PS Audio launches Snowmass
 

PS Audio is launching a new operating system for the DirectStream DAC known as Snowmass on Monday November 12th, and to celebrate I am offering special pricing on the DirectStream DAC and DirectStream Memory Player.

Look for this Promo soon in our Marketplace. :thumbsup:

https://www.audioaficionado.org/showthread.php?t=44293

About Snowmass

Since the initial release of DirectStream in 2014, each of Ted’s OS Updates have bettered its predecessor. That’s right, the peaks keep getting higher.

So what magic did Ted unleash with this new OS? We’ll let Ted tell you:

“For Snowmass I rewrote the FPGA code that upsampled lower rates of PCM to 352.8k (or 394k, depending). I wanted to get better control of the times at which things happened, in order to have more control of noise generated, and more control of the jitter generated by the FPGA. I could also get a better balance of the FPGA resources needed to do the filtering. In the old upsampler I got about 144dB S/N in the upsampling. In the new code I have about 156dB S/N. Lowering noise and jitter makes everything better.”

Ted's description may make it sound as though Snowmass would make only a modest difference in sound quality—but PS Audio CEO Paul McGowan found that nothing could be further from the truth:

"Redcloud, our previous upgrade, makes huge improvements in the sound quality of DirectStream. But Snowmass is truly stunning.

"Everything is more open and soundstage depth is better-defined. This allows your ear to work less because the image is more palpable and the illusion is therefore much more realistic. In the midrange, there's more detail with less harshness, and voices and instruments are better separated, more precisely located in the soundstage. It's easier to hear the enunciation and vocal technique of singers, dynamic contrasts are far greater and crescendi just leap out at you—and everything just sounds more 'real'.

"Snowmass is our best update yet, and as always, DirectStream owners get this upgrade for free—and holy cow, they're not going to believe how good this is. It easily blows away six-figure DACs."

I’m a beta tester and just loaded Snowmass tonight. I’m not good with audiophile speak, but can say it sounds better than Redcloud on my system. Bigger soundstage, better midrange, and lovely dynamics. I love my PS Audio Direcstream DAC!

[emoji106][emoji106]

Yes!

Great promo! just PM you.

Yes, the Beta testers have only had Snowmass for a few hours and overjoyed so far.

It cracks me up though, that Paul reports every new release is the greatest since sliced bread. :D

They do a tremedous job over there. :thumbsup:

Ron

I am curious about true Playback of what is actually on an SACD. Paul McGowan indicates that we really do not hear the musical layers of what is actually on an SACD unless there is a unique proprietary connection that does not contravene Sony Philips Digital Interface protocol, thus with PS Audio’s Direct Stream DAC there is the connection they use called ( I squared S Input) and for McIntosh it is the DIN connection. I understand from Paul’s comments that regular SPDIF, (Toslink) and AC3 (Coaxial) interconnects do not send the layers of information on an SACD that are supposed to be rendered on a typical SACD player to a Preamplifier...Or...? What am I missing or not understanding.

The high resolution data on an SACD is in DSD format which is not output through conventional SPDIF digital outputs (which include RCA or BNC, Toslink optical, and AES/EBU.) Hybrid SACDs also have an additional data layer of CD resolution PCM data which can be read by most CD players and that digital PCM data can be output via SPDIF. The PS Audio DirectStream Memory Player is able to be connected to their DirectStream DAC via an HDMI cable which transmits the high resolution DSD data via an I2S connection made between the matching transport and DAC. Conventional SACD players are only allowed to decode the DSD data and output it via their analog outputs, not by conventional digital SPDIF connections. There are some other companies offering similar digital connectivity which provide a method of decoding the DSD data from an SACD with their own DACs, such as the McIntosh you mentioned, Bryston's BDA-3 DAC via HDMI connection from an SACD player, and some other matching transport/DAC combos.

A hallmark of the Snowmass update is Teds custom coded upsampling algorithm that replaces the stock Xilinx upsampling algorithm.

"Yes, until now I’d been using the stock upsampler/downsampler that Xilinx provides. It’s a pretty nice piece of software and does most things very well. Still I wanted better control of when things happened and since I know far more about what my filtering needs are than it does, I can save some work in places and do more in others to get a better result. To be clear we’d get the same mathematical answers with the same filters and inputs, but I’m doing some things their software wouldn’t handle."

Ron

Thanks Audio Bill, much appreciated.