Perfect Wave DAC and Bridge

Hmmm. Well, that makes sense, unfortunately.

I have my Perfect Wave Dac and Bridge set up (cable modem into Netgear WND3700 as media server with old hitachi usb hard drive into the Netgear router, and router into bridge; iPad as controller with PS Audio app; golden reference on PWD to Simaudio feeding Esoteric MG20s). I have a @20k vinyl rig, and yesterday I did an A/B comparison between the PWD and my vinyl (e.g., Norah Jones 180 gram vinyl versus standard redbook CD burned as regular FLAC file onto Hitachi USB). 70 percent of the time I preferred the vinyl, but only by a slight margin and it was highly dependent upon the quality of the recording (e.g., Norah Jones was a neck and neck race, while the Dave Brubeck "Time Out" vinyl handily beat the Flac version). To me this is amazing. A DAC/bridge combo that retails for under 4k can keep up with a fairly aggressive vinyl setup. The Perfect Wave Dac actually gives a good dose of the organic, natural energy/presence/"roundness" I appreciate in vinyl. This is the first time I have ever heard digital approach what vinyl delivers. Amazing.

So I'm a little confused. If I have a computer, I can get the Lynx soundcard that people often talk about with the Berekely DAC and computer music, then I could go from there via AES/EBU into the Perfect Wave Dac.

Now, assuming we are driving all of this from JRiver, how does that theoretically compare to the Bridge?

For the Bridge it says:

"The bridge contains all the CODECS (programs) to convert just about any format of audio into what the PerfectWave DAC wants for perfection, which is I2S. Once the Bridge gets a network music stream, it figures out what the native format is (FLAC, WAV, ALAC, MP3, etc.) and converts the format into a pure digital audio stream without any associated clocks. This is important because this data, once converted to its raw format, can then be placed into the 256 mB memory of the 'Digital Lens' and then output in I2S directly into the DAC."

If I'm coming in from the Lynx on aes/ebu that will happen anyhow, no? This is more for people who want to use ethernet and who perhaps don't have JRiver?

I ask if these are 'theoretically' the same, as of course in reality there will be at least minute differences.

The PerfectWave DAC itself does not contain the Digital Lens circuit which buffers the I2S digital data. I2S also transmits all of the clock signals independently from the data stream. You currently only get the benefits of the Digital Lens circuit and I2S transmission with either the Bridge or the PerfectWave Transport feeding the DAC. So using the AES/EBU input will not theoretically provide the same sound quality. PS Audio plans on introducing a stand alone Digital Lens in the future that will accept standard digital inputs and output the data in I2S format over HDMI to feed their PWD. Hope that this helps!

I just received the Perfect Wave DAC/Bridge yesterday and got it running using Twonkie with a $150 Seagate 2 TB external hard drive and I use an I Touch for the remote. To say I'm enamored is an understatement. Accessing my CD collection and gobs of Internet radio stations from the I Touch along with volume control from anywhere in the house is unbelievable. This totally changes access and ease of listening to music from CD's, radio and vinyl.

The sound quality appears very favorable but I haven't done a lot of critical listening yet. I'm still rediscovering all this music as a result of ease of access. I was using a Raysonic CD player and a Linn LP 12 for my source but I believe the CD player will be retired. I had no idea how transformative this could be. TMH