"Music Matters" at Bjorn's: The PS Audio Demonstration
PS Audio: Hill Country Room at Bjorn's Audio - Video, San Antonio
Click here for an overview of the "Music Matters" event at Bjorn's: www.avguide.com/blog/1st-annual-“music-matters”-event-bjorn’s-audio-–-video-san-antonio
PS Audio VP of Sales and Marketing, Dave Kakenmaster, was on hand to demonstrate his firm’s new Perfect Wave Transport and Perfect Wave DAC, which were being played through McIntosh electronics and B&W loudspeakers. One of the most interesting characteristics of this product pair involves its ability to buffer, and then to play from solid-state memory, very large quantities of digital audio data (about three minutes worth for CDs, according to Kakenmaster). Attendees were surprised and delighted when Kakenmaster would show his favorite “parlor trick” (his phrase, not mine), where he would load a CD into the Perfect Wave Transport’s disk tray, play music for a while, and then remove the CD—while the music continued to play without interruption.
But an even more impressive aspect of the Perfect Wave pair involves its ability to play very high-resolution digital audio material, such as recordings released in the HRX format being offered by Reference Recordings. At the Music Matters event, Kakenmaster wowed audience members by playing CD versions of select recordings, and then playing the higher resolution HRX versions of the same recordings. Judging by facial expressions I observed, listeners were simply stunned to hear for themselves how much more musical information high-resolution recordings could convey vis-à-vis their CD counterparts. To my ears, it seemed, the high-res differences spanned all aspects of playback, including better resolution of textures and timbres across the audio spectrum, better imaging, and a heightened sense of three-dimensionality.
In terms of readiness for a high-resolution revolution, it appears that PS Audio’s Perfect Wave pair is arguably one of the most future-proof digital audio playback systems that money can buy.
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Comments
I am curious to know whether or not the DAC section of this duo can be used independently of the transport for those of us that have already made a large investment in computer based playback. Also, is it capable of being connected to BOTH the transport and a computer, with the options to select which input is played?
Jason, the PWD has a USB input for use from a computer. In the future with an expansion card called the Bridge, the PWD will connect to your network and be able to stream. The PWD has a coax, optical, XLR , USB (24/96) and two I2S inputs. Inputs can be switched from the touch screen or remote control. The PWD also functions as a preamp because it has its own volume control. Read more here: http://www.psaudio.com/ps/products/detail/perfectwave-dac?cat=audio
quote: " I am curious to know whether or not the DAC section of this duo can be used independently of the transport for those of us that have already made a large investment in computer based playback."
yes, i am doing that now, see the thread here:
http://www.psaudio.com/ps/forum/viewthread/323/
quote: " Also, is it capable of being connected to BOTH the transport and a computer, with the options to select which input is played?"
the PWD has a total of nine inputs, all digital, no analog; I2S1, I2s2, I2s3, I2s4 (these are hdmi connections), USB, XLR, Coax, TOS, Bridge (this is in development, but basically a wireless card to go into back of PWD to find you home wireless network to 'fetch' the music off your NAS/Hard drive storage.
So you could have a transport plugged into any one of the nine inputs, traditioanlly it probably would be XLR or coax. the the PC could be USB, TOS or the bridge...
Im using TOS via an apple airport express until the bridge comes to market.
"One of the most interesting characteristics of this product pair involves its ability to buffer, and then to play from solid-state memory, very large quantities of digital audio data (about three minutes worth for CDs, according to Kakenmaster). " Really, my desktop PC has been able to do this for some years now and it is not limited to 3 minutes. A 1GB ram chip will buffer and play an entire CD.
"...listeners were simply stunned to hear for themselves how much more musical information high-resolution recordings could convey", Stunned? How can you be stunned to hear that 24/176 sounds better than 16/44. I would be stunned if it did not sound better.