PS Audio PerfectWave DAC

[Eric5676]

Moar lights are always better. The Wyred DAC isn't as good as the PWD. I have not heard the Wyred.

Then how do you know for sure? Just because of the lights? ;-p

Network bridge bitchez!

Definitely under consideration.

I guess what I'm really wondering at, and for me I'm only "paper" guessing until I'm maybe able to rig up some demos or something: Is the Wyred Dac 2 basically a PWD without the pretty touchscreen (And Bridge option obviously)?

I've seen some pretty wild guesses out there as to how much extra it adds to the cost of the Perfectwave hardware to have those nifty touchscreens on them. I really don't need that although again, it's certainly cool.

The Bridge is neat, though. The Perfectwave products are definitely neat.

So this is the kind of stuff that's going through my mind. There are a handful of other DACs around these price ranges I'm considering as well.

[HDen]

It's interesting to see the wyred dac-2 being compared to the PWD, I've been eyeing the perfectwave for a while now, but the touchscreen/size of it have held me back. The wyred is more compact and 'just a dac' which is what I want and a lot of people want too.

They don't have some sort of loaner program? The only reviews I've seen are from 6moon and other places, but as mentioned in the wyred thread they don't carry much weight

[Yikes]

I'm almost certain that the PWD uses a Wolfson DAC. I believe the Wyred uses a ESS (Sabre32) DAC. Paul McGowan said that they tried the ESS and that it was good, but when they heard the Wolfson they felt that the Wolfson's analog like top end was better. Based upon my experience with the PWD and the Oppo BDP-83SE I'd tend to agree. The stock BDP-83SE sounded a lot like a Benchmark DAC1 (Hyper-analytical). When Exemplar modded my BDP-83SE (It was the 1st ESS equipped unit that they had modded) John Tucker said that he thought the ESS dacs yielded wonderful resolution at the expense of musicality. It took Mr. Tucker 2 months of work to get the Mod to meet his expectations (He'd call me explaining what he was trying as the work progressed).

As far as using any HDMI cable goes; Yes with a PWT. It's a proprietary connection, I haven't seen any transport other than the PWT that utilizes it.

Monday I'll try to find out why the Beta Blog is unaccessible.

[Eric5676]

I'm almost certain that the PWD uses a Wolfson DAC. I believe the Wyred uses a ESS (Sabre32) DAC.

It does. I've been doing some researching today and you're exactly right. The PWD uses whatever Wolfson's absolute best (I forget the specific number) and the Wyred uses that Sabre as you say.

I saw that during my search engine blitz. I was using search terms like "Perfectwave DAC vs Wyred Dac 2" and that information came up fairly early on in one of those links.

I'm sure folks can track it down easily enough.

Paul McGowan said that they tried the ESS and that it was good, but when they heard the Wolfson they felt that the Wolfson's analog like top end was better. Based upon my experience with the PWD and the Oppo BDP-83SE I'd tend to agree. The stock BDP-83SE sounded a lot like a Benchmark DAC1 (Hyper-analytical). When Exemplar modded my BDP-83SE (It was the 1st ESS equipped unit that they had modded) John Tucker said that he thought the ESS dacs yielded wonderful resolution at the expense of musicality. It took Mr. Tucker 2 months of work to get the Mod to meet his expectations (He'd call me explaining what he was trying as the work progressed).

I've yet to personally experience that ESS dac for myself but your descriptions there are ones that I tend to run across quite a bit.

As far as using any HDMI cable goes; Yes with a PWT. It's a proprietary connection, I haven't seen any transport other than the PWT that utilizes it.

Monday I'll try to find out why the Beta Blog is unaccessible.

Thanks for the information as always.

[Yikes]

The Internet has a way of hyping certain products (Products that have impressive specifications on paper, or that have well written technical jargon in their marketing), the ESS Sabre DAC's are IMO way over-hyped. They are Internet darlings. I'm not saying that they suck, just that a DAC is not good just because it uses ESS DAC chips. IMO the Power Supply and Output Stage have more to do with a DAC's sound quality than what DAC chip is used.

[morphsci]

See, now I agree with that. But then Paul McGowans comments about the Wolfson chip and ESS chip don't make sense. How can a DAC chip have a more analog-like top end? Isn't that a function of the analog output stage and also how that particular stage interacts with the digital front end? Now if he said they preferred how the Wolfson sounded with their output stage it would have a little more credibility in my book. Based upon my experience, PS Audios forte is not analog output stages.

[Yikes]

Now you're being silly. No one thinks that they compared the chips without a Power Supply, or output stage, or input receiver. He obviously was saying that they tried using both chips (and many others) and that their results led them to choose the Wolfson.

[morphsci]

Then, as I said, why didn't he simply say that instead of trying to imply that the Wolfson was more analog like. I am not much in favor of marketing speak over clarity.

[HeadphoneAddict]

The Beta blog is not inaccessible to me. But I have an account and am logged into the blog when I read it. The last update was today.

[The Monkey]

I am not much in favor of marketing speak over clarity.

You and me both. My clients tend to feel otherwise.

As for the precious chipses, when I was sleeping around with various DACs (heh), I found that I tended to like DACses with Wolfson chipses in them. For whatever the hell that's worth.

[xand1x]

You and me both. My clients tend to feel otherwise.

As for the precious chipses, when I was sleeping around with various DACs (heh), I found that I tended to like DACses with Wolfson chipses in them. For whatever the hell that's worth.

I hope you slept in a king size bed with those Wolfsons (PowerWave is a monster).

[Eric5676]

So PWD owners: How are you doing these days? Are you all still happy with your units? If you had to do it over again, would you? Why or why not?

The reason I'm asking is because in my information overload runs I've seen some interesting mixed feedback where some owners end up putting their units up on Audiogon and move on to "better things" while of course others continue to be very satisfied.

[adktitan]

The reason I'm asking is because in my information overload runs I've seen some interesting mixed feedback where some owners end up putting their units up on Audiogon and move on to "better things" while of course others continue to be very satisfied.

Can't you substitute pretty much any DAC or Amp with the PWD in the sentence above and have the rest be true? What I mean is, it seems there are always some owners who are chasing the next upgrade or best sound and then some owners who remain content, regardless of what gear it is.

So PWD owners: How are you doing these days? Are you all still happy with your units? If you had to do it over again, would you? Why or why not?

I think this may be the more important question. I'm not trying to be being an asshole, just saying. Cheers.

[Eric5676]

Can't you substitute pretty much any DAC or Amp with the PWD in the sentence above and have the rest be true? What I mean is, it seems there are always some owners who are chasing the next upgrade or best sound and then some owners who remain content, regardless of what gear it is.

All too true.

I think this may be the more important question. I'm not trying to be being an asshole, just saying. Cheers.

You're probably right. Throw out the first part of my previous post.

[guzziguy]

Can't you substitute pretty much any DAC or Amp with the PWD in the sentence above and have the rest be true? What I mean is, it seems there are always some owners who are chasing the next upgrade or best sound and then some owners who remain content, regardless of what gear it is.

Yep, it's called audiophilia nervosa. It's a terrible disease in which the sufferer always thinks the sound is better on the other side of the fence, and it's rampant. However without it, there wouldn't be any high end audio as it wouldn't be economically feasible if most listeners didn't regularly turn over their gear.

[adktitan]

So PWD owners: How are you doing these days? Are you all still happy with your units? If you had to do it over again, would you? Why or why not?

So..Can any owners current or past chime in here for myself and the artist formally known as, please, at some point...

[Eric5676]

Yep, it's called audiophilia nervosa. It's a terrible disease in which the sufferer always thinks the sound is better on the other side of the fence, and it's rampant. However without it, there wouldn't be any high end audio as it wouldn't be economically feasible if most listeners didn't regularly turn over their gear.

It is. I confess I might have a little bit of it myself but I tend to temper it with some pretty outrageous fence sitting and even some buyer's guilt that I can feel BEFORE actually buying something.

It gets interesting.

[Yikes]

I'm very happy with the PWD from a Sonic perspective. I'm still Beta Testing the Network Bridge, so I am withholding my final evaluation until the Beta process is over. All I can really say is that at this point I'm digging the PWD/Bridge to the point that I seriously doubt that it'll be going anywhere anytime soon.

I am on the loaner list for the Audio-gd Ref 7 later this fall. I am anxious to see if the Audio-gd lives up to its HF hype.

[The Monkey]

Here's how I feel about DACs. You listen to a bunch of them in your system if possible. Then one comes along and it just sounds right, regardless of MSRP. That's the one you stick with. My PWD just sounds right to me. I don't know anything about how much "air" or "timbre" or any of that shit it has, but I know that right now my rig sounds good with the PWD in it. The only thing I regret is how much I spent, but that's just part of the hobby.

After the SQ criterion is fulfilled, I personally like features like multiple inputs, digital screens, beautiful beautiful lights, etc. The PWD satisfies that.

But for the most part, I now think that a DAC should be set and forget.

I'm not sure how any of this helps.

[Eric5676]

Here's how I feel about DACs. You listen to a bunch of them in your system if possible. Then one comes along and it just sounds right, regardless of MSRP. That's the one you stick with. My PWD just sounds right to me. I don't know anything about how much "air" or "timbre" or any of that shit it has, but I know that right now my rig sounds good with the PWD in it. The only thing I regret is how much I spent, but that's just part of the hobby.

After the SQ criterion is fulfilled, I personally like features like multiple inputs, digital screens, beautiful beautiful lights, etc. The PWD satisfies that.

But for the most part, I now think that a DAC should be set and forget.

I'm not sure how any of this helps.

^^ I like this. And again, it means a lot coming from someone like yourself that I know has gone through a LOT of gear firsthand trying to find that thing that's "just right" for you.

[HDen]

Yes that says something coming from Monkey, I've always had an eye out(and still do) for the PWD for my stax setup, I also got the Neko D100 for my desktop after reading the review TheMonkey did(and reading up a bit more of course...)

[adktitan]

Here's how I feel about DACs. You listen to a bunch of them in your system if possible. Then one comes along and it just sounds right, regardless of MSRP. That's the one you stick with. My PWD just sounds right to me. I don't know anything about how much "air" or "timbre" or any of that shit it has, but I know that right now my rig sounds good with the PWD in it. The only thing I regret is how much I spent, but that's just part of the hobby.

After the SQ criterion is fulfilled, I personally like features like multiple inputs, digital screens, beautiful beautiful lights, etc. The PWD satisfies that.

But for the most part, I now think that a DAC should be set and forget.

I'm not sure how any of this helps.

I also like this thought process and was waiting for you to chime in eventually on this topic, especially considering I've seen you dac-off online.....

[NekoAudio]

Yep, it's called audiophilia nervosa. It's a terrible disease in which the sufferer always thinks the sound is better on the other side of the fence, and it's rampant.

Just imagine everyone else listens to crap music and so obviously doesn't know what they're talking about. It's the audiophile equivalent of imagining everyone else in their underwear.

[Lil' Knight]

Sorry to bump the thread. I'm thinking of getting a PWD but not sure if it could be converted to 230v AC. The only clear pic of the transformer I could find is the one from 6moons:

The dealer wants $200 to do the conversion, which I never want to do.

[luvdunhill]

Looks doable, without soldering nonetheless. However, if your not confident in your electronics knowledge, the $200 could be well spent, given the price of the unit.