I will give the bottom line first, this DAC is outstanding. I was one who went against the wave of enthusiasm for the Perfect Wave after hearing it. I heard a certain character in the PW I just didn't care for. The Direct Stream I was truly impressed by.

My friend who has the DS also has a Lampizator 5, so it was a nice comparison of two heavy weights. Also, nice to own both. Besides us two there were two other guys listening as well. We pretty much decided there were definite differences between the DAC's but neither was a clear winner, it would come down to taste. The Lampi is a tube DAC and exhibited a more forward sound stage, stronger fuller bass response. The DS, which would be my choice, provided amazing detail and transparency, it had the ability to sound nicely neutral while presenting instruments in a way they sound live in the room. The Lampi displayed warmer vocals for the most part. The DS had more snap in things like snare strikes.

The DS will set you back about $6k, I'm not exactly sure on the Lampi but it's more expensive. The system was computer files into the DAC, The Dude preamp, Coda CSX power and Legacy Focus SE speakers.