PS auido Direct stream Dac


Hi I am looking to buy a Dac, now i have Cambridge Audio 851N network player.I am looking at the PS audio Direct Stream Dac with the Bridge 11 and the Holo  Audio May Dac KTE, I have a cd player ,but not many cds so most of the time it would used to stream Qobuz ,I also have a nice vinyl set up which i use about 1/2 the time. My ? does anyone have heard both of these dacs ,if so which sounds most like vinyl, I am 64  so I am trying to decide if these are worth the $ or should i just stick with the CA 851N ,any opinions will help .Thanks Lloyd
128x128bestbaker
I’ve had the PS DSD and Chord Qutest and they are both great in providing a very detailed SQ.  But if you are looking for a more vinyl sound take a look at the Border Patrol SEi DAC.  I was surprised how close it sounded to my Primaluna Tube amp when hooked up to my Esoteric amp.  It is only around $1400 and is quite unique in that it has No Oversampling with a tube power stage.  Only plays files up to 24/96kHz but I really don’t noticed a major difference compared to higher res music.
OP, I owned the Cambridge 851N. For the money, it's a nice player. I've owned the PS Audio Directstream DAC for a couple of years now. It is a major step up in performance from the Cambridge. The only caveat I would warn you about is the quirkiness of the PS Audio units. At least once or twice a month I need to unplug and restart the PS Audio as it "freezes" up. A minor inconvenience but I'd would rather not have to do that. Good luck. Joe
@jon2020 ... Following up on the question.  Make no mistake the DSD is a great DAC however in my system the May KTE was a big step up.  More open, more extended highs with more space arounds instruments... which I found off since R2R DACs tend to round off highs in general.  I certainly was not expecting the huge improvement.  Also of note the DSD is in the process of being replaced with a new model and one above that but more importantly the final software release was just made (Sunshine) so no further benefit to it being FPGA based in the future.   
IMO, the PS Audio DS jr dac surpasses most of the dacs listed on this thread. You get around 80% of the SQ of the DS sr dac for 1/2 the money. I owned 1 for 2 years and moved up to the DS sr. 
A word of caution when people are negative about this dac:
1) ask them what firmware release they used. Every new release increases the sq, and the last release by a lot.
2) if they used usb, then get the cheapest dac out there because no dac sounds their best with usb
3) did they use ethernet or i2s input? if not, go back to 2
4) there is a long break in time, did the user understand this?
5) there are tuning tips to get the best out of the DS dacs and that involves attenuation settings and volume settings. Ted Smith goes over these.
Its been a few years now but when I was comparing dacs like the MSB and Bricasti at double the cost to the ds sr, the DS was far better with better specs like mqa, i2s, fpga, and ethernet.
 i looked at the doge 7 also seems nice but i did not like the power supply seems a little cheap ,i could be wrong ,the price is not bad . anyone else have or heard the doge 7 tube dac. I see quite a few reviews on the the Holo May  level 2 & 3 they all love it ,not cheap but looks like it is very well made, thanks for all your response,s Lloyd