PS Audio Perfectwave Compared to High End Players

A friend has the PSA combo and another has the 808.2. The Meridian owner said the 808.2 killed the Spectral CDP which killed the full DCS stack.
I, too, would like to read about the PWD vs. the Berkley.

I have not had the Perfectwave in my system, but I remember it from CES being absolutely stellar. In fact I walked out of the Vandersteen demo, and the PS Audio room was the next one I actually listened in, and it made a huge impression. That's a lot to say, especially since the Vandy demo was on a system that included the Clearaudio Reference turntable with the Goldfinger cartridge on it. About $120k just for the record playing set up.

I had the Berekeley for s short time (about a week) and bought the Bryston to compare. I kept the Bryston, and let the Berkeley go to another buddy (he paid for it), because I thought the Bryston was slightly warmer, which is what I was looking for. In fact, they were very similar, both excellent top and bottom ends, and I like the slight hint warmness from the Bryston.

I would like to hear the Perfectwave in my system....

Macdadtexas: That's interesting you found the Bryston and Berkeley similar overall. Could you elaborate a bit more on how the Bryston sounded "warmer"? There aren't many postings that compare these two units specifically.

I always think of warmer as there being little to no hard glare to the music. It may be a bit more coloration actually, and less clarity, but it sounds fuller, and more analog.

Tubes and High efficiency speakers = warmer: Solid State and electrostats = analytical with greater clarity.

I had the PWT for an extended test and compared it thoroughly to a Forsell Air Reference Mark II transport. I have described my evaluation in another thread here a few weeks ago. The PWT as a transport as compared to the Forsell and both run into high-end dacs (Audio Synthesis and Meridian G68, NOT the PWD) cannot convince me. It does not create a realistic sound signature of acoustic instruments, is less detailed and overall less musical. I have returned it to the manufacturer and will continue with the Forsell 'dinosaur' to enjoy Redbook CD playback.