PS Audio - PWD - Perfect Wave DAC

That trade-in promotion is a humdinger, offering full retail price of an working DAC or transport (towards the transport) up to original MSRP.

"Chris, do you have one coming for review?

The PS Audio PWD unit along with the new Ayre QB-9 are of high interest"

I have a QB-9 on the way here, but haven't talk to the guys at PS for a while.

It looks interesting. I was in line to be on their beta program,,but it meant buying the DAC first. Also, not sure why they spent the $$ putting a touch screen panel on the front panel. Who sits so close to his/her equipment that he/she can touch it to control it. A good remote option is all that is really needed IMO (and they seem to have that although don't show it; and iTouch app is promised).

I have been waiting so long for PWT and when I heard that the bridge will be awhile longer so I decided to go computer route instead. Too bad, potentially, I think it is a music server that supports high resolution file, good interface via iTouch, good choices of digital output connection for high end system and at a reaseonable price point.
Now that I have my computer server, I am not sure PWT will be much of advantage. We shall see.

I spoke with PS-audio a few days ago (nice people) and they are working on the bridge and a screen remote that should have more features than the iphone/ipod. I am really excited and its at the top of my list. I plan to sample the unit when it arrives at my local dealer, before I deside. This could be the one for me though! I still like the proton for my computer room and travel, but this I really like for my main room.

Also, the dac has ps-audio's i2s input and I found a mod company that is working on i2s output boards to add to cd players and other sources. They are still working on it though, because the pwt is so new. I will keep you posted!

RE

JR

As one of the beta testers of the Perfec Wave DAC and Transport, I strongly recommend that anyone looking to purchase a high end DAC or Transport & DAC combination give these units some serious consideration. Check out the customer comments drop down on the PS Audio website:

http://www.psaudio.com/ps/products/detail/perfectwave-dac?cat=audio

Afer hours of listening I can confirm that the enthusiastic comments are justified and these units are truly extrodinary for the money, both in sound quality as well as features. With the addtion of the bridge later this year the PWD will directly access a NAS and you will not need a PC or sound card to select and play your music.
I hope Chris will request units for review as I am confident the PWD will give the Alpha DAC some serious competition. As he is someone who has heard the very best, I would love to hear his opinion.

Rgds,
Chet

The DACs are back ordered until late July. !! I am on the waiting list for eval; Chris, you should too.

"I hope Chris will request units for review..."

Already in motion :~)

Very favourable remarks by Keith Howard.
He thought I2S gives best sound on CD followed by AES/EBU, RCA SPDIF and USB a poor last. He preferred the 'native' mode on CD i.e. no upsampling. On hi-res material the sound quality did not really advance on that from an RME Fireface 800 connected by firewire to a new Mac mini: in some cases the latter was better.

I hope he has the final version of these components. As far as I know they are still in beta.

From what we are told our Beta units are the same form a hardware standpoint as what will be shipped in production. Beta activity has been focused on finding software bugs which are bing resolved with new software releases we download onto a memory card and load into the rear of the units. Very quick and easy! I believe this is how they will continue to add new features in the future as well. Looks like they are very close. Keep an eye on their site for more details.

Chet

Could someone please explain to me what I2S is?

I2S is the native language of DAC chips, most often used when communicating between DACs and transports in single-box CD players.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%C2%B2S

clay

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/psaudio7/perfectwave.html

Listened to the PS Audio Perfect Wave Transport and DAC at my dealers a number of weeks ago. The combo was linked by the PS Audio HDMI designed to carry the I2S signal. Dealer claimed sound improved greatly with PS Audio cable over regular HDMI.

The dealer used inexpensive Straight Wire interconnects and speaker wire connecting the PS combo to a Simaudio Moon i3.3 amp which powered a pair of Audio Physic Sitara speakers. Listened to it with 16/44.1 material ONLY as that was all dealer had in store! CD was Jeffrey Foucault's "Ghost Repeater" a reference quality recording.

The soundstage was huge deep and wide. I know that the Audio Physic speakers are great at throwing a big soundstage but a different well recorded CD played through a $3000 Simaudio CD player hooked into same gear did not create as big a stage. Not nearly! So it was probably the Perfect Wave duo at work! The pace, rhythm and timing was phenomenal. I could not stop tapping my foot. The presence was also very impressive and if you closed your eyes it felt like Jeffrey Foucault was right in the room with you.
Surprisingly, at lower volumes the soundstage collapsed dramatically. The level I listen to a lot while I'm working. 60-65 dB or talking level. The presence was diminished as well to a lesser degree. This may have been the run of the mill cabling or the Audio Physic speakers which are known to be finicky. Both to room placement and to material played. I later listened to the Sitara's using only the Moon player and Moon amp with an idea of purchasing the speakers because I was so impressed hearing them through the PS combo. I used my Tara Labs Air speaker cables at the time. On Jeff Beck's "Live at Ronnie Scott's" the Sitara's really captured the live ambience but the soundstage was not as huge, not the same PRAT or presence as with the PS PW TRANS & DAC. But still the Sitara's sounded like world beaters with the lesser Moon CD player. Then I tried another well recorded CD Aimee Mann's "Lost In Space" (SuperEgo version NOT Mo-Fi version!) and the Audio Physic Sitara's fell apart with the Rock music actually sounding quite bad. Flat out bad! With another recording the soundstage changed in size again as it seemed to with each recording. Before this turns into an Audio Physic Sitara review...

My point is... It might have been the Sitara's fault that the soundstage collapsed when the Perfect Wave Combo was played at a more relaxed volume. Or the cables. There was also wonderful bass performance with the Perfect Wave Duo but when the Moon player took over the bass disappeared. So the PS Audio player really helped the bass shy Sitara's perform IMO. If I was going to purchase the PS Audio PW T & DAC I would want to know the reasons for the decrease in performance at lower volumes.

Regards,