January 9, 2024. PS Audio has announced a major upgrade to its DirectStream DAC MK2. A year after this great-sounding DAC was released, a game-changing firmware upgrade, appropriately named Massive, has just become available.
According to PS Audio’s founder and head honcho Paul McGowan, “Our resident digital genius, Ted Smith, has finally solved a big riddle—how to build a 7th order SDM (Sigma Delta modulator), the heart and soul of nearly every modern DAC that separates the music from the quantization noise. The higher the order of SDM the less bothersome the noise. But, like all engineering challenges, the higher the order the more difficult to design and keep it stable. Ted’s breakthrough has a massive reduction in ultrasonic noise below 100kHz. And, if that were not enough, he added a new software-based Digital Lens to the FPGA that further lowers jitter and blackens the background even more.”
Scott McGowan, Paul’s son and PS Audio Sales Director, adds: “we’ve lowered ultrasonic noise by 30dB and audible noise by 10dB and we’ve also updated the user interface… The DSD Mk2 has been bumped up to the next echelon of performance.”
Having recently reviewed the PS Audio DSD MK2, and having been quite impressed by its stellar performance well above its price point, I downloaded the free firmware upgrades for DAC and its FPGA from the company’s website. A preprogrammed thumb drive is also available for purchase from PS Audio. Summarizing my experience with the Massive firmware—and it takes a lot to impress me—the differences wrought by this new program were not subtle. There was more air, depth, and naturalness to the soundstage than I have ever heard before not only on the DSD MK 2, but on any DAC even close to its price. The reduction in noise clearly allows more music to enter your sound room and unveils details that were previously submerged. This is an upgrade that every DSD MK2 owner should just go out and get and prepare to be not just impressed but blown away!
For more information, visit the company website at http://www.psaudio.com.