ps audio nuwave dac

acmf74

Hi,

I was thinking of adding the a ps audio nuwave dac to my current set-up.

Has anyone have any experience with this DAC?

Thanks..

dragon1952

No one? I am also thinking about one of these. I've tried the DL III in my system and if it is close to that never mind. Not that it isn't good but I like my CA 840C as a standalone DAC better.
There seems to be relatively little out there re: this DAC compared to all of the info you can find on something like the WS4 DAC1/DAC2 for example.

tonyb

Haven't heard it yet but it has peaked my interest. The Nuwave is the successor to the DL 3. Many, many differences in the Nuwave which by all acounts should sound better. Better parts used, a class A analog output stage and the ability to run it upsampled or in native mode. That alone is worth the price of admission in my book.

dragon1952

OK....I've got one on the way so I'll offer my opinions when I get it. I'll be able to compare it side by side to my CA 840C which has been my favorite so far. I'll be able to also give my impressions of it compared to the PS Audio DL III, Channel Islands VDA-1 and the Schiit Gungnir. I don't have any of those last 3 here anymore but I used them all long enough to know what I thought of them.

tonyb

Cool, be interested in your thoughts. Just for giggles, maybe put some thought into moving up from those BJ cables. The rest of your gear deserves it.

dragon1952

tonyb wrote: »

Cool, be interested in your thoughts. Just for giggles, maybe put some thought into moving up from those BJ cables. The rest of your gear deserves it.

I was into cable swapping for many, many years. Actually I've found these to be just as good as most, and even better in many cases.

polkfarmboy

Last month I bought a ps audio dac and the idea was that everything was going to sound better because you can up-sample it. I thought this was the primary reason to have one to make cd's better etc. Now I find that I would rather not touch any signals I put in as it sounds more musical to my ears when I just let it run in native. I think you may have the same findings once you get that on the rack, get replacement for the stock power cord as I have been reading that they respond really well to them

tonyb

I'll agree with PFB.....upsampling seems to be the **** child of audio as of late. The nice thing is at least you have that option in the PS Audio dac over some others.

dragon1952

...which is funny considering my CA 840C upsamples everything to 384kHz and I've like it better than any other CD player or DAC I've ever owned or tried. Not that there have been all that many. I know when I had the PS Audio DL III I preferred it at 192 vs 96. And I didn't like the Gungnir at all which doesn't upsample but I don't think the reason I didn't like that had anything to do with sampling...it just sounded really 'hard' in my system. I'm sure it all comes down to system synergy and tastes.

tonyb

I hear ya Dragon, believe me I'm not in either camp as theres more to the final sound than just upsampling or not within a dac.

dragon1952

should be here tomorrow :^ )

dragon1952

I got this 2 weeks ago and let it burn in 24/7 for 11 days. It worked out well because I had a cold anyway and didn't feel like listening and then we had company for a few days. Anyway, I did listen to it for a bit as soon as I got it and I liked what I heard. I listened again last night for around 4 hrs with very positive results. I have been contemplating replacing my CA 840C as I've got my music on my computer and streaming through the SB Touch. I really like the 840C as a DAC but they are dropping in value fast and I wanted to get something back out of it while I could, and at the same time get something with a bit newer tech. I tried a PS Audio DL III just because they are really cheap now, and hoping I would like it, followed by a Schiit Gungnir and then the NuWave.
The quality I like most about the 840C that I was looking for in it's replacement is the 3-dimensionality of the music. The instruments are layered nicely from front to back and the decay of the notes seem to linger giving it what I call an 'airiness' which I picture as the notes kind of floating off in space. I think these qualities are what give it the 3 dimensional effect. I'm sure some describe 'airiness' differently but this is how I describe it.
This is what I didn't like about the DL III. It was very clean and clear, great bass, black background, good resolution on the top but it sounded 2 dimensional to me and the decay of the notes seemed to be truncated too soon....they didn't 'float' and the depth of the soundstage just wasn't there
The Gungnir was way better in this regard with the proper decay, depth and height to the soundstage, great bass, black background and fantastic detail on the top end. There just seemed to be an edge or glare present though that made it annoying after a while. I wouldn't necessarily call it 'bright' as it was pretty smooth at the high frequencies...it was something else maybe coming from the upper mid-range or lower treble area....I don't know, I'm going by memory and I can't really pinpoint the problem. It definitely provided some 'wow' moments, but overall I need something I can listen to for hours on end with no fatigue.
The PS Audio NuWave has the same qualities I like in the 840C with the depth, height and decay giving it a great 3 dimensional presentation. Something else I really like in a DAC, that the 840C has, is a slightly recessed center soundstage. I don't like a forward presentation. The Gungnir's was a bit forward for my tastes, the 840C is about perfect and the NuWave might be even just a tad more recessed. But the 840C and NuWave both have that 'curvature' in the soundstage where the center is recessed a bit and the outer edges are at the front edge of the stage, but still maintaining the depth of instruments at the back of the stage. The DL III, in comparison, seemed like it was just straight across. The great thing about the NuWave is you can listen to it for hours. If I had some gripes about it? For my tastes it could have a little more sparkle on top. It almost sounds dark compared to the Gungnir. This improves if you turn up the volume a little, so I would have to say it could be better at lower volume listening on the top end as well as a little more sparkle there overall. Compared overall to the 840C, which is the main objective, it has that 3 dimensional, deep soundstage with great decay, it has a blacker background which makes it a little more resolving everywhere but the upper highs, it has better, tighter more musical bass, and it has the timbre of the instruments down as well as the 840C does, and where the Gungnir didn't do as well (for my tastes of course). The 840C probably has a little more sparkle, but I think the NuWave makes up for it in resolution (probably because of the blacker background).
The music I chose has a lot of small percussion instruments like chimes, triangles, and various shaken or struck instruments that pan across, or circle, the soundstage (see Spyro Gyra's 'The Delicate Prey' from the Dreams Beyond Control CD) and with the 840C those sounds tend to get lost at points as they travel from one speaker to the other. With the NuWave I thought those types of instruments were clearer and better resolved, and I actually heard some things that were 'lost in the shuffle' with the 840C that I'd never noticed, again likely due to the blacker background.
Another recording I use as a reference is Bob James CD 'Morning, Noon and Night'. I love the sound of his Fender Rhodes, and the tone of Larry Carlton's guitar which both come across perfectly with the 840C. The NuWave does them equally as well so it definitely scored points on that recoding as well.
The other recording I used was Tom Grant's 'Tune it In'. If a DAC can get the piano right I think it says a lot about it. Piano can get a little brittle or harsh on top with some DACs but the NuWave did this very well. This CD also uses a lot of subtle percussive sounds which resolved a little better with the NuWave. And the vocal test I used was the track 'Black Orpheus' on that same CD which also uses acoustic guitar. This song is superb on the 840C so any DAC I bought had to do this one at least as good, and I was pleased enough with the result.
I'll do some more listening tonight....the wife's gone for a week! Even though I've got a dedicated room I'm usually expected to eat dinner in front of the TV and watch with her for a few hours. I'll try some female vocals and some rock and see how it goes, but as of now I think this is probably a keeper.

polkfarmboy

Nice review, sounds like a great dac and typical ps audio with that nice revealing top end and full bloomed bass. Does the daccome with a walwart or can you upgrade the ac cable?

dragon1952

It's got a very good internal toroidal P/S and IEC so you can upgrade the power cord. I've been trying a PS Audio AC14SE as well as a custom 10g, 6N's copper cable I own.

polkfarmboy

That is great news , nothing like a nice ac power cord upgrade. I found that my perfectwave dac really responds to power cords more than my tube amplification. Is the AC14SE a pangea cord? You should give a wireworld ac cord an addition sometime as the built in power conditioner really adds magic in sensative electronics. I have made good friends with a dealer who will do you a home demo for a 50%. deposit

dragon1952

yes....I meant Pangea