PS Audio
I’m going to cover a few points common to both the DirectStream and DirectStream Junior DACs first and then discuss differences and sound individually.
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One of the key features of the PS Audio DirectStream DACs it that they can be upgraded, by the user, in a very simple process. Essentially, you download the new software (which is defines the configuration or programming of the FPGA, copy it to an SD card (or USB stick for the Junior), and plug it in and reboot the unit.
Since the implementations for up/over-sampling, PCM-to-DSD conversion, and digital-to-analog conversion, as well as overall system operation, are implemented on the FPGA, these “software” upgrades have the potential to radically alter the performance of the unit.
This is a smart move.
Linn does something similar (although their FPGA doesn’t do the actual D-to-A part of the job – that’s done with a D/S chip, and the FPGA handles up/over-sampling, filtering, and room-correction). And over many upgrades to my Linn DSM units, there have been significant improvements in sound quality – so the feature is potentially huge.
Chord also use an FPGA implementation for their DACs, however they’ve chosen not to make these user-upgradeable and if they ever released an update (which I don’t think is likely based on comments from Rob Watts, their chief designer), the units would have to be returned to the factory to be modified; so unless no updates are planned there (e.g. say if Rob didn’t think he can make further improvements), that’s a lost opportunity in my opinion.
In the case of the PS Audio units, does this upgradability translate into anything useful?
I have to say that’s a resounding “YES”!
I deliberately began my audition on an older OS (“Yale”). Upgrading to the latest version, “Torreys” brought immediate, obvious and surprisingly wide ranging improvements (not just differences).
This is very exciting feature, with huge potential. Upgradability is very nice to have and it being something that the user can do themselves, quickly and easily, makes it even better.
[size=17.03px]DirectStream DAC [/size][size=17.03px](+)[/size]
When running on the “Yale” operating system, I felt the DirectStream was good, but not really as competitive as it was going to need to be to warrant going on to the next round of evaluation. Detail was a little smoothed in the upper registers, there was a bit more “mass” in the mid-range than I believe was properly authentic, and dynamics were not quite on the level that I’d expect with this tier of product.
It was still an enjoyable listen but wasn’t quite good enough for me to want to take further.
Installing the “Torreys” release made a surprisingly large improvement, almost across the board. A simple software update transformed the DAC and elevated it from “good but no cigar” to fully competitive, and even edging ahead in overall musicality and emotion. The remainder of these comments are based on listening to the “Torreys” operating system release (which is the latest release as of this writing).
This doesn’t quite reach the detail levels of DAVE, which is only fractionally ahead of Yggdrasil there anyway, but the DirectStream is largely on par with Yggdrasil. They do seem to trade places here and there with different recordings. Detail and resolution are, nonetheless, very high and there’s no sense of artificiality or exaggeration to that detail, unlike, say, some of the Sabre based units (Auralic’s Vega in particular).
Tone is very pure, with excellent timbral rendering. The nemesis for most DACs in these evaluations, rending of piano, was handled extremely well with the only discernible difference coming from a sense of very-slightly (and I do mean VERY slightly) slower attack from the PS Audio unit.
Imaging/sound-stage … is taken by Yggdrasil. It yields a better sense of three dimensionality and slightly better separated 2D projection, although the DirectStream certainly projects a solid, stable and 3D image – if a bit behind in the vertical domain.
I found the overall sound to be extremely well balanced and perhaps a bit richer than Yggdrasil, particularly in the mid-range and treble. Articulation, space/air, instrumental separation were all fully competitive.
Dynamics/transients just favored Yggdrasil. There was a slightly better sense of things starting/stopping instantly with Schiit’s DAC.
Any sense of glare, harshness or artificiality was completely absent. Music was portrayed in a very smooth and engaging manner and it was hard not to get lost in it and just sit listening. Yggdrasil has sometimes been accused of being clinical, analytical or lean/bright, and while I do not share those opinions, they’re definitely not adjectives one would apply to the DirectStream unit.
Overall this was a fabulous listen that didn’t give up much, if anything, to Yggdrasil and where it did fall short, it wasn’t buy much or in more than a couple of places. This absolutely had to go on the shortlist, not just because of how it sounds, but also because of the (realized) potential of it’s upgradability.
[size=17.03px]DirectStream Junior [/size][size=17.03px](+)[/size][size=17.03px](!)[/size]
PS Audio claim this is 85% of the performance of its progenitor, at two-thirds the price. The deal is actually better than that, though, as the price of the Junior includes the “Network Bridge II” card. This would be an $899 option for the bigger DAC.
Then there’s trade-in options, which are available direct from the manufacturer, and which can reduce the price of the unit substantially. This slants things further in favor of the Junior if you want that Network interface (and I definitely would, see below).
Using the same trade-in option for both units, you get $4,999 + $899 for the DirectStream w/ Network Bridge II vs. $2,999 (also with the network card, since it’s included). That means you’re paying just over half the price of the bigger DAC to get largely the same capabilities and most of the performance.
So, now on to the sound … which will be a VERY brief discussion as departures from the bigger DAC are just not that large.
This sounds uncannily like its big brother. I doubt, without listening the way I do when I’m auditioning, that I’d be able to tell the difference at all. Junior loses out a little on the detail side of things, dynamics/transients aren’t quite at the level of big-brother, and it is a little behind on imaging, but tone/timbre, PRaT and involvement are all right there with the “full” version.
And in some situations I found that, musically, I preferred the Junior – this occurred primarily when feeding my WA5-LE in single-ended mode (it’s a single ended design, despite offering convenience balanced inputs and outputs). I’m not sure why this would be the case, unless it’s down to the output stage on the Junior not being dual/differential (which it’s big brother is), but it was not a universal thing – mostly seeming to affect detail and transients.
The short version here is that I feel the Junior is a lot closer to its more expensive relative than the 15% differential that PS Audio cite. Maybe that’s from measurements, I don’t know, but sitting and listening to them … I’d say it’s closer to 95%. I would, for example, say the Junior is closer to the full-blown DirectStreamm than Gungnir Multi-bit is to Yggdrasil (and they’re pretty close, even if their signatures are different).
Given that this is so close to its big brother, is significantly cheaper, and that the full-version easily earned its place in my shortlist, this unit has to go on there as well. I could, for example, hedge my bets and buy one of these, get the advantage of the included Network interface, and another Yggdrasil and still come in shy of the price of the full-blown DirectStream DAC.
[size=17.03px]Network Bridge II[/size]
For most DACs I was NOT comparing different inputs – I pretty much used AES/EBU if it was available, TOSLINK if it wasn’t, and only USB if it was the only option and/or I was experimenting with DSD.
With the PS Audio units, I did use both their AES/EBU inputs and the Network Bridge II.
There’s not a lot to say here … except that I generally preferred listening to both units via their Network interfaces. Detail and timing seemed improved, as did instrumental separation and layering using the Bridge as an input. And if I was buying the DirectStream I would definitely get it with the Network Bridge II option.
Also, since I’m a Roon user, the upcoming support for Roon would be something that’s very nice to have.
[size=17.03px]A footnote on DSD playback:[/size]
I did try DSD playback with these units and did NOT suffer any of the dropout issues that I was getting with the Chord units. I didn’t find that feeding the unit native-DSD improved its performance at all (nor pre-converted PCM content – but that’s probably because it can do its own conversion internally), but I will say that, of the handful of DACs I did bother testing with DSD, this pair performed the best.
That applies in both function and sound.
Note that I can’t count the Chord units in the comparison there because, while they did sound good when they were playing, drop-outs above single-rate DSD (which I didn’t like in comparison to ANYTHING) were so frequent that there was no way one could listen to an entire track without multiple interruptions and being jarred out of the moment.
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