[Maxvla]

He's yet to hear it so we shall see when he does.

 

[project86]

Oh, I thought they were his preliminary impressions. But now I see he said "reports" so I guess it's Mike listening and not him? 

 

[Maxvla]

^

 

[project86]

Well, between you, me, Mike, and Purrin, chances are good at least one of us will dislike any given component. 

 

[Yuceka]

Quote:

Don't think anyone ever said it was. In fact I said the Concero was a better deal if you didn't need balanced/DSD. The only giant it's killed so far is the PWD, which is probably just a bad match for me and has nothing to do with the X-Sabre.

Though I've never heard the X-Sabre that's quite a praise for Concero When I listened to it at Nick's house for some reason I had to turn my Stax amp's volume all the way up to get good sound with Concero. So my PS Audio NuWave DAC seemed like a winner there but I'd like to hear this Concero one more time.. Oh and the X-Sabre too. 

 

[gopanthersgo1]

Though I've never heard the X-Sabre that's quite a praise for Concero When I listened to it at Nick's house for some reason I had to turn my Stax amp's volume all the way up to get good sound with Concero. So my PS Audio NuWave DAC seemed like a winner there but I'd like to hear this Concero one more time.. Oh and the X-Sabre too. 

And you're selling it why?

 

[Maxvla]

Though I've never heard the X-Sabre that's quite a praise for Concero When I listened to it at Nick's house for some reason I had to turn my Stax amp's volume all the way up to get good sound with Concero. So my PS Audio NuWave DAC seemed like a winner there but I'd like to hear this Concero one more time.. Oh and the X-Sabre too. 

The signal it puts out is low, only 1.2V, so that is why you have to crank volume a good bit, or have gain options on your amp.

 

[rawrster]

Quote:

Well, between you, me, Mike, and Purrin, chances are good at least one of us will dislike any given component. 

 
I'm pretty sure that's the case for any 3 names who has experience with the amount of gear associated with these 3 people.

 

[purrin]

I just said it wasn't a giant killer. I'm impressed so far, and that doesn't happen often.

 

[Questhate]

FWIW, I talked to Mike for a bit earlier about his listening impressions. He was very fair in his judgement, and makes it easy to calibrate your own preferences if you're at all familiar with the PWD2. I don't want to say much else until he (and Purrin) has time to finish gathering his thoughts, but I won't be cancelling my pre-order. 
 
EDIT: Just saw Marv's post. His previous one was a bit ominous (ala Meridian Explorer 

) 

 

[purrin]

Also, depends on which version of the PWD2. The new versions with the 2.20 firmware (which cannot be rolled back) also have different analog boards from my understanding.

 

[Yuceka]

Quote:

And you're selling it why?

To try something else. Otherwise I am quite happy with it at the moment. 

 

[project86]

Also, depends on which version of the PWD2. The new versions with the 2.20 firmware (which cannot be rolled back) also have different analog boards from my understanding.

Was there an older FW on the PWD2 that sounded mediocre as well? Because I heard it a while back and it was just decent but nothing special (though better than the original which didn't do much for me at all). Maybe I heard a bad FW version and it would be worth trying again.

 

[preproman]

Quote:

The X-Saber must be a giant killer.

 
 
Quote:

Only mention I could find of giant killer, by someone who was merely speculating it might be one.

 
 
Yes because it's being hyped up.  So that being said - it's must be a giant killer.  
 
It beat out a PWD2 in meet conditions?  ...  Have them side by side in your own personal space without any bias either way.   Meet conditions is not a fair way to make judgments on audio gear.

 

[TWIFOSP]

There are three of us, myself, maxvla, and morbidtoaster that all agreed something was up with the PWD2 that we heard at the Austin meet.  I'm not going to comment on whether anything beat out anything else, but I will say the PWD2 in those conditions had some faults that were revealed when comparing it to other sources (not just the xsabre, which wasn't the best source at the meet either). 
 
Now that said, there have been plenty of explanations of why that might be so far.  Among those issues are firmware problems, we still haven't confirmed the version, or even having the volume up too high. So lets put this to rest.  I came away from the meet saying I'd never buy a PWD2 and that it was a waste of money, but now that I've read the uproar over the firmware changes, there is something else obviously going on.  
 
It's fine if we can compare the PWD to the xsabre, but let's be clear about something: no one at the meet a/b tested the xsabre with a PWD. We just all agreed that the PWD sounded off.