[jdandy]

Yep, I received the PS Audio email today. Here it is.

I work for the coolest company.

Yesterday after lunch, Paul grabbed the sales and customer service guys and walked us back to PS Audio's Music Room One with an SD card of the newest DirectStream firmware, Huron, in hand.

What followed was one of the most exciting demos I'd ever been shown by Paul, our CEO and founder of PS Audio.

If you're confused at this point, let me back up. The DirectStream is our flagship, state-of-the-art DAC, and it is one of a small handful of DACs in the world to convert audio from digital to analog purely in the software domain. That means it can be constantly improved through firmware updates, which we have done several times since the DirectStream's debut.

Now, I am a DirectStream owner because I've had the opportunity to listen to literally a pile of other companies' DACs, and I prefer ours in every way. I've been able to audition so many because PS Audio's handy trade-in program sends a large amount of gear our way.

So I might have been as excited as anyone to hear the result of a year's worth of work on the part of designer Ted Smith. Huron did not disappoint.

What we heard in the difference between Torreys and Huron can be summed up with one word: realism. There were 6 of us in there, and some of our necks craned to catch a better stereophonic presentation. Despite my less-than-ideal position in the room I could instantly tell what was new about the DAC, and what the difference was between firmwares.

I could instantly tell that Huron is more significant than just another firmware update. Huron is a game changer.

We listened to Lorena McKennitt on stage playing a nylon stringed guitar. At the first peep from an audience member in the recording, my eyes shot open to look for the guy hollering at the performer.

What had before been a big, wide, but ultimately shallow presentation of music quickly became a clear window into a live event. It was like we were dropped down on wires to float right in front of the stage.

I've placed microphones in front of enough nylon string guitars to know that with the new Huron, it was literally just like having the instrument in the room with us.

Big ideas

Designer Ted Smith writes that it was his conversations with well known software designer and engineer Richard Murison (author of the software BitPerfect) that led to several epiphanies he eventually worked into the design of Huron.

Specifically, Ted realized that if he were to simplify the upsampling function, he would have enough room in the FPGA's capabilities to process at twenty-times the DSD rate, which is 56.448MHz.

This means he can move the ultrasonics created by the noise shaping (inherent in all DAC conversions) much higher in frequency to around 120KHz. And that means his passive, gentle slope output filter can be that much simpler -- it has vastly less work to do.

From Ted himself: "To my ears the lower background noise allows more natural detail to be heard without adding any downsides (e.g. like the sterile sound that sometimes comes with extra detail on some DACs.)

I find Huron to be more engaging than any previous release. Not that I recommend it, but you can also turn the volume up higher with Huron without ear strain since there’s less extraneous sound – there’s nothing like listening to music at realistic levels for a brief amount of time – listening to individual instruments in a symphony for example. Or conversely just relaxing and letting the music wash over you…"

Ted's work has lowered the noise floor in the audio band by 3 solid decibels, and in the ultrasonic band by a whopping 18dB!

Listen for yourself today. It's a new day, and if you're lucky enough to be a DirectStream DAC owner, we've got a new DAC waiting for you.

Okay, how much?

Get outta here! You know our DirectStream updates are always free. It's part of the way we do business, and we hope you like the approach. You can download Huron for free or order a pre-loaded SD card by clicking below.


Yours in music,
Duncan

Duncan Taylor | Retail Sales Manager | PS Audio