Alright, I've been listening to the DAC2 for awhile now. This thing destroys the Directstream at 1/3rd the price.
For the first time, a hi-res track actually sounded better than the CD version.
I also have a hi-res track that sounded worse than the cd track on the DS, on the DAC2, still sounded worse. Whoever made that needs to be fired. |
Interesting, Ricred1 what is your source? |
If you don't like upsampling then you should try a NOS DAC instead. |
I don't know to be honest, I'm trying to lower the DAC cost myself because I might want to go multichannel again. I definitely am not going to buy 2 $4000 DACs.
I had this song, with PLII and surround speakers, there was this moving sfx mixed in that was amazing! Could never reproduce it with just 2 channel.
I might try some high end processors and see if they are good enough now that the rest of my system are freaking amazing now... |
Another former Directstream owner here, I really don't have anything good to say about it.... Other than I owned it 5 months too long. |
Hi, I am evaluating the Benchmark DAC2 right now, I will also have a Metrum Pavane "soon"... |
I have not tried firmware before Pike Peak, but after 5 months, Pike Peak sounded VERY wrong....
What I did noticed was that if there was any input jitter, it would effect the sound of the Directstream. Pretty funny considering that PA Audio advertise the DS as having no jitter!
I ended up buying a Mutec reclocker/convert that solved input jitter once and for all. I was using Jplay before that which also helped but to a lesser degree.
Yale beta sounded a lot better than Pike Peak, there's actually bass coming out now! Sigh.
Yale beta still sounded wrong/incorrect.
On the other hand, Benchmark DAC2 at least sounds correct., so yes, the DAC2 is infinitely better than the Directstream already. Sigh again. Oh, with the DAC2, my speaker sounded like subwoofers on certain programs!
Right now, I really want Metrum to send me a working Pavane, the one I got/sending back is damaged in shipping, only 1 channel working, but I can already tell it was special... |
I'm not sure if Mutec got their USB version out yet, I'm using the MC-3+ Smart Clock with AES in to optical out. $700 off ebay I think. I haven't really compared it with anything else since it works 100% for me already :)
There's an interesting option of syncing to a 10M clock, but I don't think I'll try that, too expensive. |
Aolmrd1241: pretty much everything sounded bad on the Directstream at low volume. If you want to hear thin/flat sound, the DS is the goto DAC.
The other DACs on the otherhand sounded good with most recordings, except a few. Eg: ceui
My brief time with a broken Metrum DAC, on the other hand, made even crap songs sound good. |
Aolmrd1241: to add more details, with the Directstream, hi-res and CD quality recording sounded pretty much the same, heck even AAC and lossless sounded pretty much the same. Flat and thin.
On the DAC2, hi-res sounded "better" than cd quality. The most obvious is the increased resolution of complex splash sound.
With that said, I am not recommending the DAC2, it is just a point of comparison. The DAC2 also has a hint on thinness to it, just nowhere near the thinness of the Directstream.
The R2R NOS Metrum DAC on the other hand, even in it's broken state, sounded natural, and wonderful, and unlike anything I've ever heard before. I should have it back in a few weeks time, then I can comment more. |
My collection is basically all digital lossless (flac, wav, tak, ape, blah blah), majority is CD quality instrumentals, vocal, ethnic, and lots of original soundtracks (OSTs on a good DAC is heavenly).
Lately, I've been getting a ton of hi-res recording at 96khz mostly, mora.jp, some 48khz and a little 192khz. I've also tried DSD iso at several gig a piece, eg: Suara DSD on the Directstream, didn't sound good either.
Right now I'm testing the Emotiva XMC-1, this thing sounded so good that I'm not sure if I should keep it and go multichannel again or stick with the Metrum when it get's back... |
I found that on the Directstream, I listened mainly to piano/vocal over and over.
Now I realized why, complex music sounded like crap on the Directstream so I ended up avoiding them over time.
I have categorized playlists containing all the songs I liked in the past 10 years give and take a few years, so during DAC comparisons I played the different songs, and it became very obvious that the past 5 months with the DS was a HUGE mistake. |
Looks like used Directstream price have just crashed through $3000, glad I got out before that. Horrible incorrect sounding DAC. |
You should try the Metrum, right now, when paired with Focal SM9, my system blows away $50k audio show systems.
It's so simple too, Metrum Pavane, Focal SM9, Neotech XLR. That's it.
Of course, I back up the whole setup with balanced power, and a reclocker (although I may not need this anymore, it was to compensate for Directstream's crappy jitter rejection, or lack of) |
