PS Audio Direct Stream

Mattnshilp, Your review with those Dacs would be great!

Drubin. Check out PS Audio Website. A new owner of the DS has compared the DS to Meitner, and the Auralic Vega. He sold them and kept the DS!

There is also to be an upcoming review of the PS Audio DirectStream in 6 Moons.

I should have my DS unit in the next couple of weeks. I can compare it to a Bryston BDA-2 Dac and the Dac inside of my Cary SACD 306 SACD.

Drubin: your list is appropriate and comparable to the DS in many ways. Actually a much more appropriate comparison list then the one I created. I actually have a friend who might bring his Meitner MA-1 for me to try as well.

My goal is to audition higher level dac's that are sort of catering to red book and 16/44 files, not DSD or up sampled PCM. Most on my list are between $8K and $10k . I want to see if the DS can truly compete with bigger guns, as Paul M from PS Audio claims . In an interview, he said that his DS compared favorably (read "sounded better") then a $30K DAC they tried in their listening room.

I'll share my findings happily

Out of curiosity, how many songs do you guys usually use for your gear comparisons? I have a song list on Amarra with 15-20 songs and I actually think its too many truthfully. I'm thinking 5 well chosen songs would be much more effective Considering my 20 songs take about 2 hours to listen to, I find that my brain doesn't have the capacity to remember specific nuances of an earlier song by the time the later songs come .

Mattnshilp,

From PF:
"Positive Feedback Online Fair warning: This may end up being real competition to the Playback Designs MPD-3 and MPD-5 DSD DACs, my current reference standards. I'll give it a week or so to fully warm up...I'll work it out with numerous DSD and PCM sources, to check this."

AudioStream is also working on a review.

Matt,
I would feel very comfortable comparing the Lampizator Big 6 against the MSB, DCS and Esoteric " upper tier" DACs based on music reproduction criteria as opposed to a "hifi" check list. It will depend on what you're looking for. Your impressions will be interesting to read.
Charles,

Charles1dad:
I chose my DAC list based on each units strong reputation as a wonderfully musical piece of kit. Emotional and involving. I am sure that all 5, in the right system, with the right synergy, could produce best-in-show performance at RMAF. They are all going to be great, so my opinion will be based on my other gear, cables, room, accessories, etc.

But my system is pretty resolving, so I think its a good opportunity for others to use what I find....

Happy to answer any questions via this forum, PM or email.