PS Audio Perfect Wave DAC without the transport

Rockitman-
I totally misinterpreted your post. You are absolutely right that there is still a cable influence whether it be i2s or ethernet- my bad. However, there still is influence of the PWT transport power cable, and vibrational issues to consider.

For the record, the issue is not "I2S" verus "bridge" - the bridge is also I2S. You can see the PWT as a tranport with a bridge build in. Instead of bits coming in through ethernet the bits are read from a disc. The reason it should sound the same is the bridge (either the one in the DAC or the one in the PWT, and in the future the one in the lens) buffers and then completely rebuilds the signal (I2S) and is agnostic to the quality of the bits coming in.

One could hypothesize that the bridge should sounds better because the I2S protocol is very sensitive to transmission and cable lenghts, so having the bridge directly plugged into the data bus in the PWD should be superior to sending the same I2S signal over an HDMI cable. The fact that according to PS Audio the quality of the HDMI cable is paramount is consistent with this hypothesis.

Both the PWT and Bridge act as memory players, both process digital information via a digital lens and both utilize the Is2 protocol. What makes you think transferring pure digital data from a disc into a memory buffer is any different than transferring pure digital data from an Ethernet cable into a memory buffer?

That is exactly the point. Theoretically there is no difference between the bits being read into the buffer (from ethernet or disc drive). So the only difference in SQ can be attributed to how the I2S signal is generated from the bits in the buffer, and how the I2S signal is transmitted to the PWD data bus. On both these counts the bridge has a leg up.

First, the bridge is directly plugged into the data bus while the PWT sends the I2S over an HDMI cable. Bridge 1 - PWT 0.

Second, the I2S is generated from the bits in the buffer is based on the algoritms in the firmware. PS audio is focusing its ongoing development of the firmware on the bridge - sonic differences are reported with new bridge firmware releases. Eventually this may trickly down into the PWT, but for now the bridge is ahead of the firmware curve. Bridge 2 - PWT 0.

I'd trust my ears any day over this purely thoeratical argument, but the point is there is a plausible explanation as to why the bridge may sound better than the PWT.

Unfortunately, the Bridge firmware updates do impact the sound quality. Currently however, PS Audio is working on optimizing the next update(s) based on the two best sounding firmware updates (to date); the 0.2.08 version and the 0.2.10u version.

My rebuttal to Rockitman was based on the fact that he made an incorrect statement regarding interface connectivity. His overall point – that the PWT sounds better than the Bridge – has been observed by many PWT/PWD/Bridge owners. I believe that there is something to these observations. I do not own the PWT so I cannot make any conclusions.

I am very glad though, that the PS Audio team has identified the existence of SQ differences in Bridge firmware upgrades. Many owners have reported that firmware version “…08” sounds nearly identical to the PWT, while others, including Paul himself, have identified the “u” version as sounding the best. This is good news for Bridge owners because it means that the Bridge can be “tweaked” for better SQ - with the PWT a likely reference source.

I listened to version “u” for more than an hour last night and I can tell you that the soundstage is noticeably better than with previous firmware versions (although, I have yet to go back to “…08” to verify….). With “u” one can hear well into the very wide soundstage and the overall tone is anything but digital-sounding. The Bridge – which is already an outstanding “transport” – is getting even better. I can’t imagine having to get up to load a disc anymore…!!