DirectStream DAC
Contents
1. The top cover is a piano black painted surface over HDF wood The front panel touch screen can be cleaned with Windex or similar glass cleaners To clean spray the cleaner on a soft lint free towel and carefully clean Do not spray cleaner directly on the unit 4826 Sterling Drive Boulder CO 80301 PH 720 406 8946 service psaudio com www psaudio com Quick Start Guide 8 2014 PS Audio Inc All rights reserved Quick Start Guide PS AUDIO Owner s Reference DirectStream DAC Remote Control PWT and DS on or off Unused Unused Input select PWT Direct track select PWT repeat Press once to repeat track press twice to repeat disc DS mute volume PWT Eject the dis PWT scrubber bar PWT Stop play DS volume PWT Play Pause PWT N xt track Display dim DS Phase control Filter SR PowerPlant DS 20dB attenuation filter Pwr Mw Disp PerfectWave Power Plant controls DS Balance control Balance 4826 Sterling Drive Boulder CO 80301 Quick Start Guide 9 PH 720 406 8946 service psaudio com www 2014 PS Audio Inc All rights reserved Troubleshooting PS AUDIO Owner s Reference DirectStream DAC USB not USB DirectStream not recognized or no sound via USB connecting To play music from your computer into the DirectStream via USB you must have a driver installed that communicates with the DirectStream On a Mac computer with OSX or Snow Leopard the drivers are alr2. Care and cleaning Quick Start Guide Owner s Reference DirectStream DAC The Network Bridge incorporates the exact same Digital Lens technology found in the PWT without the input to the Lens being from a connected source Instead the input to the internal Lens of the Bridge is over a network addressable through an Ethernet connection Music stored on a hard drive or even an Internet radio service are all accessible via this Network Bridge Once installed the Bridge will be accessed as another input There will be no quality or performance issues on the Bridge for the same reason as the PWT the built in Digital Lens and output asynchronous clocks of both devices ensure bit perfect performance The Bridge slips right into the slot on the back of DirectStream and can be added in less than 30 seconds by the owner Simply remove the rear cover plate insert the Bridge and you are done Complete instructions are available with purchase of the Network Bridge The front panel touch screen software will be updated at the same time as the Bridge installation allowing full access to music stored on your computer These units operate from sophisticated software that is built in to the device but upgradable by the user through the rear panel mounted SD card To check for the current firmware version simply touch the tool icon on the front panel located in the upper left hand corner of the touch screen Should firmware become available for
3. Drive Boulder CO 80301 PH 720 406 8946 service psaudio com www psaudio com Introduction iii 2014 PS Audio Inc All rights reserved AG Introduction PS AUDIO Owner s Reference DirectStream DAC Why DSD DirectStream is entirely DSD based even for PCM inputs DSD was chosen as the core engine for this instrument for a number of compelling reasons e DSD is simple to convert to analog just low pass filter it e DSD is inherently linear it s hard to build a PCM DAC that always takes the same sized step in the output for any possible unit increment of the representative PCM voltage value The best PCM technology for linearity is arguably a resistor ladder then all steps are at least positive for a positive change in the input but making resistors that are accurate to one part in 2 8 is hard and to one part in 2 very hard DSD doesn t need anywhere near this level of component matching e DSD soft clips when overdriven more like magnetic tape signals which exceed the nominal full scale value only get slightly compressed if at all With PCM you either have flat tops which induce extra energy at the squared off edges or worse you can have wrap around which is very audible e All bits ina DSD stream have the same weight a single bit error anywhere is barely measurable let alone audible Some bits in PCM carry a lot of weight and would make a very loud pop if changed PCM needs more error recovery to keep to a given s
4. PS Audio publishes its I S standard and it has been adopted by multiple other manufacturers as well DoP DSD over PCM is a standard allowing single rate DSD to travel over S PDIF the RCA XLR and Network Bridge digital inputs are S PDIF compatible as well as over USB and IS It is not currently possible to send DSD directly over S PDIF and the DSD files must first be converted to DoP standards to travel this route It is possible to send DSD files without conversion to DoP over DirectStream s I S inputs as well as USB in the future Most programs such as JRiver Media Center and Foobar 2000 will automatically convert DSD files to the DoP standards on the fly if the appropriate checkbox has been enabled There are no sonic penalties for conversion to DoP as the raw DSD data is unaffected by the process 4826 Sterling Drive Boulder CO 80301 PH 720 406 8946 service psaudio com www psaudio com Getting Started 1 2014 PS Audio Inc All rights reserved V PS AUDIO Unpacking and Connections Register the Unit Connecting DirectStream Quick Start Guide Owner s Reference DirectStream DAC e Carefully unpack the unit Your new DirectStream comes wrapped in a soft organic cotton bag to protect its beautiful finish Use the included cotton gloves to remove the unit and place in the chosen location The piano black top cover has a protective plastic film Remove this film Connect DirectStream to your digital sources usi
5. and transferred via an HDMI cable I S will typically provide a slightly better performance standard than any serial data stream such as S PDIF or AES EBU You can connect one or all seven inputs at the same time For instance you can connect the USB input to your computer and the coax input to your CD player Then you can simply choose which one to listen to from the front panel touch screen or the remote that selects the input If you are using USB make sure both the computer and DirectStream are connected and powered up USB also requires a driver to operate properly Mac computers running OSX have the driver built in Windows based computers require the PS Audio driver to be installed Download the driver from our website it is the same driver used in the PWD DirectStream will show up under Device Manager as PS Audio PerfectWave DSD under a heading PS Audio USB 2 0 Audio Devices CONNECTING DIRECTSTREAM S OUTPUT DirectStream is designed to drive a power amplifier directly or as another input on a preamplifier The outputs of DirectStream are high performance high current outputs that can drive long lengths of interconnect cable without degradation Our recommendation is to use DirectStream directly into your power amplifier and bypass the preamplifier There s no preamplifier like no preamplifier Certainly this is your choice but we believe the fewer pieces of equipment in the chain the better performance of the system Dir
6. the PWD STACKING DIRECTSTREAM WITH A PERFECTWAVE TRANSPORT PWT DirectStream and the PWT were designed to stack on top of each other if they are not placed on separate shelves To do this remove the feet from the unit you wish to place on top of the stack Carefully place the top unit so it rests on the bottom unit You will note that the bottom of the corners of each PerfectWave piece is specially designed to mate with the top corners of another PerfectWave DIGITAL INPUTS DirectStream offers multiple digital input choices including The Network Bridge XLR AES EBU RCA and TOSlink S PDIF USB as well as I S All inputs including USB are capable of accepting high definition digital audio signals The TOSlink input is capable of 96kKHz 24 bit audio and all other inputs including the USB are capable of handling up to 192kHz 24 bit of PCM or DoP data The I S inputs can handle single and double rate DSD directly or DoP Currently only the PS Audio NuWave Phono A D Converter is capable of sending pure DSD over I S DirectStream uses an HDMI cable to transfer S data This data can only be used with another compatible component such as the PerfectWave transport and will not work in other HDMI equipment as the S format incorporated does not comply with the HDMI standards The HDMI connector and cable were chosen to carry the I S signal because of their superior high speed data transmission capabilities for multiple clocks and data lines
7. the USB2 0 driver i i The entry under i prn 4 Sound video and ig bop reese pce tr amp PS Audio Perfectwave DSD W System devices Unversal Senal Bus contro ers game controllers is the USB1 0 fallback driver 4826 Sterling Drive Boulder CO 80301 PH 720 406 8946 service psaudio com www psaudio com Troubleshooting 10 2014 PS Audio Inc All rights reserved Troubleshooting PS AUDIO Owner s Reference DirectStream DAC Too much gain DirectStream has enough output gain to directly drive most power amplifiers without a preamplifier DirectStream s volume control is a no loss design and may be used at any setting from 1 to 100 without fear of resolution loss However if there is too much gain when you connect directly to a preamplifier or power amplifier it is possible to select a lower output gain setting To do so go to the setup touch screen on DirectStream and choose the lower output option See the Quick Start guide You can also turn the output attenuator on or off by pressing the Filter button on DirectStream s remote control 4826 Sterling Drive Boulder CO 80301 PH 720 406 8946 service psaudio com www psaudio com Troubleshooting 11 2014 PS Audio Inc All rights reserved V PS AUDIO Registering Coverage Shipping Warranty Owner s Reference DirectStream DAC Limited Three Year Warrant Should Register My Product e Registering your product validates the warran
8. upgrade it can be installed through an SD card placed in the rear of DirectStream To install place the SD card in the rear of DirectStream upside down The SD card slot is found directly below the Network Bridge slot Then follow these steps First turn off the rear panel power switch Wait for 10 seconds then insert the SD card upside down with the gold connector pins facing up Turn the rear panel main power switch to the on position The front panel Ready Light will begin blinking signifying the new firmware is being installed DO NOT REMOVE THE POWER OR DO ANYTHING WHILE THE UPDATE PROCESS IS TAKING PLACE BE PATIENT AND WAIT UNTIL THE LOGO LIGHT BLINKING IS DONE Once the blinking has finished keep the power to the unit on until it has fully initialized and is ready for operation again Then remove the SD card DirectStream does need some care and is appreciative of being fed proper AC power 4826 Sterling Drive Boulder CO 80301 PH 720 406 8946 service psaudio com www psaudio com Quick Start Guide 7 2014 PS Audio Inc All rights reserved VY Quick Start Guide PS AUDIO Owner s Reference DirectStream DAC A Power Plant is recommended for this task Should minor scratches occur in your top cover simply purchase any type of high quality automotive scratch removal polish such as Kit s Scratch Out or McGuire s products Car finish polish and wax can both be used on this surface for a beautiful luster
9. upsampled to 30 bits running at 10 times the standard DSD rate and then back down again to double rate DSD for noise shaping The internal volume control keeps complete precision every bit in the input affects the output of the DAC for any volume level Except for the sigma delta modulation process itself there is no rounding dither or other trimming not to 24 bits not to 32 bits not to 48 bits but rather a full 50 The incoming PCM signal is 30 bits from the upsampling filter and the volume control is 20 bits wide so all 50 bits of the output are used throughout the sigma delta conversion requiring more than 50 bits of precision DSD only requires a nominal 20 bit signal to noise ratio this design utilizes a minimum width of 24 bits with wide filter coefficients and 144dB S N Use of full precision everywhere and many guard bits in the IIR filters and the sigma delta modulator help maintain our goal of perfecting the audio output While some designs may run out of headroom or approach saturation levels depending on the source material the new design opts for an extra top bit everywhere in the digital path coupled with an extra 6 dB of head room in the analog path beyond the 6 dB of headroom that SACD uses The top bit keeps PCM from saturating even if that PCM was not properly bandwidth limited in the initial recording process The output of the DSD engine is fed directly into the output stage based on high speed video amplifiers and a
10. will provide adequate output level to directly feed a power amplifier without use of a preamplifier If the power amplifier or preamplifier is overly sensitive or you need to reduce the output level of DirectStream for any reason you can activate the output attenuator to reach a lower level There should be no sonic penalty for doing so To turn on off the output attenuator press the filter button on the remote Or go fi 12S Input 1 to the setup screen which is accessible by touching the small tool icon at the top of Zs the default screen I Tool icon The unit s screen brightness can be adjusted in the setup menu The display can be turned off by pressing the button labeled DIM located at bottom right of the remote When you are in the DIM mode the screen will come back on when you touch it or press a remote key To turn the DIM feature off press ON You can also adjust brightness in the setup menu DirectStream can become far more than a high performance stereo DAC An optional Network Bridge can be added that connects DirectStream to any home network The Bridge allows playback data from a source not directly connected to DirectStream using a UPnP protocol and separately available controler and server such as a NAS 4826 Sterling Drive Boulder CO 80301 PH 720 406 8946 service psaudio com www psaudio com Quick Start Guide 6 2014 PS Audio Inc All rights reserved v PS AUDIO Firmware upgrades
11. NA Owner s Reference PS AUDIO Owner s Reference DirectStream DAC Instructions for use Heart of Gold Neil Young E PCM 441k 24 Pree IN 100 PerfectWave DirectStream DAC PerfectWave DirectStream DAC 4826 Sterling Drive Boulder CO 80301 PH 720 406 8946 service psaudio com www psaudio com Introduction i 2014 PS Audio Inc All rights reserved Introduction PS AUDIO Owner s Reference DirectStream DAC Important Safety Read these instructions Instructions Heed all warnings FC Follow all instructions WARNING TO REDUCE THE RISK OF FIRE OR ELECTRICAL SHOCK DO NOT EXPOSE THIS APPARATUS TO TO RAIN OR MOISTURE Clean only with a dry cloth For the Piano Finish Top refer to the instructions on page 8 of the Quick Start Guide Do not place flammable material on top of or beneath the component All PS Audio components require adequate ventilation at all times during operation Rack mounting is acceptable where appropriate Do not remove or bypass the ground pin on the end of the AC cord unless absolutely necessary to reduce hum from ground loops of connected equipment This may cause RFI radio frequency interference to be induced into your playback setup Removing or bypassing the ground pin on any electrical component is potentially dangerous and should be avoided for safety reasons A polarized plug has two blades one wider than the other A grounding type plug has two blades and a third grounding pro
12. One master clock Introduction Owner s Reference DirectStream DAC If the switch is too slow it won t keep up with the 5 6MHz signal used in this instrument If the switch doesn t react in consistent times it will introduce jitter Use of traditional CMOS gates adds a lot of jitter as do cross coupled totem poled bipolar transistors Instead DirectStream relies on high speed differential video amps which are essentially class A switches have their outputs either near the top rail or near the bottom power supply rail without ever saturating and provide a very clean DSD switch For the all important low pass filtering requirements an active filter adds self noise even if it is effectively lowering incoming noise A unique and effective solution to this problem is a passive filter The design uses a carefully crafted high bandwidth audio transformer at the output of the instrument for both galvanic isolation from the outside world as well as low pass filtering The theory of operation the firmware and the complex algorithms needed to execute a design of this magnitude are daunting in their scale and scope The actual hardware to run the instrument is perhaps easier to grasp although no less critical to the perfected performance Listed in this section are the highlights of the hardware system s overview and design choices made to create an instrument of this caliber 1 Direct Stream runs from one master clock designed to subten
13. cuts are ever taken in the Digital Signal Processing DSP section of the FPGA Despite the fact that DSD is only nominally 20bit S N the design uses a minimum width of 24 bits throughout the device Where needed very expensive in terms of math operations filters with wide coefficients and 144dB S N are employed along with many guard bits in the IIR filters and the sigma delta modulator Every trace on the PC board is hand routed even for the digital sections No autorouting is employed so that each trace each critical path is calculated and designed for lowest noise jitter and isolation The PerfectWave DirectStream DAC represents a significant departure in the design and execution of PS Audio s products We believe this new instrument will help further our industry music and the faithful reproduction of music around the world Introduction viii 2014 PS Audio Inc All rights reserved T PS AUDIO Installation Considerations Digital inputs available DoP Getting Started Owner s Reference DirectStream DAC LOCATION A good location for DirectStream is in a cabinet or on a shelf at an easily accessible height Care should be taken to keep it away from power amplifiers or large potentially hum inducing products The IR infrared receiver for the remote is located to the left of the Touch Screen A direct line of sight will will help with DirectStream s IR sensor which has been greatly improved from its predecessor
14. d all possible combinations of sub clocks from 44 1 88 2 48 96 etc in order to eliminate the need for multiple clocks that cause errors and problems associated when noise from the unused clock propagates to the desired clock 2 All sample rates supported are synchronously upsampled to 10x the standard DSD sample rate and then back down to double rate DSD 2 64 44 1kHz There s no need for other clocks to interpret the inputs no matter what their sample rate because of the instrument s single clock architecture 3 The path from the single master clock to its retiming flip flop path is designed as short as possible and isolated from all other clocking 4 Connections between sections of the design have large impedances not only lots of power supply isolation but also for example 2k resistors in series with digital signals to slow down the edges and lessen any noise transfer 5 Similarly we run C SPI and other control signals as slowly as 4826 Sterling Drive Boulder CO 80301 PH 720 406 8946 service psaudio com www psaudio com Introduction vi 2014 PS Audio Inc All rights reserved PS AUDIO Balanced design Jitter is reduced thoughout the design 4826 Sterling Drive Boulder CO 80301 PH 720 406 8946 service psaudio com www psaudio com 10 11 12 13 Introduction Owner s Reference DirectStream DAC they can possibly go without causing problems we also control their transit
15. dio Inc All rights reserved PS AUDIO Input selection Input naming Quick Start Guide Owner s Reference DirectStream DAC Press this front panel button to activate the Ready Mode or to place DirectStream in Operational Mode When pressed to activate the Ready Mode the display as well as the outputs are turned off but all the unit s critical internal circuitry remains active If you wish to conserve energy consumed by DirectStream it will be necessary to use the rear panel power switch Using this rear panel switch will remove power from critical components and in order to gain maximum performance levels you will need to turn DirectStream s power on at least 3 hours before use Should DirectStream need to be rebooted use the rear panel power switch to power cycle the instrument It s best to wait 30 y seconds before powering back on SELECT THE INPUT The first step is to select the input you wish to play The input select S 128 Input 1 is on the touch screen Touch the input selected which is the visible 12S Input 2 input icon already selected The input selection list appears Scroll through the list and touch the input you wish to play The screen reverts back to the main screen and the selected input is displayed Each input has a lock light associated with it The lock light has two states connected green and not connected red This lock light indicator is located in the upper right hand corner of
16. e cable types USB is the preferred method of connection for a direct to computer connection and DirectStream is capable of processing up to 192kHz 24 bit PCM data as well as both single and double DSD converted to DoP Connect DirectStream to your computer using a well regarded USB cable and make sure to set the output of your computer to the higher 192kHz 24 bit standard Once connected your computer should automatically install DirectStream as a new device if you have a Mac If you have a Windows operating system you will need to download the appropriate driver from our website and install it on your computer The driver for DirectStream is the same as that used with the PWD and NuWave DAC If the device is not recognized or you are unable to obtain output through DirectStream it is possible there is a driver conflict on your computer Please see the Troubleshooting 4826 Sterling Drive Boulder CO 80301 PH 720 406 8946 service psaudio com www psaudio com Quick Start Guide 2 2014 PS Audio Inc All rights reserved V PS AUDIO 7S input USB Connecting the output If there s a gain mismatch Quick Start Guide Owner s Reference DirectStream DAC section for further assistance on playback issues via USB I S is available through several manufacturers as well PS Audio equipment such as the PerfectWave Transport and the NuWave Phono A D Converter I S is a parallel data connection with separate clocks and data
17. eady available and the unit should be automatically recognized You can then go and choose the PS Audio USB driver to play to by going to System Preferences gt Sound and select the PS Audio PerfectWave DSD You can also go to Applications gt Utilities gt Audio Midi and select the driver as well as set the same rate On Windows the drivers are not yet available for automatic recognition You will need to download the PS Audio USB driver which can be downloaded from our website You can also contact our support staff via email or phone or simply go to www psaudio com and click on the Downloads page for the download You must then unzip the driver and install it on your Windows machine Once installed Windows will recognize the DirectStream and allow you to select it for playback from any program on your computer If you are unable to obtain sound via USB on a Windows based device it is most likely the result of a partial or incorrect driver installation You may have also experienced a pop up window asking you to provide the correct driver In any of these cases the remedy is quite simple Remove the device and force Windows to reinstall the driver and the P Kowa device DirectStream will show up under device 2 Sater manager as PS pra A Audio PerfectWave A a n DSD It should show papapapa E up under a heading EP E PS Audio USB 2 0 gi D ce ndether pening devices s Audio Devices this pene is
18. ectStream has two types of analog outputs balanced XLR or single ended RCA We do not recommend using both outputs at the same time Be aware that most amplifiers and preamplifiers will produce 6dB higher level with the balanced outputs relative to the single ended outputs If you are using both outputs be advised they will be at different levels Our preference for connection to a power amplifier or preamplifier is through the balanced XLR outputs of DirectStream If DirectStream has a gain mismatch with your power amplifier you can use the balanced outputs and achieve 6dB more gain or choose the single ended RCA outputs for lower gain DirectStream also has two output levels available to users Go to the setup menu on the front panel touch screen to select the best output level 4826 Sterling Drive Boulder CO 80301 PH 720 406 8946 service psaudio com www psaudio com Quick Start Guide 3 2014 PS Audio Inc All rights reserved V PS AUDIO Control and operation Front panel standby button Quick Start Guide Owner s Reference DirectStream DAC RCA or single ended inputs will be the typical inputs as many preamplifiers surround processors receivers integrated amplifiers and power amplifiers have only this standard type of input Plug either the RCA or the XLR outputs of DirectStream into a line level input on the preamp integrated amplifier or subwoofer Do NOT plug the output of DirectStream into a phono or e
19. ignal to noise ratio S N with a slightly corrupted digital signal e Ironically most sanely priced PCM players actually use DAC chips that utilize a sigma delta modulator DSD to get a DSD ike signal anyway Similarly many most A Ds are sigma delta based The typical PCM path is analog gt DSD gt PCM gt disc gt PCM gt DSD gt analog The DSD path can skip the conversions to PCM Those conversions can t be perfect and artifacts of the steep anti aliasing filter or the reconstruction filter aren t considered benign by many e DiectStream handles the PCM conversion from AES EBU S PDIF TOSLINK I S and USB without recovering a clock by simply watching for the edges and making decisions about what they mean in context The result is that any jitter present on the input is lost entirely in the FPGA There is no difference in TOSLINK or I S because the output clock s rate only depends on the long term average rate of the inputs not on any edge or other local feature 4826 Sterling Drive Boulder CO 80301 PH 720 406 8946 service psaudio com www psaudio com Introduction iv 2014 PS Audio Inc All rights reserved V PS AUDIO The DSD engine is it s heart Full headroom with room to spare Transformer coupled outputs Clean switching Introduction Owner s Reference DirectStream DAC The heart of DirectStream is the DSD engine itself Regardless of input format whether PCM or DSD all data are
20. ion times thus limiting the amount of induced noise and jitter into the main digital processing area Outputs of the FPGA use the slowest lowest drive compatible with their function keeping noise as low as possible We use slower older technology CMOS when we need CMOS This choice lowers both noise and jitter potential We use balanced signals when practical they not only lessen radiation and are less sensitive to radiation but they lessen noise in the ground and power rails We use non saturation logic so the exact transitions are more predictable Coming out of saturation is a statistical process High rate signals or signals with fast edges are isolated from control signals and especially each other If they have to be fast they are terminated appropriately to help in address jitter Jitter is addressed everywhere in the design Every component choice every signal connection every wire routed on the boards are all hand done to lower noise and pay attention to jitter 0 1 precision thin film low temperature coefficient resistors are incorporated everywhere in the audio path 2 film caps in critical places and 5 film caps elsewhere in the audio path By using 1 8W resistors or 1 4W resistors where others might use a 1 10W resistor the temperature coefficient of the resistors are lowered For digital bypassing NPO COG or at worst X7R MLCCs are used Low noise techniques are employed such as liberal use of low induc
21. its passive output stage DirectStream has been hand written hand designed and personally voiced by its principal designer Ted Smith along with PS Audio CEO Paul McGowan and legendary loudspeaker designer and founder of Infinity Loudspeaker Systems Arnie Nudell DirectStream is based on a FPGA Field Programmable Gate Array as its core processor and no off the shelf DAC chips are used in its design DirectStream is less sensitive to the vagaries of input source types and their level of jitter than most DACs made Remarkably low jitter sensitivity is one of the hallmarks of this design and accomplished by not using classic edge transition detection techniques used on the digital input data Instead a proprietary method of extremely fast sample and recognize technology is employed that reduces dependency on cables jitter and the quality of the incoming data source Once the data from the selected digital audio source has been input to DirectStream it is upsampled to ten times the standard DSD rate of 2 8MHz before any processing takes place After processing by DirectStream all input data is converted to double rate DSD 5 6MHz and output through a passively filtered analog section consisting primarily of a high quality audio output transformer Elimination of the classic active analog output stage with all its difficulties running at these high frequencies have been implemented with a high quality passive audio transformer 4826 Sterling
22. liability to you exceed the original purchase price of the unit This warranty does not cover the cost of custom installation customer instruction setup adjustments or signal reception problems This warranty does not cover consequential and incidental damages Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages so the above limitation or exclusion may not apply to you In the event your warrantied product cannot be repaired PS Audio will replace or refund the unit We reserve the right to replace any out of stock discontinued or limited edition products with a comparable product Discontinued products may not be available for warranty replacement Warranty transfer How Can the Warranty be Transferred This warranty is for the benefit of the original purchaser of the product The warranty may be transferred to a subsequent purchaser during the 3 year warranty period To do this you must contact PS Audio directly to set up transfer of registration 4826 Sterling Drive Boulder CO 80301 PH 720 406 8946 service psaudio com www psaudio com Warranty 13 2014 PS Audio Inc All rights reserved V PS AUDIO If you require service in North America Obtain an RA number Use original packing State law If you are outside the US Service Owner s Reference DirectStream DAC How Do Get Warranty Service To locate an authorized PS Audio repair center for service assista
23. nce or for help with the operation of a product or just for information please contact PS Audio customer support Warranty Service Within the US e You must first obtain a Return Merchandise Authorization Number RMA to receive warranty service and prior to returning any item Contact PS Audio or an authorized PS Audio repair center to receive an RMA e You must put the RMA on all returns If it is not clearly marked PS Audio will return the package back to you freight collect e You should include a description of the problem along with the RMA inside the packaging e Original packaging should be used for the safe transit of your PS Audio unit to the repair center If you do not have the original packing PS Audio can sell and ship to you replacement packaging e You are responsible for the cost of shipping the product to a PS Audio authorized repair center You should insure the product for its full retail cost in the event it gets lost or damaged in transit PS Audio is not responsible for damage incurred in products sent to us e Shipping your product in non PS Audio packaging may void this warranty PS Audio reserves the right to charge you for new factory packaging to return your product after a repair How State Law Applies This warranty gives you specific legal rights and you may also have other rights which vary from state to state Warranty Service Outside of the US PS Audio has authorized distribution in many cou
24. ng All PS products ship with a grounding type plug If the provided plug does not fit into your outlet consult an electrician for replacement of the obsolete outlet Protect the power cord from being walked on or pinched particularly at plugs convenience receptacles and the point where they exit from the apparatus Unplug this apparatus during lightning storms or when unused for long periods of time When making connections to this or any other component make sure all components are off Turn off all systems power before connecting the PS Audio component to any other component Make sure all cable terminations are of the highest quality THERE ARE NO USER SERVICEABLE PARTS INSIDE ANY PS AUDIO PRODUCT REFER ALL SERVICING TO QUALIFIED SERVICE PERSONNEL Please contact your authorized dealer distributor or PS Audio if you have any questions not addressed in this reference manual This product is manufactured in the United States of America PS Audio is a registered trademark of PS Audio International Inc and is restricted for use by PS Audio International Inc its subsidiaries and authorized agents The exclamation point within a The lightning flash with arrow WARNING triangle is intended to tell the head within a triangle is RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK user that important operating intended to tell the user that DO NOT OPEN and servicing instructions are parts inside the product are a tisk of electric shock to Ht the papers
25. ng the appropriate connections Connect the AC cable into the receptacle in back and plug the unit into your Power Plant or into the wall PS Audio products come from the factory with a 3 year warranty Please register your new DirectStream Registration takes just a few minutes helps us inform you about future upgrades keeps track of your serial number and allows us to maintain the highest standards of product quality of any company To register your new unit look on the back panel of DirectStream and note the serial number Using any web browser go to www psaudio com and click on Register Products Once you have completed the registration process you can then go to the PS website and look at the My Registered Products page The link to this page is located at the top right hand corner of the website once you are logged in If you do not have web access you may register the unit via mail or phone Notification of software upgrades to this product will be available only to registered owners via the web and email CONNECTING TO A DIGITAL SOURCE There are four methods of connecting the digital inputs of DirectStream Through the home network S PDIF USB and I S The home network option requires the addition of the optional PS Audio Network Bridge be installed S PDIF is a serial digital interface available as an optical source TOSlink coaxial source RCA or balanced source AES EBU XLR Connect to your digital sources with any of these thre
26. ntries of the world In each country the authorized importing distributor has accepted the responsibility for warranty of products sold by that distributor Warranty service should be obtained where the product was purchased 4826 Sterling Drive Boulder CO 80301 PH 720 406 8946 service psaudio com www psaudio com Service 14 2014 PS Audio Inc All rights reserved Service PS AUDIO Owner s Reference DirectStream DAC Changes to Our Products PS Audio reserves the right to modify the design of any product without obligation to purchasers of previously manufactured products and to change the prices or specifications of any products without notice or obligation to any person Your serial number Your purchase information 4826 Sterling Drive Boulder CO 80301 PH 720 406 8946 service psaudio com www psaudio com Service 15 2014 PS Audio Inc All rights reserved Notes PS AUDIO Owner s Reference DirectStream DAC 4826 Sterling Drive Boulder CO 80301 PH 720 406 8946 service psaudio com www psaudio com Notes 16 2012 PS Audio Inc All rights reserved
27. passive output transformer Most output schemes for DSD modulators are active low pass filters covering the required 120dB S N ratio from 10Hz to 220MHz and have a number of design challenges and problems associated with even the best designs If the analog processing isn t linear and doesn t have a very wide bandwidth it will modulate the high frequency noise that s inherent in DSD back into the audio band That modulation will not result in just low level noise In practice it will be aliased back into the audible band with serious sonic consequences To maintain low noise and linearity the design incorporates both high speed symmetrical video amps and a passive output filter The first challenge in such a design is the output switch that generates the final 1 s and 0 s of the modulator A very clean switch that hooks up the positive rail with a 1 and the negative rail with a 0 is essential If it has too much resistance if the resistance is different at the positive end than the negative end if the resistance changes from time to time the result will not be as clean as it needs to be For 120dB S N the switch resistance has to be quite consistent Another design requirement is consistent and fast switching time 4826 Sterling Drive Boulder CO 80301 PH 720 406 8946 service psaudio com www psaudio com Introduction v 2014 PS Audio Inc All rights reserved PS AUDIO DirectStream hardware and design choices
28. qualized input of any type Once everything has been connected use a high quality AC cable to power DirectStream DACs in particular are quite sensitive to AC power and produce a bit of line noise themselves Make sure you have a high quality shielded power cable to power DirectStream and a Power Plant if possible PS Audio produces an entire line of high quality shielded power cables that are generally accepted as being some of the best in the industry Whatever you choose make sure it honors the music Turn the AC power switch in the rear of DirectStream to the ON position The power switch is located just above the AC inlet As soon as the switch is activated the front panel touch screen will display the initializing screen This screen shows when DirectStream s internal engine is being loaded with the firmware that runs DirectStream After the initializing screen you will see the main screen of DirectStream The front panel PS logo button located on the upper left hand corner of the unit is the Ready Operation Mode control for DirectStream This control has two modes Ready Mode and Operational Mode Ready Mode is designed to keep power on to critical internal circuitry including power supply capacitors thermally Standby or operate sensitive semiconductors and integrated circuits 4826 Sterling Drive Boulder CO 80301 PH 720 406 8946 service psaudio com www psaudio com Quick Start Guide 4 2014 PS Au
29. tance capacitor bypassing with a self resonance frequency at the main clock rate to keep noise from ever getting into the voltage rails in the first place Introduction vii 2014 PS Audio Inc All rights reserved V PS AUDIO Digital filtering Double rate DSD In conclusion 4826 Sterling Drive Boulder CO 80301 PH 720 406 8946 service psaudio com www psaudio com 14 15 16 ire Introduction Owner s Reference DirectStream DAC Digital filtering in general and the upsampling and noise shaping filters in the sigma delta modulators in particular offer many of degrees of freedom for a filter designer There isn t a mathematically perfect filter to use they all have tradeoffs so we ve chosen the filters that sound best in our experience and in addition to that we run everything with as wide of an audio bandwidth as possible Although design choices might have been made to run everything at single rate DSD 64 44100HZ it was decided instead to run at double rate DSD to have a wider audio band below the upsampling and noise shaping filters Noise shaping is how a high rate sampled signal can have more accuracy in part of the spectrum than the 6dB bit rule and it is understood that the quantizer in a sigma delta modulator can hide a multitude of sins in the noise shaping filter Our instrument still runs the noise shaping filter at full precision to get the cleanest DSD signal possible No short
30. the input icon Some transports will not appear connected until you start to play the transport INPUT NAMING For greater convenience it is S USB Input possible to assign a custom name to each input such as FS 12S Input 1 PerfectWave Transport Apple TV etc To name each input KS 12S Input 2 touch the input icon from the main screen The input list Edit icon 4826 Sterling Drive Boulder CO 80301 PH 720 406 8946 service psaudio com www psaudio com Quick Start Guide 5 2014 PS Audio Inc All rights reserved PS AUDIO Filter and sample rate selections Adjusting the output level Screen brightness The Network Bridge option Quick Start Guide Owner s Reference DirectStream DAC appears Touch the small edit icon of the input you wish to name and the edit screen appears Type in the name of the product and touch SUBMIT If you wish to return to the default input name go to the second keyboard screen accessed by pressing the numeric key labeled 123 and touch Restore Default DirectStream upsamples every input and file type to 10X DSD rate before processing It is not possible to select the upsample rate for modification and therefore no sample rate choices are available on DirectStream s touch screen Unlike many DACs including DirectStream s predecessor no filter options are available DirectStream has two output levels High and Low In the standard output mode DirectStream
31. ty start date e f you do not register your product within 30 days of service a copy of your purchase receipt from an authorized PS Audio dealer may be used as a proof of purchase to establish the warranty start date e f no proof of purchase from an authorized PS Audio dealer or registration is provided the production date of the product will be used to determine the warranty start date e Registration can be completed online by phone by mail or by email e You may wish to sign up for PS Audio s monthly newsletters specials product updates and or Paul s Daily Posts What Does this Warranty Cover This warranty covers defects in material and workmanship for products purchased from PS Audio or its authorized dealers and agents What Will PS Audio Do to Correct the Problem In the event your product fails your sole remedy under this limited warranty shall be to return the product to PS Audio or an authorized PS Audio repair center The product will be repaired without charge for parts or labor replaced or the purchase price refunded through the original point of purchase at the option of PS Audio What is the Period of Coverage This limited warranty is in effect for 3 years from the date the unit was first purchased from PS Audio or its dealers and agents Who Pays for Shipping You are responsible to pay for the safe and proper shipment of the warrantied product to PS Audio or its authorized repair center The PS A
32. udio authorized repair center will pay the cost of returning the repaired or replacement product to you under this warranty 4826 Sterling Drive Boulder CO 80301 PH 720 406 8946 service psaudio com www psaudio com Warranty 12 2014 PS Audio Inc All rights reserved Warranty PS AUDIO Owner s Reference DirectStream DAC Not covered What Does this Warranty Not Cover This warranty does not cover damage due to e Accidents carelessness improper transportation misuse neglect or abuse e Failure to follow the operating instructions that are provided by PS Audio in the owner s manuals available for download at psaudio com e Use in any manner inconsistent with PS Audio s operating instructions available for download at psaudio com e Lack of routine maintenance e Connection to an improper voltage supply e Alterations or modifications to the unit e Improper or unauthorized repair including repairs not authorized by PS Audio or a PS Audio authorized repair center e Fire lightning flood acts of God or other contingencies beyond the control of PS Audio e Products purchased through an unauthorized source if you have questions as to whether or not a dealer is authorized please contact customer support at psaudio com e Products with a factory applied serial number that has in any way been altered defaced or removed Limitations Limitations on PS Audio s Obligations Under this Warranty In no event will PS Audio s
33. with the persons WARNING To reduce the risk of electric shock do not remove cover or back ppi a No user serviceable parts inside Refer servicing to qualified service personnel 4826 Sterling Drive Boulder CO 80301 PH 720 406 8946 service psaudio com www psaudio com Introduction ii 2014 PS Audio Inc All rights reserved V PS AUDIO Welcome DirectStream overview Introduction Owner s Reference DirectStream DAC The PS Audio PerfectWave DirectStream Digital to Analog Converter DAC is a state of the art DAC preamplifier and media center DirectStream accepts PCM as well as DSD Digital Audio data and converts it to high performance analog audio that can be fed directly to a power amplifier or preamplifier DirectStream represents a major advancement in the art of recreating the musical event Musical information that may have previously been hidden or covered up by other DACs in digital audio media ranging from CDs to high resolution downloads will be uncovered by DirectStream Subtle musical details and cues such as upper harmonics decay reverb and room reflections will no longer be masked by the conversion process from digital to analog Your music will sound natural and you will be able to rediscover much of what you may have been missing in your digital audio library with the introduction of DirectStream into your system DirectStream features a unique architecture inside From its digital inputs to
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