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PS Audio Stellar Gain DAC


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  • 2 weeks later...

I had a good long listen to it the other day. It was fantastic. Really, really outstanding. Spacious, lush and detailed, plus many other superlative adjectives. Beautifully done.

 

I shed a rare tear when my youngest daughter was born over a year ago, and then once again when I heard this DAC. No kidding.  

 

A bit above my budget, so I settled on the very last Nuwave DSD in Australia. Ex demo. It is coming in this week. If I could have stretched to the Stellar, I would have done so in a heartbeat. If it’s in your budget, go and get one. 

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"~Spyne~ Anyone with experience with this DAC (and preamp)?

Considering it as a replacement for my current set-up. Matching should be fine, as my power amp is the Stellar S300."

 

 

 

Input/output impedance are fine a good match.

 

BUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Stellar S300 amp only needs 1v in for full rated output. And the max output from the Stellar Gain Dac is 20V!!! You could be very very low on the volume control for normal listening, and "if" I stress "if" the volume is done in the digital domain, you run the risk of "bit stripping" the music, instead of 16bit resolution it could be 14 or 12 or 10 bit depending how low the volume is. 

 

 

https://www.psaudio.com/stellar-s300-stereo-amplifier/

 

 

https://www.psaudio.com/stellar-gain-cell-dac/

 

Cheers George 

 

PS: just found out the volume is done in the analog domain, so there's no "bit stripping", but it will still be low on the dial for normal level.


 

Edited by georgehifi
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3 hours ago, georgehifi said:

 

"~Spyne~ Anyone with experience with this DAC (and preamp)?

Considering it as a replacement for my current set-up. Matching should be fine, as my power amp is the Stellar S300."

 

 

 

Input/output impedance are fine a good match.

 

BUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Stellar S300 amp only needs 1v in for full rated output. And the max output from the Stellar Gain Dac is 20V!!! You could be very very low on the volume control for normal listening, and "if" I stress "if" the volume is done in the digital domain, you run the risk of "bit stripping" the music, instead of 16bit resolution it could be 14 or 12 or 10 bit depending how low the volume is. 

 

 

https://www.psaudio.com/stellar-s300-stereo-amplifier/

 

 

https://www.psaudio.com/stellar-gain-cell-dac/

 

Cheers George 

 

PS: just found out the volume is done in the analog domain, so there's no "bit stripping", but it will still be low on the dial for normal level.


 

I didn't find that when I demo'ed this pair. The particular Gain Cell Dac/Pre I tried had a weird imaging issue in my system, but it is not the first to do this and some say it was because it was not "run in" :fear:

 

Why would any manufacturer design a new series of components that wouldn't work well together?

 

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25 minutes ago, blybo said:

I didn't find that when I demo'ed this pair.

The specs must be wrong if the volume is not down in the first quarter, they are from PS Audio.

 

If the power amp only needs 1v in for full 300w@4ohms output, and there's 20v available from the pre, assuming that's at 0dBFS digital from it's digital stage.

(The level of 0 dBFS is assigned to the maximum possible digital level.)

 

Cheers George

Edited by georgehifi
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They wouldn’t, and still be in business. 

 

Many of the PS Audio items (along with many other manufacturers) need “long burn” in times. Paul McGowan explains here, and mentions the Stellar range specifically:

 

 

Edited by JSBach
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  • 6 months later...
On ‎3‎/‎03‎/‎2018 at 8:51 PM, ~Spyne~ said:

Anyone with experience with this DAC (and preamp)?

Considering it as a replacement for my current set-up. Matching should be fine, as my power amp is the Stellar S300.

 

Cheers.

@~Spyne~ - how'd you get on with this? Looking at one myself. Looks a good unit.

 

C

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Love it. Admittedly I haven't done a great deal of listening to music the last year with work and small daughter taking up all free time :) but functionally it works perfectly, does absolutely everything I want, and when called on, sounds bloody brilliant (to me).

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Yep, used as a pre (and dac) to control between all my sources (SBT, Oppo, TV, Fetch).

About the only thing that could be improved is when power is cycled (not just stand-by, but completely on/off) the volume defaults to 25 (which is way too loud for my set-up) and there's no way to change that default value.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 12/03/2018 at 12:25 AM, JSBach said:

I had a good long listen to it the other day. It was fantastic. Really, really outstanding. Spacious, lush and detailed, plus many other superlative adjectives. Beautifully done.

 

I shed a rare tear when my youngest daughter was born over a year ago, and then once again when I heard this DAC. No kidding.  

 

A bit above my budget, so I settled on the very last Nuwave DSD in Australia. Ex demo. It is coming in this week. If I could have stretched to the Stellar, I would have done so in a heartbeat. If it’s in your budget, go and get one. 

I have been hunting "the very last Nuwave DSD" in Australia for the last few weeks - thought I was on a winner with two places but sadly all gone and none with distributor.  I have a couple in my systems and wanted the last one to complete the set.  Like you, I find the PS Audio sound most engaging and not too tiring.  If I could stretch to the Stellar Gain I would in a heartbeat, but that is not a financial option.

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I have been hunting "the very last Nuwave DSD" in Australia for the last few weeks - thought I was on a winner with two places but sadly all gone and none with distributor.  I have a couple in my systems and wanted the last one to complete the set.  Like you, I find the PS Audio sound most engaging and not too tiring.  If I could stretch to the Stellar Gain I would in a heartbeat, but that is not a financial option.

I just sold mine here in the classifieds a month ago. Almost all my equipment is gone and I’ve just packed up my vinyl and am moving it to a shop this week. I’ve gone deaf in one ear.
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3 minutes ago, JSBach said:


I just sold mine here in the classifieds a month ago. Almost all my equipment is gone and I’ve just packed up my vinyl and am moving it to a shop this week. I’ve gone deaf in one ear.

I did notice that - I missed it.  I am reviewing the market and hoping another one will pop up here before i have to make a decision!

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6 minutes ago, JSBach said:


I just sold mine here in the classifieds a month ago. Almost all my equipment is gone and I’ve just packed up my vinyl and am moving it to a shop this week. I’ve gone deaf in one ear.

sorry to hear.

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sorry to hear.

Nice pun! I mean it! Although I’m sure it was unintentional on your part, I couldn’t help pointing it out. It was a bummer at first but I’ve moved on and sold my gear and got a good bit of cash in my pocket. I’m building a house so if I can’t use it on hi fi I can put it into this project.
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