PS Audio PerfectWave SACD Transport
In the last couple of years, I’ve been first and foremost a vinyl enthusiast. With its tactile engagement and the variety of equipment you can use, it’s really a toy chest for adults.
Vinyl has romanticized once again a ritual I had forgotten with streaming. Red Book CDs on the other hand are in the middle of the road for me, still a physical presence, but not too much fuss equipment-wise.
I still am a CD collector and I thoroughly enjoy my time with these recordings that come in beautiful collector-boxes. My preference for compact discs is the classical music genre and companies do a great job with the aesthetics of these boxes and include liner notes and pictures, even remastered gems of the 78 rpm era. Compact Discs are still produced for the newest classical repertoire; forgotten masterpieces from classical directors and orchestras remain a big attraction. Streaming be damned, CDs are cool.
Recently my wife asked me ‘What do you want to do with all your CDs that you never listen to anymore? They’re taking up space’. What she meant to say is: ‘your vinyl is pilling up, so why do you still keep CDs if you mostly listen to vinyl’.
I asked her to give me some time to see if I could find a CD transport so I could once again bond with my beautiful shiny discs. When I listen to CDs and Blu-rays, it’s on my old-faithful Sony BPD-S360 DVD player. For as long as I’ve had it, only one issue has emerged—the stability of the player when in use. Sometimes I hear noise from the chassis when the disc is spinning, other than that, the Sony does the job.
I did my research and listened to two CD transports, the Cambridge Audio CXC and the Audiolab 6000CDT, but neither convinced me (although I found the 6000 much better all around than the Cambridge CXC). My reluctance in getting a transport has many reasons, the main being my investment in vinyl, but I did need to find a link to my CDs. There were two Marantz SACD players I was keeping my eye on: the 30n ($2999) and the SA-KI Ruby Signature player with DAC ($3999). I was still unconvinced. So, when Karl Sigman, our Assistant Editor, mentioned a chance to listen to an SACD transport, I was excited to try it out. The following is a review of the PS Audio PerfectWave SACD Transport ($6499).
Also comes in silver.
Every time I read a review about a new CD player or transport there seems to be a need to describe in detail how ‘CDs aren’t dead yet’ or ‘CDs are making a comeback’, so I needn’t bother with that discourse. I will say that if you’re reading this review, your interest lies in how the music you own can be experienced, have better sound and to remember those moments when music on CDs took you places. Can a good system SACD/CD mechanism/system, transport you there?
I have a relationship with PS Audio equipment; it goes back a few years. They were generous enough to loan me their Sprout100, a wonderful all-in-one which blew me away with its range; a true workhorse of a component. I found its phono stage and Bluetooth especially good in my setup. Now, I have the PS Audio Stellar Strata, a superb integrated amplifier, my new favourite audio component. So good, I purchased the Audiophilia review unit.
In the last year and a half, I’ve watched PS Audio founder Paul McGowan’s YouTube videos. I’ve always enjoyed McGowan’s clear explanations to the audio questions he reads on his channel. He’s also very respectful of other companies, a good way to connect to the viewer and future customer.
According to McGowan, many years of research, trial and error engineering and patience have gone into the PerfectWave. He genuinely seems excited when talking about his new version of his disc player (the previous was the PerfectWare).
From the PS Audio site: The PerfectWave SACD player is an engineering triumph—our finest achievement in musical reproduction and information retrieval from optical media. Breathe new life into your CD collection played through any DAC. Send the raw DSD layer of SACD into your I2S input DAC so you can hear, for the first time, what’s long been unavailable to external DACs in these high-resolution discs.
The design is entirely different engineering than the previous system. Again, from their page:
Unlike the relatively quiet environment enjoyed by analog electronics, digital audio equipment is inherently noisy. Digital timing clocks running at high enough speeds to mirror those of radio transmitters is a serious technological challenge when the goal is a quiet, jitter-free digital audio output stream. Engineers have worked for years with shielding and advanced grounding technologies in an effort to keep noise levels at legal levels (let alone quiet levels). The most effective means of removing noise is by physically distancing noisy components from quiet ones and most important, electrical isolation. The standard means by which digital audio subsystems are interconnected is by the use of wires in the signal and power paths. These interconnecting media radiate high frequencies throughout the circuit and make noisy environments worse. PS Audio's solution is to both physically and electrically isolate PST's output stage: no wires, no ground connections, no common power supply interactions. Inside PST there are two completely separated power supplies: one for the noisy electronics, a second for the quiet output stage. Signals are transferred by a form of focused beam short-wavelength radio signals between the two boards. The results are spectacular. With PST playing your discs, musical information once hidden by noise and jitter are free to come to life.
My Use
Excited to receive the equipment, I decided to cancel some work-related activities the day of its arrival. The PerfectWave comes in a very large box (a little over thirty pounds shipping weight) and when opened, cardboard and plastic cover sheets sit atop and below the transport. Packaging is first rate.
The PerfectWave ($6499) certainly didn’t look like any CD player or transport that I’d seen. Its dark top and contrasting front panel look beautiful and elegant. I received the silver version. It’s a lovely aesthetic design—the aluminum chassis exudes high end audio. The front panel has a small screen, and next to it, a black circle button to access the menu and a button for the eject function that’ll remind you of an old school stereo. The blue lights and soft lit screen are a perfect combination. The top left corner is reserved for the well know PS Audio symbol. The tray is barely noticeable since they maintain the same color. Only the lines of the tray are visible. My only quibble with the look of the fascia is the USB port. I can imagine it for quick and easy use but it does distract a bit from the design. The clean and cool design philosophy of my Stellar Strata has been applied to the PerfectWave.
Specifications
Unit Weight 22 lbs
Unit Dimensions 14” x 17” x 4”
Optical discs: SACD/CD/CD-R/CD-RW/DVD-R*/-RW*/+R*/+RW* (*Audio data file only)
USB Drive: USB Flash Drive with audio files
File formats:
MP3/WMA/AAC (~48kHz/320bps)
WAV/FLAC/AIFF (~192kHz/24bit)
ALAC (~96kHz/24bit)
DSD (~5.6MHz)
Outputs:
I2S1 I2S output for PCM and DSD (raw)
Coax1 output for PCM and DoP
BNC2 outputs for PCM and DoP; Use in tandem for double-rate DoP
XLR Balanced 2 outputs for PCM and DoP; Use in tandem for double-rate DoP
RJ45 and WIFI:
Ethernet and WIFI for over-the-air code updates
Setup
The PerfectWave was run through PS Audio’s Stellar Strata Integrated Amplifier (it has specific output DSD capability for the PerfectWave). For speakers, I experimented with two pairs: the Elac Uni-fi 2.0 UB52s and the Alyssa Loudspeakers from Alta Audio (follow up review forthcoming).
My main listening experience was on the I2S output (DSD 64) with an HDMI cable for SACDs and Red Book CDs. I also used the Stellar Strata’s Class A headphone amp (Sundara and Arya headphones from Hifiman) with its nice neutral sound and features (you can modify up to 10 dBs for a louder sound) for greater analysis and detail.
For comparisons, I listened to CD quality sound of the PerfectWave and my old Sony DVD.
Listening
I own many SACDs, however, almost all of them are recordings of composer Gustav Mahler, so if you can bear with me here, all of my listening for this format were from the Austrian giant. Mahler symphonies and specific movements accentuate sections of the orchestra that can make it sound alive, exhilarating and terrifying all within a matter of seconds. After years of only listening to the Red Book layer of all these discs, I was finally able to listen to the SACD version of the recording. I chose music I know very well and heard amazing results. The PerfectWave SACD playback gave me a richer texture and separation. Now, Mahler’s famous low-sounding harps and cowbells were in front of me. Detail in vocals was exceptional—the sound from the chorus during Mahler’s Resurrection was magnificent. Some Anton Bruckner was also played including Simone Young’s interpretation of Bruckner’s Seventh with the Hamburg Philharmoniker. It was intense and the brass exploded into the living room. I found these SACD recordings more ‘present’ and I felt more engaged with the music.
Many will argue that high-res digital audio is better than SACDs, but I prefer to have a physical copy of my music. These hard copies of Mahler and Bruckner have real value to me.
I keep getting into debates of this type and I prefer to leave it to preference. If you want to have Roon in your music setup that’s awesome and if you want the highest digital format imaginable, more power to you. It’s my belief (and mine—Ed) owning and playing CD/SACDs is a more tactile experience.
I was able to listen more clearly to sounds I didn’t expect (or wanted), like a conductor’s heavy breathing in crescendo moments. Case in point, Eliahu Inbal and The Tokyo Metropolitan (2016) on Mahler’s Ninth. Still, the pristine sound of the entire orchestra, a superb soundstage coming from the synergy of my setup, was superb. The ‘Adagio’ from this symphony is one of the most beautiful ever written.
The PS Audio sound is so immersive, I was with baton in hand accompanying Iván Fischer conducting Mahler’s Second and Fourth with the Budapest Festival Orchestra. Spectacular. The two symphonies are so different (one an explosion of human desire, the other a reminiscent of childhood memories) yet crystal clear in objective. Here, the PerfectWave made strides from the CD layer that comes with each disc. Comparing the Red Book (on my Sony player) with the SACD was not a fair fight. The PerfectWave’s detail, especially on vocals, was astounding compared to the CD version. I did not have another SACD transport in house for a more accurate comparison.
Comparison
Wanting to listen to constant crescendos and voice dynamics, I tried the CD version of Zemlinsky’s Psalm 23, Op. 14, under the baton of Riccardo Chailly and the RSO Berlin on Decca. The sound was much cleaner and holographic compared to my Sony universal player. Next up was Wolfgang Windgassen singing Wagner, a 1953 recording of ‘Wie sie Zelig, hehr und mild’ from Tristan. The A/B comparison became clear: the sound from the PerfectWave crushed the Sony player. Granted, vintage recordings may be a little difficult in the upper register with planar headphones, but believe me, Tristan’s intensity was there; the Münchner Philharmoniker under Leopold Ludwig flowed and was not silenced by Windgassen. The best way I can describe the Sony player was ‘bland’. It was lacking character—a shadowy wind section immediately showed. It had difficulty in presenting the orchestra’s sound and the tenor’s voice was not imaged well. The glow the PerfectWave showed from the string section in the third minute of the recording completely disappeared with the Sony player.
One more chance for my old Sony. I decided to use my old scratched fifteen year old CDs and go for a heavy sound; heavy metal guitar riffs and power chords with substantial rhythm section and vocals. I chose Tool’s Aenima. If there’s a better contemporary rock-band out there, I am unaware. The dizzying vocals of Maynard James Keenan and screaming Les Paul riffs under Adam Jones were awaiting the Sony. Again, the PerfectWave was champion. If you have scratched discs, the PerfectWave SACD Transport will handle them with ease.
Conclusion
Save for a few minor caveats, the PerfectWave is an outstanding feat of engineering. Here are the couple of my small issues with it: WiFi connection of updates, brightness, disc layer and USB selection can only be done manually (not with remote control) and the tray, on a few occasions, did not open or play the disc immediately because it was a little unbalanced on the tray.
Other than those few very minor things, the PS Audio PerfectWave SACD Transport is a very fine, feature-rich SACD transport. At $6499, it represents a substantial investment, but one that will pay lifelong dividends for those with a large CD/SACD collection and for those of us who prefer to own our music rather than rent it.
It certainly will make a statement in your living room or office and it gives you the assurance that your CD/SACD collection will live on for decades. Perhaps the PerfectWave will reconnect you musically with your old self as it did for me. Highly recommended.
Further information: PS Audio
