final. Same HQPlayer settings? Playing PCM sources material. My soundstage is now slightly thinned (meaning not as deep), leading edges are softer, bass slam is not gone but is severely repressed. Hmmm…let’s try DSD sources. Everything seems to be ok, maybe a little warmer but that’s fine with me. A fine patina has been added, but that, also, is fine with me…as long as dynamics (micro and macro) are not affected. They don’t seem to be…but overall gain seems lower (and that can be an issue with my equipment right now and some low gain DSD material anyway).
Let’s, instead, try PCM upsampled to DXD (but now staying in PCM, of course). OK, this I like. Although the soundstage has a slight “lit” quality, with almost unheard of detail, the effect is not analytical or hyper-real, it’s just as if a few layers were revealed and one of them is spotlight, albeit dim and maybe yellow (meaning the tradeoff of detail with timbre is a little more THERE quality than may be on the recording). But overall, I like it a lot. I hope this ever so slightly assertive sound does not wear on me; I don’t think it will.
Tonight I try this setup with DSD Direct (meaning all PCM goes to 352k, DSD is played back as native).
Net/net on night 1, this ain’t Yale Beta with a few tweaks. In my system it does not resemble Yale Beta at all, really.
@ted_b It’s not clear to me if you tried just letting the final Yale do all of the upsampling itself. Don’t get me wrong, you should do what you want for the sound you want, but a significant part of the changes from 1.2.1 to PP and then from PP to Yale involve the PCM upsampling. Doing it ahead of the time doesn’t inherently confer any sonic quality advantages to the FPGA - it still does all of the work, but ignores the answer.
Thanks to Paul for hiring Ted and empowering him to use his digital genius and, of course, thanks to Ted for continuing to experimenting with the boundary of sound qualities. As has been noted by many on this forum, all of we owners of the DirectStream DAC are given new gifts of firmware often enough that we get to either experience a new and improved sound from our system or validate that we are happy with the way it has been sounding. And all of it for the original price of admission! I fall into the camp of loving Yale Final because I easily become immerse in the music without analyzing the technicalities and being swept away is high on my list.
Ted Smith said
@ted_b It's not clear to me if you tried just letting the final Yale do all of the upsampling itself. Don't get me wrong, you should do what you want for the sound you want, but a significant part of the changes from 1.2.1 to PP and then from PP to Yale involve the PCM upsampling. Doing it ahead of the time doesn't inherently confer any sonic quality advantages to the FPGA - it still does all of the work, but ignores the answer.
Ted, thanks. Yes, I failed to mention that this native setup (let DS do its work) will be part of when I do DSD direct too. It also helps me determine where DS (specifically Yale Final) sounds best, if it has a "sweetspot". I should have done that first but assumed Final was a slight tweak of Beta, so I left it alone.
It seems the “sweetspot” theory really doesn’t apply when using FPGA DACs like the DS (or Chord). They want to see all the real (non interpolated) music themselves. Not sure why Beta was sooo much preferring DSD128. it was not difficult to hear how well redbook to DSD128 sounded superior to native or PCM-upsampled…in my system.
If others do not think the mids and heighs are slightly flat and recessed with YF, it is probably my system (mainly preamp in the loop and speakers).
I want to risen the volume all the time, but then the bass becomes too powerful. I also like the sound slightly in your face/near field. My problem is that the sound (e.g. singer) does not stand out for me to touch him/her (weightless and 3D).
So far my impression of Yale final is of delicacy; true to the source. Precise with no artificial detail. Powerful when demanded, gossamer airiness when asked.
Ted b i,love your posts if I could only understand you I might be very happy lol
Now if you just used something simple like j river or foobar a d noted the change then I could follow along .
As a server is not a plain cpu setup it is fundimentally close enough to what most use . I do agree Yale final.is not anything like Yale Bata . This is obvious in just a few seconds ad no superlatives needed . But that is good and gives us more choices even though for now I like beta it’s still choices to pick from for many others .
Lastly do you have shirts with decals of all the software a d devices you tout when you post . I am aging this when there is not single time you use a base system for others to compare to . Now indo respect you and your writing skills and keen observations but I cannot equate to it when there is so many softwares at work at any given time . I have tried all you use both j play and now the new fave HQ
While they do make some music sound well better the amount if effort and ever changing settings needed from.pcm to dsd and even music choice is just over whelping to me .
Clearly Ted S who uses simply foobar or j river is on to something that most here a d the masses use . Just once a simple setup and do a sample session and do a post . For me it does not take a complexity of devices and softwares to achieve how good this dac is . I think it’s more about making it so complex that know or almost none here or elsewhere will hear it as you claim to . Leaving open season to say whatever about any other product in comparison .
How ever I do like that fact that you have found a way that you like thus dac and it’s firmwares . At least I think that’s what you posted hah hahaha .
Sorry Ted B I post this but still love you anyway and don’t get mad at me please .
Just installed Yale. I’ll be listening later today.
I want to make a brief comment on the DS DAC since I’ve been away for a while. A couple of nights a week my wife and I arrive home at a normal hour and make dinner together or just hang out. Two 60-hour per week jobs, her fitness regimen, and all that rot. Anyway, I always play my favorite jazz – Getz, Basie, Art Pepper, Brubeck, and yes, Sinatra – through the DS DAC: discs through my Oppo, Pandora from my Roku, or streaming from my Mac via USB. I am never less than gob-smacked at how good music sounds through this device. Even lowly (free) Pandora, with its semi-crappy stream, sounds like nothing I would’ve heard before the DS DAC. This is truly a paradigm shifting product. And this is with Pikes Peak, BTW.
It sorta helps that you have tube gear to drive your loudspeakers…
Elk said
So far my impression of Yale final is of delicacy; true to the source. Precise with no artificial detail. Powerful when demanded, gossamer airiness when asked.
Elk, is this with PCM sources, DSD, both? What player?
If I were doing a review I would make sure I stayed consistent with a baseline of JRIver, Rendu (I2S) and HQplayer, and then describe changes that each are portraying. My comments above were first night impressions using HQplayer to upsample to DSD. I did not like PCM upsampled to DSD, so now I am upsampling PCM to higher rate PCM, period. And based on Ted Smith’s comments, I will try no upsampling tonight (and will describe the Signature Rendu I2S sound too).
T-shirts? Al, I am not a schill, and sorry I come across as that. You are the first to comment that way; most like that I use various things (Regen, etc) in real world setups so folks can have an idea how various products and synergy relate (in my system). But as I said above, if it’s a review I will make sure I have at least a fairly bare bones comparo, too.
George Moneo said
Just installed Yale. I'll be listening later today.
I want to make a brief comment on the DS DAC since I’ve been away for a while. A couple of nights a week my wife and I arrive home at a normal hour and make dinner together or just hang out. Two 60-hour per week jobs, her fitness regimen, and all that rot. Anyway, I always play my favorite jazz – Getz, Basie, Art Pepper, Brubeck, and yes, Sinatra – through the DS DAC: discs through my Oppo, Pandora from my Roku, or streaming from my Mac via USB. I am never less than gob-smacked at how good music sounds through this device. Even lowly (free) Pandora, with its semi-crappy stream, sounds like nothing I would’ve heard before the DS DAC. This is truly a paradigm shifting product. And this is with Pikes Peak, BTW.
It sorta helps that you have tube gear to drive your loudspeakers…
See ya later…
Hi George,
Found your comments to be of special interest as a former tube-o-phile. Thought that this latest iteration (Yale Final?) may be the closest yet to an organic, tube sort of sound without any drawbacks that I can tell. At least so far.
