Wyred DAC-2 vs. PS Audio PWave


Does anyone have experience comparing these two DAC's? I'm deciding between them, having heard neither in person. Even though their price points are a bit off both seem highly regarded. My primary sources would be CD and USB (from macMini).
Thanks
sg_gs

Showing 3 responses by slanski62

I have both of these DACs. I just bought W4S and it has about 100 hours on it. So it's not fully broken in. Compared to the PSA, I notice a deeper sound stage and maybe slightly better microdynamics and tighter base. My listening so far has been through my Sonos>coax>DACS>XLRs>BAT VK32SE>Bryston>14BSST2>Kimber 8TC>Selah Audio Visionarios.
I have been using a Sonos via coax into my Dac2. But I also tested the waters with a Mac via the asynchronous USB. What's really exiting, though, is to use the the memory player feature in Pure Music with USB out. I'm trying to build a system that will let me do that routinely.
I used the USB out of the Mac and directly into the DAC2. The sound of the USB was somewhat better than the Sonos, but the difference wasn't huge. Maybe it has to do with the way the ESS chip copes with jitter, which is the Sonos' weak point. In any event, the big advantage to using the Mac/USB is that it allows me to multiply the benefits of 1) asynchronous data, 2) high resolution files, and 3) Pure Music's memory player (with iTunes).