PS Audio Unveils World's First HRX Player

PS Audio is introducing what it claims to be the world's first CD transport capable of playing Reference Recordings's high definition HRX discs in addition to DVDs and CDs. The PerfectWave is a memory disc player, meanining that it loads data onboard and can play it back without a disc inside. In demonstrations, displayers have been known to actually remove the CD from the player while music continues to play. The full release is below.  

PS Audio, the 35-year-leader in innovative audio products for Consumer Electronics, unveils the world’s first CD transport capable of directly playing high resolution WAV files recorded on both DVD and CD at the 2009 CES.

The CES event, (Thursday, January 8th through Sunday January 11th – suite 29-136 – Venetian Towers, Las Vegas), will feature PS Audio’s ground breaking PerfectWave™ Transport Memory Player, the PerfectWave™ DAC, and Reference Recordings’ high definition HRX format DVD’s, played for the first time directly in a player at 24 bit 176kHz.

Reference Recording’s HRX discs are direct bit-for-bit copies of leading recording engineer Keith Johnson’s master tapes and will be played back over PS Audio’s new PerfectWave Digital Suite of equipment in full 176kHz 24 bit native resolution.

Keith Johnson, as well as Jan Mancuso from Reference Recordings, will be fielding questions at PS Audio’s press party on January 9th.

The PerfectWave Digital Suite of equipment includes the PerfectWave Transport and DAC, both ground-breaking products, utilize PS Audio’s exclusive GlobalNet™ Service built on a Cloud Computing platform for library organization, access, and management.

“Cloud Computing represents a major paradigm shift in control and communication over the internet,” suggests Paul McGowan, CEO of PS Audio. “In time it will create one of the most significant market opportunities for CE since the explosive growth of the Internet itself.”

The PerfectWave™ Transport (PWT) is a fundamentally new type of optical disc transport for both CD and DVD audio mediums that RIPS all optical data first to a memory, using Exact Audio Copy (EAC) for the extraction, then outputs that data through a built in Digital Lens to eliminate jitter and timing artifacts associated with the extraction process. The PWT can access cover art, song titles and metadata through its included Internet connection, and it stores the data for future access on the PS Audio Global Net Service.

The PerfectWave DAC (PWD) is a “ground-breaking” D to A processor that can be configured as a high resolution music server with the addition of an internal network Bridge. With the Bridge installed, any format or resolution data up to 196kHz 24 bit can be accessed and played back through a jitter-free interface known as I2S.

The PWD, PWT and any DLNA compliant media storage device can be controlled through either IP for custom integration with home automation equipment or PS Audio’s iPhone or iPod Touch wireless user interface.

The media storage library management, along with all the cover art and song titles for the entire library, can be accessed through the PS Audio Cloud Computing service, providing worldwide access to a customer’s music library.

PS Audio will be demonstrating the PerfectWave Digital Suite at the CES, January 8 – 11 at suite 29-136 at the Venetian Towers. The press party is at 5PM, Friday the 9th.