PSA just posted their measurements.
Yes they did. SINAD at best would be 70 dB. Same as what we posted last week when I was accused of posting bias measurements and badmouthing PS Audio.
Modding the PS Audio Directstream DAC MK1 and MK2
I would like to continue discussing all the mods we have created for these two DAC's as it seems PS Audio is no longer allowing discussions about them on their forum.
For reference here is a link to the closed discussion.
https://forum.psaudio.com/t/modding-the-directstream-dac-mki/2680
Another funny post from PS Audio forum: Also the thing with measurement, If I have a predetermined bias before hand, I can make the measurement results to support the said bias. I’d take any audio measurements with a huge grain of salt unless the methology is published and can be verified by an unbiased party. What??? How ridicules is that? | ||
You can read all about it here: https://forum.psaudio.com/t/directstream-mk-2-observations/31566/1936 and https://forum.psaudio.com/t/directstream-mk-2-observations/31566/2468
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Posted on other site. Not sure why someone would want to bad mouth PSA so much except for profit or just to be mean. Life is too short for that kind of shtuff. Also without PSA his transformer business would be non existent so need to be careful before shooting oneself in the foot.
What makes him think I’m badmouthing PS Audio??? I was asked by Elk, the moderator on that site to post these measurements. That’s all I did was post actual unbiased measurements of both the MK1 and MK2. | ||
Not to trivialize noise measurements, but this sort of does show how there is not a 1:1 of noise and Sound quality. Now that being said there are few reports of some amps this causing issues with, but that is a known factor and reported in the Stereophile mag. I for one love the SQ in my setup, could care less on the measurements. I have a scheduled appt. to put in my APS transformers from JK next week. Going to let burn in while away for a few days I am out of the house. Hope it does not bother the rest at home. But I should get 250+ hours burn in with them. | ||
Here is a FFT plot of the MK2 with the new Massive firmware. Note the distortion is worse than with the last firmware. This new massive firmware is almost impossible to measure the actual noise floor. MK2 with Massive FW:
The MK1 has better measurements. Note the better dynamic range and lower noise floor of the MK1. Note this one has a bad transformer on the right channel. | ||
Over the past month we have been upgrading many of the PS Audio Directstream MK2 DAC with our nickel transformers and have discovered very poor build quality on every one. We ended up having to offer to fix these defects as we don’t like sending units back half baked. We re-route the WiFi antenna Cable, Repair the input chassis grounding and fix any hardware issues (stripped wrong screws etc). We even found PC board standoffs 1 turn out loose :(
This defect shows that the i2s inputs chassis grounding spring is stuck behind the plastic insulator making it inoperable. The inputs end up with no chassis ground. Top view
This shows the mis-aligned paint mask keeping all inputs from being chassis grounded. Note the grounding springs are insulated by the paint. The only way to fix this is to scrape the paint away.
This show the RF shielding fingers not install properly. Most all units had most of them missing or none at all.
This shows how we fix the i2s grounding issue. Note now the chassis grounding spring can make contact with the chassis.
We remove the insulator and cut the right side down so the grounding spring will clear. Note the cut line.
After the cut | ||
Thanks for your input. Was entertaining the thought of upgrading to the MK2 and having it modded with the nickel transformers and caps. Seems like it's not a huge difference though, plus after reading through posts on PS Audio's forum, many are continuing to have issues. Perhaps down the road, if and when PS Audio irons out the many glitches, I'll reevaluate | ||
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🎉 woohoo. Laminate should be here by the end of next week. From manufacture. - Raw material was just received in Monday and is currently being coated. So sorry for the delay. We can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.😊 | ||
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Some weird stuff is going on at PS Audio forum. Ted has been silent. No firmware updates on the MK2 for over 2.5 months and no replies to questions regarding an ETA. Half of the advertised features still do not function and many are still having noise issues. The reviews of the MK2 have not been good. Broken promises from Paul (CEO) to explain and show how the ultrasonic noise floor is not as bad as it measures. Reviews of our transformers get moved to a members only area. NOTE: this does not happen to any other product reviews. Why the discrimination? I decided to re-post here what a member posted that was immediately moved to the members only area.... "My Marketplace ad"
I’ve been cooking Jeff’s nickel transformers for about two weeks in my MK2 and now and they seem to be settled in. Jeff was kind enough to scrape together enough nickel plates between father and son and get a pair assembled prior to his overdue shipment. I had Jeff do the install, and it came back in quick fashion with an AP performance plot as well.
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The Nickel laminations are running late. There seem to be a shortage of this material now. Also, the price has skyrocketed. Unfortunately, we will have to raise the price of all our transformers. Current pre-paid orders will be honored. The new price will be $799 for a matched pair plus shipping for both MK1 and MK2. The wait time for the Nickel lamination’s is currently 12 - 14 weeks. We will only accept orders that are pre-paid which means you will receive your transformers about 15 weeks after payment is received. | ||