PS Audio Perfect Wave DAC without the transport

i own the perfect wave dac, and perfect wave transport. i also on an ess dac designed to demo the 32 bit sabre dac. it features analog devices op amps, digi key linear power supply, xlr and rca outputs, and coax and usb digital inputs. the dac is mounted on a piece of acrylic with a dedicated power cord.

while the ps audio dac is no slouch , i find the ess dac more balanced in frequency response.

oh, by the way, the ess dac retails for $450. both the ess dac and ps audio dacs are appropriate for tube systems. if you have a highly resolved ss system, i wouldn't own either dac.

i have also listened to the latest format hrx (refereence recordings 24 bit/176.4 khz) using the ps audio combination.

I have had the PS PWD for about three months. After my initial misgivings and after some experimentation with interconnects, I can say without any hesitation that this is the best Dac I have ever used in my system. For what it is worth, my last Dac was a Levinson#36. Also, I am using the PS PWD with a regular old transport and not with the PS PWT using the I2S12 HDMI cable, which supposedly is the best connection. How much better can this Dac get using the HDMI connection or the bridge, I don't know. But all I can say is that I am enjoying my CD's more then I have in the past.

My system.

Sota Sapphire, SME 309, Micro Benz Glider, Proceed PDT, PS PWD, Musical Surroundings Phonomena, Sonic Frontiers Line 3, Plinius SA100 III, Martin Logan Request, Martin Logan Grotto, Illuminati Digital Interconnect XLR, PS Audio Xstreme Statement XLR Interconnects and Roger Sanders speaker cables. Not the greatest system in the world but it sounds good to me.

Me. It's an incredible DAC. Have mine hooked up to my computer via USB (Cardas Clear). It's the 2nd best digital I've heard. 1st was it with the PWT. It sounds much better than my MF Tri Vista SACD player, even when it was playing SACD's. Better bass, smoother, more liquid sound. I'm VERY happy with mine. I'm glad I have it while I await the Bridge.