Just got the PS Audio Perfectwav DAC -- Amazing

I hesitate posting the following observation because it is a little depressing and it applies to just about every thread posted at this – and other audio sites…

As I attended my daughter’s choir recital this past weekend, I was treated to a live string quartet as they played for the audience during intermission. The acoustic setting, a wonderfully well treated hall within one of the more affluent local universities, provided a perfect setting for these four members of the local symphony. As they prepared to play, I sat back and closed my eyes – ready to make a mental comparison of how the “absolute sound” compares to my home rig. Needless to say, the live sound was shockingly different (…..as in better).

In light of the aforementioned reality, there really is no right or wrong when it comes to anyone’s subjective opinion of recreated music and the associated gear with which it is recreated. To each his own…

Hey 2chnlben,
You are so right. I listend to a trio of brothers play an unamplified musical event, which featured guitars, a violins, a double bass, a mandolin and of course vocals this weekend. It was in a medium sized stage (50 people) in a local coffee house. I've never heard even the best systems come close to the "live" sound. It can be a sobering experience to hear how your "All our Assault" system can so quickly be humbled by the simple pluck of a violin string or tap on a drum.
There is an immediacy, and clarity that no speaker I've ever heard or owned which include Acoustats, Magnepans, Revels,Legacys and many others that can come close to this.
Many of us do not get the chance to listen to unamplified instruments often or at all. That is why Magnepan used to have an incentive for dealers to go hear live unamplified music for which Magnepan picked up the tab. (I'm not sure if they still do this or not.)
At best we have a long way before our stereo systems can sould like the real thing if ever.
So a system's sound reflects our individual conceptions (based on hearing ability and aural experiences)of what an instrument(s) or voice(s) should sound like.
As you said, to each his own. . . about sums it up.

Here's my 20 cents worth regarding PW DAC, preamp and digital volume control. It's a long diatribe. For starters, I tried running straight to Pass Labs X350.5. Extremely clean accurate and 2 dimensional sound but lacking musical involvement. I wanted it to be better DAC to amp because it would save me 2 chassis worth of electronics, tubes, cable and power cords. You know, the usual "simple is better" approach. But not in my system. The Cary preamp acts as the General in my system. He runs the show.

Yes I use more than the DAC 50% volume threshold to drive my MBL's.

Yesterdays note:

Last night listening to some Chris Rea, then REM, I felt like I hit the audio lottery. This morning when I looked at our living room, I stood in awe of our stereo. I even took a picture. Before we went to sleep last night we spoke of this journey some will understand that gets you to a point where listening to music becomes more of an emotional experience that a study in audio. You know, I need to fix that or change this or what if I did the other. That really hasn’t changed as this is our hobby and tweaking audio is part of our lives. It was tweaking that got us here. I’ve been an audio nut for 44 years. I’m 54. It was that first Sony reel to reel with the Bi-directional head that got me hooked. What a beautiful machine.
I’ve been building cables almost all of my life. My job is about cables. The night before I built a set of XLR’s to replace my other DIY XLR’s. My third set of XLR’s, from Pass 350.5 to Cary SLP-05(the General) is the Harmony Tech Magic II’s. I needed a reference set to judge my own home built brews. The Magic II’s bettered my former DIY’ers so I found some 7 nines mono crystal silver from Taiwan and lovingly built this set entirely from cotton. No shield, no dielectric, just some Vampire connectors and cotton – period. No my jaw didn’t drop when I plugged them in. They were better than I thought not being run in and I hope they get better with time.

Our DAC, the PS Audio Perfectwave DAC is an amazing piece of hardware. I’ve had some good ones but this thing just gets it. Folks talk about “native” mode being the mode of choice. In our system that simply hasn’t been the case. I love up-sampling to 92 on redbook CD’s. It’s simply sounds more refined. Not on all music but most it seems so far. Filters are great to work with as well. One small problem we have which I plan to fix is with both filters and up-sampling on this DAC. You cannot see what filter or up-sampling frequency is selected from your chair even with glasses. PIA. I plan on programming that feature that into my MX3000 remote. The way we use volume is a combination of DAC volume (above 50%) and Cary volume. The “General” likes to be involved with his gain. But I need more time to test that theory in our current configuration.

Our system has been sounding good, very good. I’ve been trying to fall in love with the MBL 121’s. They are a very different speaker and going from LS6 line arrays, then to Dynaudio Confidence C1’s which are broken and finally to the MBL’s (my wife’s dream speaker) is a serious ear\brain adjustment. Dialing in the JL Audio Fathom F113 in the system hasn’t been easy either but with a long conversation with JL Audio tech support (the best by the way) I no longer have a sub in the room. Oh it’s physically there and low end sounds are present, it just that you don’t know it’s there.
So listening to some Chris Rea last night we talked about how good it sounded. It did sound well, maybe as Good as I've ever heard but I didn’t warm up to the top end frequencies. I thought they sounded a bit dry. They were clean and clear with a good shimmer. It was just that they really didn’t capture the actual body of the instruments as I know them. I spoke of this after the song ended and sat there thinking “well, that silver cable has got to break in, give it time”. Then I got up, went to the closet, and drug out my box of tubes. I grabbed a pair of red based RCA’s and replace 2 Electro Harmonix 6922’s with the RCA flavor’d pair and sat for a listen. The EH's are typically detailed and taut in the bass, the RCA's Red bases typically add warmth in our system.

Wait. WTF? The 3 of use looked at each other in synch and if to say together WTF. We sat and listened occasionally sharing glances at one another. One song led to another. They were all playing in a harmony and melody I never heard before. My wife spoke “I’m getting goose” (she’s Russian and forgot the bumps part). after running through the entire album I stabbed the SB3 control to the next album REM “Automatic for the People” I think. First song “Drive”. WTF? Every instrument was so in its own space, so accurately and melodically presented it was stunning. My eye’s frickin teared up! Song after song played in just an amazingly real portrayal of a musical event. We played B-Tribe “Sensual Sensual”, a CD we’ve played a million times. We never played this CD. The songs floated in levels layer upon layer within itself and authoritative (think I made that up) itself on yet another queue was the ability to render each instrument or vocal in it's own event. But this was not as much a dissection of music in as much as it was being able to watch the different performances from within the music. My brain in the mean time we could not get over the fact that changing 2 tubes in a group of 6 (maybe the 2 most important ones in the preamp) could have such a profound effect. I never even liked the RCA red based tubes in my preamp! I don’t even know why I chose those at the time! Moving on I switched to something old school in my playlist. The Beatles “Yesterday”. Again, the portrayal of this song was so completely natural and again, melodic, real, it was stunning.
Can’t wait to get home. No interest in dinner. Bring on the music!

Sorry for the long post. I'm just really excited about our room tunes right now.

With a traditional preamp in the system, I like the PWD at 100 volume.