Ted Smith, PS Audio's wizard of converting digital signals to analog, has been at it again. It's not as if he hadn't warned us. In the November 2015 issue I reported on Yale, the latest iteration of the DirectStream D/A processor's operating system. Although Yale was, in my estimation, a considerable improvement on the OS that preceded it—Pikes Peak—Smith said at the time that he was "already working on ideas that should make it much, much better still."
Now we have Torreys, DirectStream's latest OS, available for free download from PS Audio's website ($29 when supplied on a pre-formatted SD Card or USB stick, the latter for the DirectStream Junior DAC only). The claimed improvements include better low-level linearity at low volume levels, improved HF noise performance, lower jitter, and better support for gapless playback of DSD content. What I most noticed from my copy, downloaded from PS Audio, was an increase in resolution that corresponded to what Paul McGowan, CEO of PS Audio, referred to in an e-mail as "improved Red Book performance."
The verdict: I would take Torreys Final over Yale. My only digital source is CD (via PS Audio's PerfectWave transport), so I can't comment on the DirectStream-Torreys reproduction of native DSD and other high-resolution formats—but since the DirectStream approach involves converting all inputs to DSD, I would expect that the improvements available from high-resolution content are at least comparable to what I've experienced from Torreys.
This just in: PS Audio has announced that, in combination with their Bridge II network card, both the DirectStream and DirectStream Junior DACs are now compatible with the popular Roon music-management software.—Robert Deutsch
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COMMENTS
I am having some problems with the new P S Audio DirectStream DAC I bought. I am not a audiophile or a computer wiz. I have an old Dell from 2004. I called P S Audio to help with downloading the software and fired up the DAC. Using my USB cable, I was able to listen to WBGO on the net, but I could not listen to WKCR because Windows Player and Real Player gave me error messages ! I need someone who knows audio and PCs !
Using my USB cable, I was able to listen to WBGO on the net, but I could not listen to WKCR because Windows Player and Real Player gave me error messages!
As you were able to listen to WBGO via your Internet connection and the PS Audio DAC, this suggests your set-up is correct. If you set the PS Audio via USB as your PC's default sound device, are you able to listen to things like YouTube using your Web browser?
John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/review-and-measurements-of-ps-audio-perfectwave-directstream-dac.9100/
Thank you for the link. Amir's measurements aren't that different from Stereophile's, so I am not sure why you imply ours aren't "real."
In addition, when he quotes me as saying in our review that "In many ways PS Audio's DirectStream DAC measures superbly well but..." and says "What? Superbly well? This is is superbly well?" and shows the poor low-frequency linearity graph from my measurements of the review sample with the original firmware, he is ignoring both my "but" and the subsequent measurements at www.stereophile.com/content/new-firmware-measurements, which show that this poor performance had been addressed.
John Atkinson
Technical Editor, Stereophile
Tego DAC będzie można posłuchać w tym tygodniu w Poznaniu w HTaudio w ramach "Tygodnia z najlepszymi przetwornikami DAC w cenie 18-30 tys. zł". Oprócz PS Audio DirectStream DAC będzie także Nuprime Evolution DAC, Audiobyte Hydra Vox i Simaudio Moon 390: https://sklep.htaudio.pl/b log/zapraszamy-na-tydzien-z-na jlepszymi-przetwornikami-dac-1 -6-sierpnia
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