PS Audio Direct Stream DAC Mk2 Review

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The Long awaited PS Audio Direct Stream DAC Mk2 V.S Lumin P1 review is fresh! This is a DAC Adrian always loved!
More on the DirectStream DAC Mk2:
audio-excellence-canada.mysho...
Ps Audio DAC Unboxing : • PS Audio SACD Transpor...
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Audio Excellence Inc. is a high end audio/video store in Markham, Ontario, Canada, a suburb of Toronto. We've been in business since 1991.
Check out our interviews with designers and audio luminaries like Daryl Wilson of Wilson Audio, Paul McGowan of PS Audio, Paolo Tezzon of Sonus faber, Wendell Diller of Magnepan, John Atkinson of Stereophile, Dan D'Agostino of D'Agostino Master Audio Systems, Nelson Pass of Pass Labs and others.
Contacts:
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Опубликовано:

16 фев 2023

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Комментарии : 131

@pswitzeny Год назад

I could listen to Adrian talk about music all day. Honestly. Just fantastic.

@LeoRousseau Год назад

Absolutely!

@adrianlow2114 Год назад

Thanks!

@stevenburdick424 Год назад

Ceci's passion brings tears to my eyes.

@supergiddy3 Год назад

Ceci raising the bar describing musical phenomena/qualities without any audiophile cliches

@sonicplayroompiano4302 7 месяцев назад

Great videos guys and I particularly appreciate the test tracks you guys share with your audience.

@TheBodhisattvaWisdom Год назад

Fascinating reviews by Ceci. Take good care of her :-)

@skip1835 Год назад

So cool to hear Ceci's take, her insights are so real - - love Lewis & Adrian too, gotta have that perspective, certainly and admittedly I'm a Lewis or Adrian myself - but Ceci is hitting it out of the park, what a gem to have on the Audio Excellence team - how lucky she is to have the obviously good ears she's blessed with and how lucky we are to be on the receiving end of her describing what's she hears. 👍

@adrianlow2114 Год назад

Thank you

@alphapacific910 Год назад

Butt kissing will get you milage

@skip1835 Год назад

@@alphapacific910 hmmm, kind of odd - I scrolled though the comments and didn't see one from you - I guess being a smart ass is about all you have to offer, big shocker.

@joseijumimerino2102 8 месяцев назад

this conversation was so delightful, thanks

@mikewinburn Год назад

I’m so excited to hear someone refer to Luther Vandross in their review. That the next generation has heard this wonder and have been attracted as well… this alone drives me toward the PS Audio… wow… I can’t wait to hear it compared against to full McIntosh set up… one of the two will come to my home… this is the only channel i listen to that routinely has such a depth of review experience that helps legitimize the results of their experience. Thanks for the consistency and professional foundation (I still watch Six Million Dollar Man (and Bionic Woman) on Saturdays on cable!) NOTE: the editing was so smooth and spot-on in this episode. I liked the transitions as well. Also, the editing allowed the “conversation” to remain natural and enjoyable. Thank you.

@Eugene737 Год назад

Yeah, it was a nice surprise to hear Luther Vandross in the review. Amazing singer

@adrianlow2114 Год назад

Thanks. Ceci edited the video

@AL-yr3tc Год назад

Nice review. I have to admit, I thought at first having Cici was gimmicky. But she has a non-technical perspective that is so refreshing and real. And her take on Luther Vandross was priceless! As Adrian alluded to, we sometimes listen for details instead of enjoying the music. I’ve replaced components that I’ve really enjoyed because something came along that I could hear an extra detail or two… then end up not liking it as much in the long run. I wish I lived in Canada- we hardly have any high end audio stores in the Silicon Valley area these days. I had the DirectStream MK1 and I liked that. Not sure if I’ll buy the MK2, but definitely nice to see it reviewed.

@jazzlouise Год назад

It would be interesting to also hook it up with the PS SACD transport and compare CD & SACD playback to streaming. My guess is that streaming would come in second. I think this is the first real review of the DAC and I really enjoyed all the comments!

@adrianlow2114 Год назад

Thanks! And yes the CD does sound better than the stream

@yerfdogjohnny Год назад

I would suggest you take the Lumin (or any other streamer transport) out of the chain and connect the Nucleus directly to the PS Audio DAC via a top tier USB cable. I think you’d be pleasantly surprised how great your system will sound when streaming Qobuz or Tidal if you use the Nucleus as both the Roon Core and streamer transport connected to an external DAC. Just a suggestion as this approach sure works/sounds great in my system .keep up the great work too.

@lonniefarmer7067 Год назад

Thanks! As PS Audio is 30 min away I will have to get up there for a listen!

@edverbeek6292 Год назад

Great editing job.

@NiclasMardfelt Год назад

Great review. Looking forward to a review of the combo of the PS transport and the new DAC, preferably with i2s and 24/192 data dvd:s and SACDs.

@jimloftis1617 Год назад

Always a treat to watch your videos. Entertaining, informative, and nicely produced as well. Thanks!

@adrianlow2114 Год назад

Thanks!

@enniol8043 Год назад

I love the A-B videos in which a component was added or removed to see if it made a difference.

@adrianlow2114 Год назад

Thanks Ennio!

@Ricky-cl5bu Год назад

Great review

@adrianlow2114 Год назад

Thanks

@greganderson1681 Год назад

Good video, and it's nice to hear opinions from relative noobs like Ceci (Cici? and I mean "noob" in the best way). I always enjoy your music selections, and it was great to hear all the love for Luther Vandross. I'm a bit biased for Luther because my brother John "Skip" Anderson worked with him for several decades writing, arranging playing keys and touring, but he really was one of the greatest male vocalists ever. And it is glorious to hear Luther's voice coming out of an excellent system. I doubt if I'll ever own that PS Audio DAC, but I usually take some Luther with me when I'm auditioning new gear. p.s. Ceci's comments about Wish You Were Here made me chuckle. I thought everyone on the planet had heard that song a million times!

@adrianlow2114 Год назад

Thanks for sharing re your brother. That must have been so special, to write and arrange for Luther, and hear him sing!

@georgechirayus4865 Год назад

Excellent review. Would be interesting to know how the performance would be with a $8k PSAudio DS DAC + a $5k Streamer compared to the Lumin. Would suspect 2-piece combo is likely better and you’re really paying for the convenience of an all-in-one?

@joeythedime1838 10 месяцев назад

Very insightful reviews. I was wondering if you shared the video with Paul?

@66westbound Год назад

Hi Ceci, I would like to say that you make such a unique contribution to the review team that you are part of. I can appreciate your perspective, in the way a good audio system sounds. It is interesting that you pointed out in the recording by Shelby Lynne; Just A Little Lovin' pre-echo effect as you described it on her album. It quickly brought to mind the same effect I heard on Led Zeppelins second album released in 1969, titled: Led Zeppelin 2. ON the track; A Whole Lotta Love, about 3/4 into the song you easily hear the same pre-echo effect in Robert Plants voice. I remember when I purchased that album back in 1969, when I first heard that track, I just figured that it was done by design by the recording engineer as a special effect. Keep up the good work!

@rickhigginson8546 10 месяцев назад

The term is called: Print Through. Or, Bleed Through. On high quality, sensitive reel tape, an, `echo,' and a `pre ~ echo,' can occur, from the next adjacent tape layers. Thicker audio tape, such as one and one half mil, can minimize or eliminate this. {This will also give you less recording time.} I heard that in the case of, "Whole Lotta Love," this effect was caused, or also caused, by Robert Plant rerecording his vocal, on an adjacent track. A, two inch wide, reel to reel tape can have up to 24 racks, perhaps more! Loud recorded sound on one track, can influence the pick up on an adjacent track. Also important, & relatively unusual: Robert, {he told me that I could call him, if I wanted to, `Bob,' but don't do this yourself unless he says that it's O. K.!}, and the music, pauses briefly in parts, permitting this effect to be heard clearly. We just can't hear this effect where the music is continuously loud!

@johnmarchington3146 10 месяцев назад

I currently have the Mk I DirectStream DAC and am now seriously considering upgrading to the Mk II. Whether I do. however, might well depend on what I'm offered as a trade-in as I certainly don't intend to give my Mk I away.

@David-ik8wj 9 месяцев назад

im beta testing their new stellar gold DAC. I also have the new Airlens streamer connected as Roon endpoint. It sounds phenomenal. The MK2 is on its way for evaluation.

@stevenburdick424 Год назад

Ceci, I think stronger means dynamics.

@klewja Год назад

It would be awesome if you added the MSB Discrete with the renderer to this comparison. For my experience the MSB is better than both by a good margin.

@adrianlow2114 Год назад

If we have time we will do this

@pauldavies6037 Год назад

What was interesting to me was most of the recordings used were analogue and on tape originally

@PhilipGan-LiVac 6 месяцев назад

You need to re-listen with the final version of Massive! It is a whole new level above the beta version.😊

@lwdp74 Год назад

After enjoying your review I lusted for the PS dac. Wish I could afford one. I’m using a decent (not cheap) dac and a nice amplifier. I took my amp to a friend to try and he hooked it up to his 30 year old turntable. Couldn’t believe how good the sound was. I’ve read that quality digital music is indistinguishable from the original and this may be true but at what price? I believe that dollar to dollar vinyl still sounds better than digital. At least vinyl from before digital or maybe processed with state of the art equipment. After digital being around this long, why can’t it outperform a similarly priced media? $10 thousand dollars to sound better than vinyl? Ease of use, digital all the way, but it should sound as good.

@David-ik8wj 9 месяцев назад

in my opinion old recordings sound better in vinyl. they were engineered to play on vinyl on average equipment of the day. i purchased cd,s when they were first issued. I still own them and they are horrible. no bass,gritty and harsh. They were mastered off the original tape recordings equalized for vinyl playback. remasters have helped but still not much improvement. Newly direct to digital completely surpasses vinyl.

@MichaelM-to4sg Год назад

Curious how this unit fits and compares with other dac’s, in your experience. Some of the dCS, MSB, Chord, Naim and others. My favorite remains the Nagra HD and it’s lower priced sibling. I’ve seen some earlier reviews of this DirectStream MkII where it’s been called a giant killer, equal to or better than the most exclusive out there. I consider your experience of greater value than most of these other parties due to your time and exposure to such a broad range of dacs. I also seem to have very similar conclusions to Adrian on several items. How do you think this stacks up in the marketplace, even in very different price catagory?

@goodsound4756 Год назад

Yes, we need comparisons to other top tier DAC’s like MSB, mola mola, Meitner or Linn Organik!

@Landoverse Год назад

Seconded! Also the Holo May or Denafrips Terminator II/Plus, given that an advantage of PS Audio’s DSD upsampling is supposed to be the same sort of smoothness good ladder DACs are known for.

@genkifd Год назад

shouldnt the lumin u1 be a better comparison to the new PS Audio Direct Stream DAC MK2?

@erikliljenberg6923 Год назад

What format music files were you using for the test?

@briancampbell7712 3 месяца назад

Hello...I own an original Linn klimax kontrol an analog pre amp that is wonderful...but now i'm needing to make a choice...both would cost me around the same...normally the Linn klimax DSM W/upgrade would be much more...1st choice pre amp Linn Klimax DSM streamer with upgraded latest 2 new boards installed... Utopik power supply & Organik dac or 2nd choice to just add a MSB Discrete❓

@ferrisburgh802 4 месяца назад

She was great. About time to move beyond the 'male only' control of audiophile equipment reviews.

@nirodha35 Год назад

A young girl listening to Wish you were here… there is still hope for mankind🎉😊

@briancampbell7712 3 месяца назад

Pink Floyd -Forever🎸🎶

@stevemd8947 Год назад

Were you listening to CD's or Streaming for this review? I listen only to CD's. How good is this PS Audio DAC with CD's? Thank you. Great job with the review.

@adrianlow2114 Год назад

CDs are better

@reinhard1888 Год назад

@@adrianlow2114 Have you compared CDs to the Innuos Statement using Qobuz and the Innuos OS (not Roon)?

@ronlevine8873 Год назад

You didn't explain the details. Are you comparing the PS Audio DAC to the Lumin DAC; or are you comparing the DSD decoding in the PS Audio DAC to the PCM decoding in the Lumin DAC in particular?

@adrianlow2114 Год назад

I thought we did explain. The Lumin was used as a control; streamer and DAC as one, then DAC bypassed, with the streamer output into the PS Audio. The PS Audio converts all incoming signal to DSD. The Lumin DAC does not.

@dell177 Год назад

I own the PS Audio mark one DAC and got an offer to buy the new for a very attractive price. I'm 75 and as good as i find the old DAC I was not convinced the difference in sound quality would be enough to justify the cost given my age. AAS an example I just sent a Lumin U2 mini streamer back because the sound to my ears was not enough better than what i was hearing by streaming music over me mac Min's M1's USB port to my PS Audio mark one DAC. I also have the new PS Audio transport and use the I2S port to connect to the DAC and a disk on that transport sounds better than a streamed version of the same piece om Qobuz in my opinion. The pre echo in tape was tape print through. That is caused by a strong magnetic field printing through to the next layer of tape that is only 0.001 or 0.0015 inches thick.

@bretthanson5571 Год назад

I went from the PS MkI to MkII recently - The MkII is so much better, even right out of the box (using the new SACD transport). After 100+ hrs, it blossoms. Should you get one, try lifting the grounds on the MkII - which can make it even better in your system.

@Wizardofgosz Год назад

From what I have seen, the MKII tests worse than its predecessor, so what you're hearing is your brain lying to you. Unfortunately you've fallen prey to the fancy adjectives on the side of the box. It told you it would sound better so that's what you're hearing. Expectation bias.

@MrCatalysis101 Год назад

Wrong Malia album picture there. Celestial Echo is from Convergence. That's the one with Boris Blank. One thing you didn't touch on is why this MK2 dac is retailing at about $2K more than the MK1.

@rickhigginson8546 10 месяцев назад

Double FPGA's: Field Programmable Gate Arrays, other improvements. Upselling? Other improvements, perhaps.

@ptg01 Год назад

How well does the I2S (using HDMI) work for DSD layer playback of SACD's ?

@carlstineman274 Год назад

Excellent. The DSD MK2 makes everything sound good. You basically get an amazingly accurate reflection of what ever your ultimate source can provide. If a piece of music was well recorded and well engineered and mastered, the MK2 does such a good job with everything it can be hard to tell the differences between the DSD and Red Book CD layers unless you have a highly resolving system and even then. Nevertheless, the DSD layer of an SACD heard via the PSA SACD Transport / I2S / DSD MK2 will give you the highest quality reproduction available. Not all SACDs are created equally. If a track was originally recorded in PCM and then converted to DSD for the DSD layer of the SACD the DSD layer may be marginally better. If a track was originally recorded in DSD and both layers were made from that original, both layers will likely sound better than the same recording made from a PCM original.

@ScottPScott Год назад

Say it over and over again...Ladies Love Luther

@scheme39 Год назад

Why would you not test the PS Audio DAC with one of PS Audio's own BHK amplifiers? One would think that buyers would shop those along with the DAC expecting a certain synergy.

@adrianlow2114 Год назад

Partly because we had the rest of the system set up, and we had been doing reviews of them, and partly because I wanted to see if the DSDac mk2 would work well with a non PS Audio system. After all, most people will not have a PS Audio system

@alfredcheng7831 Год назад

@@adrianlow2114 I di have a PSA system and am interested in a whole system review. Thanks.

@psyphonyxaudio Год назад

🙏🙏🙏🥳🥳🥳🥳

@vcp93 Год назад

Yeah, but is it "$8K" better?

@andrefortune8278 Год назад

Thats every Luther mainstream song one of the best Male Vocalist of all time

@billthestinker 7 месяцев назад

Paul in Colorado is pissing mad 😡

@losriosprofundos2113 Год назад

I don’t understand why ps audio makes gear that looks like medical equipment.

@matthewjoy1864 9 месяцев назад

totally

@dangoh2237 Год назад

Ceci, your shirt looks very nice! So is your voice!

@DL-gb7ln Год назад

FUCKU NICE

@rbyington22 Год назад

Doesn't what you are discussing have more to do with the speakers you are listening to rather than the DAC?

@carlstineman274 Год назад

With a high end audio system every part of the system can make a difference in the sound to a greater or lesser degree. In my system upgrading from the PSA Mk1 to the MK2 DSD made a big difference as described by the reviewers - better detail, clarity, definition and realism with the rest of the system unchanged.

@rickhigginson8546 10 месяцев назад

@@carlstineman274

@RJ_Chicago Год назад

Where is Vilip??

@johnhoffman8041 Год назад

Would at least like to know what happened to him and if he is still in the hifi industry

@TheMaestro335 Год назад

They let him go.

@digggerrjones7345 Год назад

Thankfully, gone for good!

@losriosprofundos2113 Год назад

I enjoyed his take on audio. It seemed like you were joking when you said he had been let go, strange

@TheMaestro335 Год назад

If you google what happened to Villip there is a short video that says they had to let him go. No details as to why.

@daleromney6062 Год назад

Probably late to ask this, but where is Vilip?

@goodsound4756 Год назад

He got fired.

@daleromney6062 Год назад

@@goodsound4756 That is too bad. I got his play list and have enjoyed it.

@zencoatlrios1357 Год назад

@@goodsound4756 For real? Why bro?

@goodsound4756 Год назад

@@zencoatlrios1357 ask his former boss, not me.

@zencoatlrios1357 Год назад

@@goodsound4756 uuy... calm down pussy. 😂

@CostasLivadiotis Год назад

Where is Vilip, man?

@digggerrjones7345 Год назад

The slob is long gone, never to return! Thank you Adrian!!

@ThreeDogShow Год назад

I’d like to hear a comparison to another DAC. Comparing it to a streamer/DAC is far from the same. Almost apples to oranges. Put it against other €10k DAC’s and then give us your opinion.

@adrianlow2114 Год назад

Hopefully soon

@johnnycashlesscomedy8616 Год назад

It’s been compared again the mola Tambaqui $12k and the PS won. They also compared against a $14.K Dac (I forgot which one) and was similar. Changing the ground, shutting off inputs and future (free) updates will take this DAC to another level. I’m also planning on replacing the transformers with a new custom designed $600 unit that will take it even further.

@ThreeDogShow Год назад

@@johnnycashlesscomedy8616 Who compared it with the Mola Mola Tambaqui? Also DAC’s have made progress since the Tambaqui. I’d like it compared to a LampizatOr.

@hindagsxr 4 месяца назад

With this great quality, they have a big limitation, 1 optical input. Projector, TV, computer and internal streamer. And what if we get a holographic projector? It's unacceptable.

@uribar-ner5055 Год назад

It is so sad that many PS audio gear is objectively poorly measured. Hope this one is measured better.

@Mark-lq3sb 7 месяцев назад

It's very sad when you do a PS Audio product review and all of the PS Audio "haters" show-up to bash them. These are the same people that are always on the PS Audio RU-vid channel where Paul reads questions from the public. They're like Blood Hounds that sniff out the titles that include the words PS Audio, lol!

@ericszkoda8690 Год назад

Interesting replacement of Vilip. Still nobody knows what happened to him. Love Mcintosh amps , absolutely hate Ps audio. Overpriced junk

@mikewinburn Год назад

That’s what was said about Sony cameras and lenses - - until their quality and production started to overshadow canon and Nikon. So PS Audio might be a little guy making their way up… but if the quality is on par or outshine McIntosh…(hasn’t been proven yet as Adrian hasn’t done a comparison), does that make McIntosh junk?

@adrianlow2114 Год назад

I'm glad you like McIntosh but PS Audio is not junk

@ericszkoda8690 Год назад

Thank you guys for a reply. Obviously everyone has their experience and opinions and different hearing. I’m speaking base on my experience. I had several systems Mcintosh separates, Moon monoblocks and Pass labs , Classe etc etc. All I can say is my biggest disappointment was with Ps audio direct stream . Looks great , sounded ok but constant problems and bugs . Friend of mine had same experience . Their support was good I guess but didn’t solved anything. Lumin on another hand is great, solid performance ( T2 with s booster) never a problem, good app etc. Thank you Adrian for vids

@adrianlow2114 Год назад

@@ericszkoda8690 no prob

@mikewinburn Год назад

@@ericszkoda8690 - that makes sense. Yes, I’ve heard about quality control issues w PS audio from a few voices. Fortunately, I have also heard as you mentioned they do their best to resolve. Hopefully with this iteration, those should be fewer and far between

@insertname5142 Год назад

You need to play some music otherwise people don’t want to listen to you

@zerocapacitance1 Год назад

Yes, she’s too young to know who Luther Vandross is

@DL-gb7ln Год назад

She is just pretending to know singers She is a liar

@rickhigginson8546 10 месяцев назад

Both of you are being too harsh. Luther, unfortunately, passed away years ago. He was well recorded. Yes, she, or anyone else, will never meet him in person, hear him sing, live. Luther was very talented, emotive. The fact that he's deceased doesn't mean that she, or anyone else, can't enjoy his singing. As recorded!

@rickhigginson8546 10 месяцев назад

@@DL-gb7ln

@douglasacker4923 Год назад

If it cost $8K to convert digital to analogue, you may not know what you’re doing. LOL That’s a rip off and they clearly color the signal to justify the cost. Take some engineering courses, people, because these reviewers don’t know what’s going on “under the hood”.

@TheDanEdwards Год назад

"these reviewers don’t know what’s going on “under the hood”." - so what? These are luxury products sold on appeal. And why do you think a reviewer has to be an expert on the engineering to make their own judgements?

@jonathandavis9507 Год назад

Buy a Schiit Yggdrasil or Ares Dac, much better for your $

@AT-wl9yq Год назад

@@TheDanEdwards Its a fake person. The whole post is fabricated.

@douglasacker4923 Год назад

@@TheDanEdwards judgement? There’s only subjective interpretation. Not helpful. Not useful. Maybe entertaining but, entertainment is not a product review. Product reviews are technical in nature, not emotional.

@David-ik8wj 9 месяцев назад

i enjoy fine wine and have no clue how its made.

@AlbertKel 11 месяцев назад

PS Audio believe a power cable improve the sound. I will never spend a dime on them. They are not doing engineering but marketing.

@maybecrazy7835 7 месяцев назад

And that's all Audio Excellence reviews are... hyperbole to get audiophools and their money parted. Sure there is some substance to hifi, but much of it is about build quality and aesthetics that purchasers buy as status symbols to stroke their own egos.

@muhammadvandy6458 5 месяцев назад

If u being skeptical about improvement among DACs i could understand, but trashing out cable, especially the one that from powering our audio gears is dumb. Unless u have tried urself n find no difference.