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Do you know how they work differently? I only became aware of the PW one yesterday when someone posted it on another thread.
Since Michael said he has an adapter arriving now, I'm sure he is referring to their "Thor hammer" short right angled 4.4mm to 2.5mm adapter, not a similar 2.5/3.5mm ddhifi is working on now as well. Thus, the difference will be connecting L+/R+/L-/R- from 4.4mm to 2.5mm without a ground. What this new EA and PWA adapters have is a more advanced design with additional separate 3.5mm connector just for the ground. So, audio signal diff pairs are connected to 2.5mm plug and ground goes to 3.5mm plug, plus there is internal shielding/isolation.
I actually have EA new adapter arriving today, depending on when DHL going to drop it off, so looking forward to test it.
Now, regarding the price and the discussion generated in EA announcement thread linked from the front page, yes, there are many different adapters. As someone mentioned in that thread, you can buy $9 pigtail 4.4mm to 2.5mm adapter which going to "adapt" 4.4mm terminated cable to 2.5mm headphone jack. But that is the same as saying, you can buy $15k car and $115k car, the same functionality of a metal "box" on 4 wheel which can take you from point A to point B Yes, you can use either one to arrive to your destination but ride comfort and performance will be different And people who buy $15k car will think those who pay extra $100k are nuts and wasting their money. I'm not trying to justify the price or know the exact cost of material to justify the difference (especially since I already have been asked about EA vs PWA adapters), but when you are buying $9 adapter, by common sense it will probably cost half of that to make using 50 cent jack/plugs and cheap pieces of wire and lead solder. Versus something more high end using Pentaconn brand jacks and PSquare custom 2.5mm and 3.5mm plugs, along with custom housing, etc.
Regardless of what you believe in, we have a lot of options to choose from when it comes to audio gear and accessories, varying in performance and price. If you have 4.4mm cables and want to use it with your 2.5mm source, you can buy something cheap ($9 adapter) to get you to your destination. And if you spent $1k-$2k on your cable and $3.5k on your DAP, you have an option to buy premium component/design adapter priced up to $200 which could squeeze out maybe another 1% of performance by cutting EMI interference or quieting some background noise. It's all about options and what you can afford.