PS Audio PerfectWave SACD Transport

This is the recently released version of PS Audio's CD Transport. And what sets this unit apart from anything that PS Audio has done before and also anything that's been done before by any other HiFi company, is their galvanically isolated output stage. That means that the data is being transfered from the input stage to the output stage via a type of very focused short wave radio frequencies. Any vestiges of interference that inevitably occur when these stages are hardwired, are completely eliminated.

Input and output stages have their very own board and power supply to keep them completely separated as well. FPGAs (Field-Programable Gate Array; if you'd like to learn more about these very handy devices see Paul McGowan's video here) is utilised to ensure clocking and data buffering are spot on. 

The best way to use this unit and unleash its full potential is to use the I2S output or the HDMI out put to a DAC (like the PS Audio DirectStream) that can handle it. In this respect you can hear a complete Raw DSD file...and that truly is another experience. A DSD file is what makes an SACD an SACD. Instead of sampling at a determined fast rate (bit rate) the sine curve of the musical file, a DSD file samples the whole sine curve. These raw files are bigger and have to be compresesd to even push it out of a transport. But not with this unit and the I2S...full blown raw DSD files streaming into your speakers. Heaven.

Of course you can still use this unit without the I2S and it's still devastatingly good. A pair of BNC connectors will double a normal DSD output to make it DSD128 and this connection is particularly scintillating with a Chord Dave...

Read theaudiobeatnik review of the unit here (he uses the I2S connection with a non PS Audio Dac with superb results)

The PS Audio website has some extra reading on this unique product too