[jeffreyj900]

I have the PerfectWave DAC w/ the Network Bridge as well.  I have an Apple Time Capsule with an Airport Extreme.  The house is wired for Gigabit.  My music resides on a Synology DS411+, 4 2TB drives in Raid 5.  Everything is FLAC, although I convert some as needed for the iPad or iTouch when I travel.  I don't use the DAC as a preamp.  I have a Manley Jumbo Shrimp with a pair of Manley Lab Series 100 Mono Blocks.  Speakers are a pair of Harbeth HLP3-ES2 30th Anniversary Edition in Eucalyptus.  Cables are all Grover SX.
 
I keep the volume at 100 as many have stated.  I am also a part of the Beta Testing program for the WIFI Dongle.  Love the source.  I went to this from an Exemplar 3910.  Works perfectly with the NAS.  I haven't looked back.  I miss my ZD/headphones, but am really enjoying speakers!
 
I'm still getting the WIFI Dongle setup so I won't comment on that.  I have never had stutters, stops, pops or anything in my setup.  I am very interested to see how WIFI performs.
 
Also, is anyone using the PWD as a preamp?  I'm curious....  I tried mine with out the Jumob Shrimp and preferred it with.

 

[gzone3lement]

I've been using the beta USB dongle PS Audio provided me. I frequently get stutters and stops, so it bothers me. I currently use the PS Audio tagnplay on my iPhone and Twonky media server on my computer (no NAS). It's weird that it's not working like it's supposed to. The beta USB dongle probably has a long way to go to make it work. Should I get myself an Airport Express?

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

I've been using the beta USB dongle PS Audio provided me. I frequently get stutters and stops, so it bothers me. I currently use the PS Audio tagnplay on my iPhone and Twonky media server on my computer (no NAS). It's weird that it's not working like it's supposed to. The beta USB dongle probably has a long way to go to make it work. Should I get myself an Airport Express?

I rarely ever get drop-outs or stutters using the airport express; but I did before I set up an extra airport express on the main floor to "extend the network" because my router is on the second floor and my PWD/Bridge is in the basement.  This was regardless of using Twonky Server on my iMAc or Lacie NAS.  How far away from your router is your PWD/Bridge?  I just got the beta USB Dongle so I'll be able to compare them over the next few weeks.

 

[purrin]

It could depend on how noisy your WiFi environment is. Just download a WiFi scanner on your smartphone or laptop to check. I assume a too small antenna is in the USB dongle?

 

[monsieurguzel]

I wouldn't get an airport express since I hear that it has pretty bad performance streaming audio. You'd be much better off getting a wireless base station and hooking up the bridge through ethernet (which is what I do).  As for Twonky, i've never been a big fan of it unfortunately as well as it being overprice for the piece of crap that it is.  If you can use windows of parallels, I'd highly recommend Asset UpNp...really lightweight, customizable, and serves your music library perfectly.
 
Btw, the more I have my PWD + Bridge, the more I love it!  I really have no intention of upgrading anytime soon.  I just wish the software would be a little more polished, at which point I'd be in audio heaven

 

[Yikes]

Complaining about the WiFi Dongle already? Methinks you don't understand what Beta testing means. You should be offering the feedback to PS Audio and withholding your final judgments until the Beta testing is over.
 
I love my PWD/Bridge. It is overall a fantastic DAC, that being said I am annoyed by:
 
1) 24/192 playback Skipping. I've all but given up on 24/192 playback, can't get through a entire track without dropouts/skips. The really sad thing is 24/192 sounds so good.
 
2) Gap-less Playback, more specifically the lack thereof. It's been a year and we still don't have gapless playback, what's worse is sometimes the gap between tracks is 1/2 a second and at other times it seems to take forever (2-3 seconds).
 
I'd say for the most part I'm happy with the overall PWD/Bridge experience. The 24/192 Dropouts and Gaps are disappointing, but not deal breakers. It's difficult for large companies with vastly greater resources than PS Audio has to quickly resolve Software/Hardware issues involved with Music Playback Systems (The Logitech Duet comes to mind). Is it really a surprise that a small company is having problems resolving such issues. I had my Duet for better than 6 months before it reached a point where it became almost trouble free. Even after a few years the Duet still has it's occasional issues (Every month or two needing to be reconfigured from scratch). So any Computer based playback system has issues, I doubt that Computer based music playback will ever become as trouble free as CD Playback is/was.
 

 

[monsieurguzel]

It's true, computer audio is such a pain to setup and have work consistently...and i consider myself really good with computers.  The thing that bugs me the most is just managing your music library, making sure things are tagged properly, keeping multiple copies (in case you want a low res. version for your ipod,etc).  It's nowhere near as easy as pulling a cd off the shelf and pressing play.  All that being said, when I do have those moments where my bridge works properly, it's absolute bliss being able to control it through my ipad and focusing on enjoying music!
 
As for the bridge, I feel that the gapless / 24/192 issues are pretty much due to PS Audio screwing up and not putting a powerful enough processor in the bridge unit.  Paul even admitted this, which is why they are trying to rely on eLyric server side software to deal with all those things and offload the cpu from the bridge.

 

[SteveM324]

I have two PWT/PWD combos (connected through I2S), one for my dedicated headphone system and the other for my speaker system.  I've had my PWD Bridge for about 6 weeks and I liked it except for a rare dropout and the gapless issue.  Very cool with my Ipad 2 as the controller.  I just tried the Halide Bridge USB/SPDIF converter into the coax input of the PWD and the output goes to my Liquid Fire amp.   I'm using J. River MC version 16 to output my FLAC files using WASAPI through the Halide Bridge.  So far, I really like this setup with the Halide Bridge more the PWD Bridge.  I only listened to this setup for a few hours last night with my HD800s but lets just say I was amazed at the SQ.  I heard the best soundstaging that I have ever heard through headphones.  Bass was deep and very well extended.  This is just my initial impressions and for sure I'm going to be listening to this setup more to compare with the PSA Bridge.  The thing I like about the Halide setup is that I won't have the gapless issue or dropouts.  The only drawback is that I won't be able to use my Ipad 2 as a controller.

 

[monsieurguzel]

Actually since eLyric is Upnp, you can setup your copy of J.River to be controlled by other sources. If i'm correct you should be able to connect to J.River renderer instead of the bridge that way.

 

[Jon L]

Quote:

So far, I really like this setup with the Halide Bridge more the PWD Bridge. 

In what way?  
If this turns out to be the case, the PWD Bridge has some serious reworking to be done if something is negating its many theoretical advantages over going through USB-to-spdif converter, which then goes through a couple of (undesirable) spdif connectors and then spdif receiver. 
 

 

[purrin]

The 24/192 Dropouts and Gaps are disappointing, but not deal breakers. 

I assume you have wireless somewhere in the data path? I've given up on wireless, at least 802.11g, for hi-res; and am running wired with no issues.

 

[purrin]

; I'm using J. River MC version 16 to output my FLAC files using WASAPI through the Halide Bridge.  So far, I really like this setup with the Halide Bridge more the PWD Bridge.  I only listened to this setup for a few hours last night with my HD800s but lets just say I was amazed at the SQ...

Interesting. I've found JRMC16 on the "WASAPI-Event Style" setting via USB direct to the PWD not too shabby - better than either optical or coax (with middling transports). It's still not as as good as the Bridge. I'll have to read up more on the Halide thingy.

 

[SteveM324]

Quote:

Actually since eLyric is Upnp, you can setup your copy of J.River to be controlled by other sources. If i'm correct you should be able to connect to J.River renderer instead of the bridge that way.

I've used J. River as my controller that is before I bought my iPad 2 (just bought a few days ago).  I have my wireless N+ dual band router connected by a ethernet cable to the PWD Bridge card. 
 
 

 

[SteveM324]

Quote:

Interesting. I've found JRMC16 on the "WASAPI-Event Style" setting via USB direct to the PWD not too shabby - better than either optical or coax (with middling transports). It's still not as as good as the Bridge. I'll have to read up more on the Halide thingy.
 

I tried going USB direct into the PWD via WASAPI, not bad at all, but nowhere near as good as with the Halide USB converter.  The next comparison I want to try is playing a CD on my PWT into the PWD via I2S vs the same music in FLAC through the Halide via WASAPI to the PWD.
 
 

 

[SteveM324]

 
Quote:

In what way?  
If this turns out to be the case, the PWD Bridge has some serious reworking to be done if something is negating its many theoretical advantages over going through USB-to-spdif converter, which then goes through a couple of (undesirable) spdif connectors and then spdif receiver. 
 

In what way?  I hear  blacker blacks with the Halide setup.  I also like my PWT better than the PWD Bridge for the same reason.  The blacker background makes the soundstage space seem deeper and wider.