has anyone tried PS Audio perfect wave duo

Best demo I've heard of the PWD: a decent CD player and the PW duo connected to the same pre/amp/speaker setup with two copies of the same album. We did some A/B listening flipping between the two and got a real sense of the differences. Much smoother and a bit better stage I recalled. But most importantly, it was the least "digital" sounding digital device I think I've ever heard - and that is what sold me. Seems there is something to the new filters.

My PWD just arrived at the dealer today (just got the call). I think I'll take my source in (Cullen modded Sonos & DL3 with Cullen level 3 mod) and do some listening since I'm swapping out my DAC as part of the deal. We'll see if they let me do it.

i'm jumping in the lake without dipping a toe first. have been looking to upgrade my cdp and eyeballing DAC/Transports for a while. the PS Duo just popped onto my radar last month. a set was made available the other night (right after i posted above), so i jumped on it. should have mine next week. much rather waited a year for some debugging but hey....it's not a pacemaker or baby crib. i'll survive if it takes a crap.

with everything i've read and 4k with trade-in program....it seemed like the thing to do.

looking forward to it

I got an answer from Ryan Conway at PS Audio:

"The DL3 will take virtually any two channel PCM you can feed it as follows:

USB = up to 16/48
Toslink = up to 24/96
Coax Digital = up to 24/192"

So I can hear hi rez today (well, once I figure out how to get 24/96 out of my HP laptop. No Toslink or coax on this bad boy. :-( )

Here is my experience with the PerfectWave transport (PWT) that I received a few days ago.

Nice and well built piece although the drawer makes an awfully cheap sound when it opens/closes. The touchscreen is a nice feature but with the unit I have received it flickers once in a while (intended?).

To evaluate the sound quality of the PWT I compared its music presentation with my 2-channel reference transport/Dac system consisting of a Forsell Air Reference MarkII transport and an Audio Synthesis Dac2 D/A converter connected to a Meridian G 68 XXD pre/pro. Amplifiers were Krell KSA-300S, speakers Apogee Divas and cables NBS or Transparent Audio Ultra/Reference. The power cables for the two transports were matched and provide balanced power from an Equitech power supply (50amp dedicated circuit). For the comparison of the transports I used the same Redbook CDs with Jazz, female opera singer, classical piano, violin, whole orchestra, and choir acapella music. The PWT was connected to the pre/pro in two different configurations: I first connected it via NBS Master S/PDIF digital cable with a digital input of my Meridian XXD pre/pro to provide the D/A conversion (24bit/96kHz) dacs. Alternatively I connected the PWT via an NBS Pro balanced digital cable with the Audio Synthesis Dac2 which in turn was connected to the Meridian pro/pro in the same way as the Forsell transport. So alternative one was "all digital" from transport to digital pre/pro, alternative two included an external D/A converter in addition.
For both pathways the PWT sounded detailed and with a solid lower range. Voices and solo instruments were presented with good texture and placement. The overall impression of the sound was on the bright side and not very lively. It was clean and precise, but somewhat 'sterile' (esp. live recordings). Unexpectedly the soundstage and the volume of the reproduction increased when the path with the additional external dac was taken.
The direct A/B comparison of the PWT with the Forsell transport with the same diverse music material revealed for both setups that the PWT cannot reach the sound quality of the presentation of the Forsell. The Forsell transport presents voices and instruments more solid in their position and more natural in their texture. There is more ambiance/detail in the presentation, it is significantly more lively and engaging. The differences were not subtle and an audience of several audiophiles could pick them up in a blind A/B session easily.
Although the PWT is obviously a very good sounding transport it is no match for the transport (Forsell) used in this comparison as a reference.

I'm not sure if PWT best quality will shine with DACs other than the PWD. I thought the main selling point for the PWT was its mating with the PWD via HDMI I2S connection. A recent review by a British mag showed its SPDIF and USB were inferior to the HDMI connection. Seems like you need to compare the PWT/PWD combo as a unit, lest you lose the synergy.