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PS Audio PerfectWave DAC Upgrade

Paul McGowan has leaked some information about a major upgrade the perfectwave DAC that will be coming out within the next few weeks. Pricing as of yet unknown, but current units will be field (DIY) upgradable.

Apparently, major changes were made to the digital processing board, involving changes in the powersupplies, and replacement of CMOS switching for the gates and clocking with analog switches.

Second, new jitter reducing circuitry called NativeX was implemented.

There are more as of yet unannounced new features.

Apparently, SQ on all inputs will benefit, including the bridge. Exciting stuff.
edorr
edorr OP
714 posts
 
The analog switching improves all inputs "by desing".

It appears the NativeX dejittering circuit improves SQ on all inputs (including I2S) as well, which comes as a surprise to the engineers and Paul, I presume because there was not supposed to be any jitter left (at least not at audible levels) on these inputs.
sgr's avatar
sgr
689 posts
 
MrTennis does have a good point. That is plunking down money before we've heard the new product. I'd hate to lose any of the fine qualities the PWD has. It sounds so musical the way it is. So if I preorder and install, I hope to have a friend over with another PWD so we can compare the two. If the new version does not sound as good, back to PS Audio it goes.

Edorr, where and when have you heard the digital lens ii is being abandoned? That would be a shame. I have not seen this posted on the website. I've been waiting for it for a while. I'm sure they would sell quite a few.
edorr OP
714 posts
 
Paul has mentioned it has been put on hold because of changing priorities. I also believe he mentioned that since the lens technology would be largely implemented in the PWD, its target audience would be non PWD users looking for a dejittering device (like the orginal genesis lens). Given this limitation and all the other development priories it is not a big stretch to infere the product will be shelfed indefinitely, but this is pure speculation.
tabl10s's avatar
tabl10s
1,094 posts
 
Perused through the PSA forum early this a.m. and discovered why the project has been shelved.

http://www.psaudio.com/ps/forum/viewthread/2727/

also this:
http://www.psaudio.com/ps/forum/viewthread/2621/

and this:
http://www.psaudio.com/ps/forum/viewthread/2639/

Sorry, I've tried doing the markup tag thing and it didn't work.
edorr OP
714 posts
 
There is an unconditional 30 day money back for the upgrade, even if you buy at the early adopter price of $800, so if you don't like it you can just send it back. In the absence of a 2nd PWD you are partially dependent on your sonic memory for the A/B comparison. However, the impact of the NativeX dejittering feature can be assessed in real-time because you can switch between native and nativeX mode.
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