PS Audio PWD MkII vs W4S DAC2

Rfprice the PWD needs mucho break in a good 300-400 hours.. if you have a computer of sorts hooked to it just put on a radio station or Pandora or whatever and just let it play on..

Also I found that the firmware can make a bit difference I'm using the older 2.0.2 I find it's the most lush sounding.. It's pretty simple to try out different versions.

Also the filters are not as PSA describes them they're actually like this:

1. Linear phase ‘soft-knee’ filter.
2. Minimum phase ‘brickwall’ filter.
3. Minimum phase ‘soft-knee’ filter (Auto).
4. Linear phase apodising filter.
5. Minimum phase apodising filter

In The PWD Owners manual they're list as this:

Filter 1 MP APOD. Minimum phase Apodising filter.
Filter 2 MP SOFT. Minimum phase soft knee filter.
Filter 3 LP APOD. Linear phase Apodising filter.
Filter 4 LP SOFT. Linear phase soft knee filter.
Filter 5 MP 1/2B. Minimum phase recursive Half Band symmetrical filter

So try filter 5 or 4.. and if you're using the USB input try using Native not NativeX some folks feel that on the USB input (only) Native sounds better..

Erikminer:

I own a PWD2 using a refurbished CL-10 as the source and selecting Filter 1 for well recorded CDs and Filter 2 for less than stellar-sounding CDs.

How do you know that the five filters are not as described by PS Audio? Please provide evidence for your position.

Erikminer:

I also own the PWD2 using a CAL Audio Cl-10 cd changer as my main source and I agree with you about the long break-in period, but I think it is more like 500 hours or more running it 24/7.

Also what is the source of your information that states that the five PWD2 filters are not as stated by PSA in the users' manual? As you can guess, I am primarily concerned about using the filters for low-res 44.1khz playback as the same five filters maybe applied differently (sound better) at other sample rates!

The filter settings reported above are documented on the PSA forum.

My study of the issue agrees with the above, and I've concluded that the auto setting gives you filter 3 (minimum phase soft knee) for 44.1, and filter 1 (linear phase soft knee) for higher res than 44.1.

Anonymoustao, thank you!!!