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PS Audio Perfect Wave DAC

Not sure if now's the time to ask since this thing hasn't even begun to ship yet, but anyone have any take on whether the new PS Audio PWD is a viable "one box" solution that would rival in quality what a simple NOS dac and USB converter (i.e. Empirical Audio) would provide? Did I tip my hand as to what I own now? :)

Sounds like it will be spendy $3,500+ when you include the "bridge" option to reclock an incoming signal. It doesn't appear to deal with Apple Lossless format (or potentially AIFF), but the one box solution that allows interface via an IPod Touch or similiar device and that offers 16/44.1 via I2S w/o digital filtering looks like it has potential. Of course they had to go proprietary with HDMI to eliminate Empirical or anyone else from the equation for the time being.
mb9061
danyal711
22 posts
 
My real question is how will it compare to the Modwright transporter? All the reviews on that say it is amazing... I have a regular transporter right now but am debating between upgrading it or getting the PW.
vhiner
533 posts
 
T?aS just reviewed the PW MKII DAC in the September 2012 issue. Here's the bottom line:

"The DAC II is an outstanding buy, even at $3,995, and is one of the most musical front ends available at any price."
– Anthony H. Cordesman, The Absolute Sound
edorr
714 posts
 
I have $7,000 worth of hardware to feed my perfectwave MKII over AES/EBU (CAPS 2.0 server, Offramp 5 + powersupply + some cabling).

The reason I need this, is I have a Trinnov processor in front of the DAC that only uses AES/EBU, so I cannot use the bridge if I want to use my Trinnov processor.

If I take out the Trinnov, and compare the straight AES/EBU feed (remember, $7K!), the bridge wins (I tried this). Total cost of digital source is now $500 for a NAS and cheap PC.

Bottom line, the bridge architecture eliminates the need for some very expensive digital source hardware, which makes the PWD MKII + Bridge a killer deal. They can be bought used or demo for less than 3K, which will be some of the best money you'll ever spend on audio.
vhiner
533 posts
 
The ever even-handed Mr. Cordesman writes that the Perfect Wave DACII and Perfect Wave transport come very close to his $35K+ EMM labs XDS1/Soolos reference system and he says that on high res recordings the Perfect Wave is "sometimes better." When you consider what an MKI is going for used right now, it makes a lot of sense to get one and upgrade it to the MKII. Could be one of the best bargains in high end right now. I'm loving mine and I've heard some of the best.
mr_bill
273 posts
 
Vhiner
Did he comment on the bridge too or just using the pw transport into the pw dac mkii?
Thanks
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