PS Audio NuWave Dac (NWD)

[CarlSeibert]

I have a few hours on the NuWave now. Pretty much like Todd said. I like it.

 

A bit warm. Nice resolution. Top end sounds kind of like the Sennheiser HD 650s to me. A bit rolled off but nice resolution, sweet. Decent extension in both directions. No brightness or glare. It's very un-fatiguing to listen to. Nice dynamics. Good PRAT. I hear a family resemblance to the PWD, but I'll eventually get to hear it side by side with Alan's PWD, so we'll see about that.

 

I'm describing it in a lot of the ways I described the Neko, with which I was VERY impressed. It sounds a little different than how I remember the Neko, but I think it is the same general sort of thing.

 

At half the price of the Neko, a third the price of the M-51 (which I took to have a rather different personality in any case, in the one audition I had with it.) and a fifth the price of the PWD, I'm putting it solidly in the win column.

 

At some point, I'd like to really compare it to the Neko. It might be able to go head to head with it.

 

 One odd thing that I have noticed is that the sound doesn't change the way I have come to expect as my amp warms up. I expect dull with a bright glare in greater or lesser degree, giving way to a balanced sound in about half an LP's time. With the NuWave, I get dark and dull at first. I'm guessing that the NuWave itself is warming, too. So leaving it on may not actually keep it warm where it matters. As long as you don't judge the sound harshly and freak out in the first few minutes, it's all academic, anyway. The amp has to warm up regardless.  It's just different from the way my other DACs have acted.

Edited January 25, 2013 by CarlSeibert