Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
December 4, 2024. PS Audio has just announced another major update to its DirectStream DAC MK2. Eleven months ago, this trailblazing DAC received the Mount Massive firmware. My review of this update concluded: “This is an update that every DSD MK2 owner should just go out and get and prepare not to be just impressed but blown away!”. Just when I thought the MK2 had reached its peak performance, PS Audio’s digital guru, designer Ted Smith, has come up with the Blue Sky update. According to the company’s website, “This update enhances the FPGA with cutting-edge advancements, including 81-bit multiplies and extending the length and accuracy of the upsampling filters with custom-calculated coefficients. The result is a profoundly deeper soundstage, a strikingly quieter background, and unparalleled detail that reveals textures and layers in your music like never before.”
While company head Paul McGowan is rarely given to hyperbole, his video on the PS Audio website (www.psaudio.com) declares that “sonically Blue Sky is stunning….and Ted has done another miracle.” McGowan also emphasizes that this update is free and may be downloaded from the PS Audio website and transferred to a thumb drive. Users who want everything done for them can purchase a thumb drive loaded with the Blue Sky software directly from the company. As a bonus, a USB cable is thrown into that deal to connect PS Audio’s AirLens streamer with the MK2 and enable the AirLens to control the DAC’s volume if Roon is used as the digital library program.
Updating the MK2 DAC with Blue Sky is similar to the steps I followed when loading the Mount Massive software. Detail recovery, air, soundstage, and sonic naturalness—all virtues provided by Mount Massive—were given a substantial boost, particularly in bass definition, instrumental and vocal details, and the projection of performers directly into my sound room. In short, McGowan and company have taken an already outstanding DAC and have elevated its performance to a level that few DACs at any price can deliver. Wait, there’s more. US listeners who have yet to experience the DirectStream DAC MK2, can now buy it at $2000 off its already reasonable price. What a deal!