Learn all about the new DirectStream MK2 DAC by designer Ted Smith. Discussed is galvanic isolation, jitter, noise, power supplies, and what makes this DAC one of the world's most advanced and best sounding in the world.
Thanks, Ted! It's great to hear your enthusiasm and passion. These are the kinds of weeds one loves to get lost in (jungle, even) with the proper guide!
I'm the polar opposite of a software engineer, (though a tech oriented filmmaker running a huge Davinci Resolve rig) yet I absolute love hearing about optimizations as you mention, and how it affects sound quality. I've watched it 3 or 4 times, a few times pausing to read about the component he mentioned. I have a MKII on order and excited by the potential to increase quality as Ted spoke about using the second FPGA. In another interview he mentioned he was only using half of the first FPGA, so who knowns what can happen. I've owned the very first round of directstream MKI 8 years ago, so I've been enjoying Ted's lowering of jitter and distortion, the platform for a long time.
It always impresses me to listen to technology designers with this much passion. I just hope there are members of the younger generations that desire this much knowledge with this much passion. Is Ted teaching anyone this stuff?
Hello, I have a MK2 on order and am trading in a MK1. This video is the best way to highlight the differences and further reinforce my decision to upgrade, even though my wife doesn't quite see it that way! This was a great idea and I appreciate the time it took to make it! Another reason to be in the PS Audio family! I now have the MK2 and out of the gate the highs seem less in your face and more detailed. The bass is tighter and better focused than the MK1. There's no way the new DAC is coming back out of my system! The MK1 is on its way back to you! Thank you so much for your passion in designing and getting this out to us Audiophile nerds.
Ted looks like Santa Clause. Maybe he can give us all a DSD Mk11 for Christmas. I didn't understand very much of the presentation but Ted seems like an absolute genius. I would be surprised if this doesn't blow away every other DAC on the market. It'll be interesting to see how the reviewers assess this one. At the end of the day, it's the musicality that matters. The technology is just the means by which we get to hear the music.
Terry while a MKII isn't going to land in your lap (I'm waiting for mine to ship) the MKI used is now very reasonably priced, and if still too expensive, in 2 years it will be more affordable. With the latest OS it sounded utterly fantastic, and wouldn't have thought about upgrading were it not for the generous trade in.
I think someone on the PS forum heard both and liked the DS MKII better- there’s also a third party transformer that’s supposed to take it to the level of $15-20K dacs
I just bought one of your MK1 that you have on discount. I have not received it yet. I feel like I just bought my first taster drug from the drug dealer and he is sitting on drug mk2 waiting on my return. :)
Thanks for putting this together, it's always great to hear from the man that does the cooking. As an aside are your m700 monoblocks power factor corrected? I spent most of my life in the power supply industry so I know adding PFC correction is often done by using the right switch mode control chip in the power supply and a large amp can really do damage to the AC line waveform if it's not tamed.
It would be nice to have Ted make his signature dac with a cost being no object. This way we can compare it to the various MSB LampizatOr and DCS’ of the world. What ever happened to the two box super dac he was making? I would love to see that project pick back up now that Covid has mainly passed.
I really have a feeling a lot of the TSS ended up in the MKII (Ted has mentioned some) except outboard power supply. Maybe they will rethink the TSS and take it upmarket. The MKII with an aftermarket transformer upgrade for $600 I'm planning on I think would be almost a twin of TSS and many DACS in that range. A stock MKI was reported as being better than a $12.5k tambouri and equal to a $14.5k dac.
Is "power factor" a measurement/specification you can get from the manufacturer of any amp, or dac? Or is it something you need analyzing equipment for?
This interview is a testament to the importance of having AudioScienceReview in the community. And I say this as a still happy owner of a DS Senior MK1.
I have so much stereo equipment I have collected over my lifetime it is nuts; and people for sure say I am addicted to the stuff and in love the equipment .! But it is not the stuff I am in love with; it it's the magic that comes through the sound from time to time and that can come through on any equipment. I remember the magic feeling coming through music on a small transistor radio when I was a child,, and I remember magic coming form a car radio days when we only had a radio in the car with one speaker in the front... And as the equipment got better we assumed that it was the equipment giving the magic feeling,, so we pushed for more and better equipment.. And it is true better equipment does sound better and I am telling you I got so much equipment it is just insane.. But about two years ago I picked up a little low power not old kind of cheap used fisher amp with a bunch of knobs on the front.. And just like for fun to test it hooked up and plugged in one little itty bitty tiny junk sub sitting in front of me not much bigger than a soft ball' and also one little silver bar speaker that I pulled from a junk pile,, and put a jack into the lap top and played some music off youtube and it game me that magic feeling. And there I was sitting in front of thousand and thousands of dollars of high end equipment but loving what I was hearing more than from all that other stuff.... Magic wonderful feelings come in many ways and to each person in different ways.. It's like love for a person we want to hug them,, and so when we hear a speaker giving us that magic feeling we want to to run towards it and grab for more and that goes for everything,, so we collect more stuff on this earth. But guys; remember we take none of it with us when we leave this earth and our days to run around on this wide world are running short..
Can you run 2 amps off the outputs like a speaker amp on xlr and a headphone amp on rca without it getting angry at you? Many dacs only like 1 output getting used and prefer just balanced. If you plug in another amp the noise goes up bad and you get hums.
It would have been nicer to see to pics of the mk2, along with the insides. You did miss mentioning one important part, the clocks. I can imagine some disappointed customers, they've just got a Mk1, only to learn they now have to offload it and find some more money.
Thats whats great about this hobby. Owning a product for a short time and waiting for them to improove upon it. Then upgrading it for something better. There will always be something better round the corner.
We MK 1 owners got $3500 trade in value towards Mk2 plus discount credit for other PS audio gear, My MK1 was upgraded from a perfect wave DAC I used to own. It's been a fairly cost effective digital ride for many years. Maybe 3-4 years I had the perfectwave, then 8 years with the low cost upgrade kit to the Directstream, and let's say another 8 years with the MkII. That would be 20 years of fairly cutting edge digital playback for maybe $500 or 600 per year? Not bad in my book.
@@Justin-fy7xk That's right and it's gone so far overboard it's nuts.. And I did it too and spent bib big bucks trying to keep up with my friends in stereo when I was young,,, and then 30 years later it is all sitting at the dump like new and free for the taking,, or at the thrift store for a couple of dollars.. Find a bunch of old speakers and hook them to an old amp and a computer and go on youtube and listen to music and magic can happen..
As a PS Audio fan and with so much going for the Mark II, I need to ask.... When might we see a chassis redesign/upgrade of the company's electronics (i.e. make it look better)? At the level that you're playing, you must see the importance of this...case in point, the FR series vs prototype designs or other companies' designs. It's not all about looks, but if my water boiler is universally more visually appealing than a >$5k luxury electronic, there's something that needs to be solved. 🙏
I'd like my MKII's on order to be a little fancier, but the silver looks fine. I wish the screen were as big as the MK1 I just sold. But we PS Audio customers are value customers. I'm kind of happy my BHK 300 amps are so austere looking. When first released they were reported as sounding better than the gorgeous Constellation amps, also designed by the late Bascom King. The BHK's are a fraction of the price and have a tube input section which affords tube rolling for even better sound. Of course now I want to trade up to the BHK600, but not possible right now.
I've got a Mk2 on order. I hope to be picking up my jaw from the floor, too! In a good way. My current rig already has a dark black background, so I'm hoping for a sound stage that sounds a lot more like live music! Hope I don't have to add a $1,000 power cord to get there.
Having owned the MKI from it's first release, I can confidently say that no matter how impressed you are or not, the DAC will evolve over time as Ted tries all these new techniques. He's currently using only around half of one of the two FPGA's. Over the years Ted is going to deliver improvements. They could be subtle, they could be incredible but I'm looking forward to the ride once my MKII arrives. Plus there's a $600 transformer upgrade for it that should take it to the $20K + level DAC.
Sigh ... I've barely had my Mk I DirectSream DAC for a year and it's been completely outclassed by this new version. I guess that's technology for you. (The MK I here in New Zealand cost me an arm and a leg. I hate to even think what the Mk II is going to cost here). Will it be possible to upgrade the earlier version?
I feel for you man. The MKII and the TS have been in the works for quite a while, as PS is pretty transparent on their forum, so I really think people knew this was coming for quite some time. There is no upgrade path from the MKi to MKII like there was when I owned their Perfectwave Dac and had not only a path to cheaply upgrade to V2, but then they made available a kit to upgrade to the Directstream. Since you're out of US, not sure how the trade in policy works. I would call them. Unfortunately if you had bought the MKI used, you would have gotten it's full value on the trade in. I'm not in great financial shape right now, but the upgrade offer is so tempting, including discounts on future gear. It' not as if the MK1 sounds bad, (especially when I added an EtherRegen going to the Bridge 2) just that the new one is SOTA.
@@johnnycashlesscomedy8616 Thanks for your comments, Johnny. It was bought brand-new. I received it in January last year from the NZ importer in Hamilton (I actually ordered it in October 2021 but it took that long to arrive from Boulder). The typical rate of exchange is approximately two NZ dollars to the US dollar so I'll let you do the arithmetic as to what I paid for it. I bought the SACD transport at the same time so between the two of them it was like buying a new car. I rather thought there wouldn't be an upgrade option as there seems that so much has changed between the models. A trade-in is a possibility, I suppose, but it will depend on what sort of deal I get.
@@wty1313 Thanks for your comment. Not surprisingly, it will depend on what I have to pay for the new DAC after taking a trade-in into account and whether I consider it an acceptable deal. That may end up being up to the New Zealand agent. I'm pretty pleased with the Mk1, but it's now obvious that the Mk II is a great deal better in a number of areas.
@@johnmarchington3146 PS Audio's website has a forum section. In the forum, there is a section for their DACs. There are various threads by people who participated in the beta testing, etc. Just be aware that the posts are from people who skew toward favoring PS products. There is at least one poster who states he prefers the sound of the Mk1, saying he finds the 2 too bright for his taste.
@@byrdmania4895 Expensive , but the product is made in the US, Colorado, if that means anything to you. PS offers ridiculous trade in offers, like $3500 for your old gear, plus ability to audition at home before you send your old gear in. The free firmwear upgrades keep the machine current and evolving in quality for maybe 8 -10 years, which helps the value proposition in an appropriate high end system.
Generally speaking, better quality components make for better sound but they also usually cost more. I think Ted and PS Audio have achieved a remarkable improvement in performance for only 2k more than the MK1. Everyone has their own comfort zone / sweet spot on the cost/performance curve. I think the MK2 has gone a long way to force that curve lower.
@@carlstineman274 I agree that value is a personal question. But, I can ‘t help but wonder what the margin is on high end audio products. If it were not a lucrative business why would there be SO many companies making audio equipment at the same time that audiophiles are so rare. All of this said, PS Audio is an easy company to admire and I own an amplifier with their name on it.
@@johnnycashlesscomedy8616 Yep I don't think it would be too smart,, possibly snake oil..? I guess it could be a tax shelter for someone with too much $ but that leaves me out.. Ha Ha..
I find it very confusing that Ted says the reason the Mk2 sounds so good compared to the Mk1 is because of its low noise when the Stereophile review of this DAC indicates it has higher audible and measured noise. Something doesn't add up.
Yep galvanic,, that is a big world,, but what the heck does it mean, who knows.. Sounds kind of snake oil like to me like selling someone on Corona virus or omicron virus or money virus,, so buy that too and get stung.. Getting stung can kill you but what the heck go get it..
Sounds to me like this guy is reinventing the wheel. DACs with incredibly low noise-floor far below the Mk-1 already exist aplenty. I'm guessing the Mk-2 is not going to have a significantly lower noise-floor than the Mk-1.
I believe it’s supposed to have a lower noise floor but I haven’t gotten home to listen to my MKII. Everyone who has gotten one loves it and will only get better as Ted is only using half of one of the two FPGAs, so plenty of room left to improve the sound. There’s also a custom transformer that will be available that is reported to make the MKII one of the top DACs in the world. The trade in offers make it resonantly priced as well.
@@JonAnderhub I thought the whole purpose was to isolate or eliminate the noise produced from such a primitive beast through newer and more innovative circuit design through smaller and faster component designs that reduce potential noise/hum brought by lower quality metals that electricity travels through! Am I mistaken! Lol
Home audio isn't about impressing anyone. Not many people even care, but most people can relate to Home Theater setups. It's about turning your home, (in my case) into the best late night jazz club. Recreating a sonic hologram of all these deceased artists at will is priceless.
Can you guys stop building things that make us want to empty out our bank accounts! Going to upgrade my MK1 while the trade in discount is available. Damn evil geniuses!!!
"Galvanic isolation may make a difference for you or it may not make a difference for you...", but you are going to pay for it anyway. So how do you eliminate noise caused by flux (the total magnetic field which passes through a given area), why by using magnets in magneto restrictive coupler. WAIT WHAT? Your using current and magnets which are a source of noise in electrical circuits to eliminate noise in electrical circuits? How are you isolating the outputs? Transformers. Transformers cause distortion of the output signal, but the good news is that you can bypass the transformer and the isolation with a switch. WAIT WHAT? Doesn't a switch introduce phase shift and distortion too? Sounds like a whole lot of money for something that "may make a difference for you, or it may not make a difference for you".
Pretty much everyone on PS audio's forum that has heard the MK2 vs. the Mk1 have glowing things to say. I have heard how Galvanic isolation helped using my etherRegen, making the music less edgy and more like my great vinyl rig sounds. So don't get hung up on whether one aspect of the topology is beneficial or not. The sum is greater than the whole of its parts. Going to order mine this week, helped by the generous trade in offer on My MK1. Ted is the real deal.
@@johnnycashlesscomedy8616 Ya well here's the problem with you "hearing a difference" with galvanic isolation. It doesn't make a bit of difference because the next step in the power supply is storing the A.C. right into capacitors (remember the capacitors he dismissed but forgot to tell you were the next step in line) to be converted to D.C. The DAC or all audio components for that matter don't use A.C. at all and it doesn't make any difference how "clean" the A.C. is coming into the capacitors. If you would have listened to Ted he used a lot of double talk and half-truths to try and sound convincing. So why do people on the PS forum talk about how much greater sounding the MK2 is? Well, those are all the people that said how great the MK 1 was. PT Barnum said it best "...there's one born every minute." I believe Mark Twain often gets attributed to the quote "It is easier to fool people, than convince them they have been fooled."
@@Wizardofgosz ASR several times measured PS gear incorrectly. Just because someone buys an expensive test device doesn't mean they know how to use it in every application, as PS Audio's chief engineer proved, or indicated Amir tested the wrong output. We don't listen to measurements, and the late Bascom King, who was a legendary amp designer and tested gear for publications, tested an amp that measured much lower distortion that any other, but it sounded poor. Is that the amp you want to listen to just because it's spec sheet is good? I believe it was RCA that tested up to 50% harmonic distortion could be tolerated by people if it was even order harmonics and not Odd order. Some of the best sounding recordings use tube gear, which doesn't measure as well as solid state, yet plenty of solid state recordings from a certain era sound thin and anemic. Ted Smith is genius, who used to do audio work/coding for Microsoft. Could Amir get a job doing that for Microsoft? The people that make recordings use their ears to decide what sounds good , and while there is definitely a place for measurements, they are not nearly as sophisticated as our ears. I use live acoustic music as my reference, not other stereo systems. If you haven't heard the new MKII in a truly high end system, than you have no idea what it sounds like. That being said, every product is built to a price point and even the Edcore transformers in the MKII can be improved upon. I'm having custom transformers installed in MkII when they become available, but even in stock form, one user preferred the PS Audio to the over $15K MSB Discrete. If you're ever in NYC and want to hear it, I'd be happy to let you.
The ASR guy doesn't understand that measurements don't always tell the whole story. Fact is, two units can both measure equally well but sound quite different, one losing detail and soundstage that the other has in spades. It takes a while to educate your ear to hear the difference. Also, it takes listening to good equipment to know what is possible. A $350 DAC that measures well isn't going to be able to make your speakers disappear.
How nice would it be if the *real* engineers (Darren, Ted, Chris, Bob, etc.) were allowed to just talk about their respective projects without interruption??
Running with a Nuprime Dac-10....black as black background. No talk of galvanic isolation. Sounds glorious. Oh, and I bought it used for $800. No way human beings can make a DAC that sounds 10x BETTER than the Nuprime. Different flavor of sound, maybe. Magically makes a song sound 10x BETTER? Nope. Welcome to the Hifi rabbit hole folks.
It depends on the system. Just converting from flac to WAV makes a huge difference in my system, as did an EtherRegen. I know how good the MK1 was and waiting on my shipment of the MK2.
@@johnnycashlesscomedy8616 of course you going to try to defend it because you're dropping $8,000. There comes a point where its diminishing returns in hi-fi an eightt thousand-dollar digital-to-analog converter is not needed to hear incredible sound. A waste of money. I have three rigs in my place and a couple of them are under $8,000 for the entire setup and they sound fantastic. You talk about sound files making a difference. I guarantee you you didn't do a blind test back and forth between the songs. So now it's called placebo effect because in your mind it should sound about her so you're telling yourself it does sound better even if it really doesn't in reality.
"Bad digital isolation". "Magneto restrictive (sic) coupling". Oh dear oh dear oh dear. This was painful to watch and not scream loudly at every new instance of techno-babble.
Ted is a genius that worked at MS before developing a groundbreaking product. I've heard every step of the way how his new OS builds lowered distortion and many other positive qualities. You should hear his gear in an appropriate system before dismissing it.
@@johnnycashlesscomedy8616 I don't need to, nor am I dismissing his gear. I'm dismissing the clearly inaccurate pseudo-science in the discussion. Terminology matters, and misusing it is unforgivable. I've worked with enough technicians over the years to know when someone is just making impressive sounding but ultimately specious noise.
magnetoestriction is a real thing. it's why power transformers "hum". The iron is literally growing and shrinking! But I've never heard of magneto restriction, and in any case I'm not sure magnetostrictions apply inside of a DAC. If he's saying that there's enough current inside the DAC to change an inductor's size, and claims that this noise is audible or negatively impacts clock or ground stability, I would be suspicious of the claim.
As a technical person his language is an accurate correlation to Layman's terms. Hook up something like an Oscilloscope or Lab Grade meter, write some code and describe it to someone who has never learned how to interpret that type of diagnostic equipment or information. If you are not technically inclined it's difficult to know his translation. I was often scolded for being too technical in my early days.
