My PMG DAC arrived yesterday and by 1pm I had it up and running. It actually took me longer to adjust my rack than it did to get the DAC running. I couldn’t wait to hear it & started listening right away which I shouldn’t have. I would suggest to give it at least an hours run time before you really listen to it although others might disagree with this.
I was planning a 4 hour listening session before dinner so I poured 2 “fingers actually 3” of Angels Envy Bourbon & started my listening session. I did not initiate the Qobuz function which I will do another time.
Even though I need more seat time it is obvious that the PMG is better than the MK II. At this time I don’t want to get into how much better it is. As I spend more time with it , I will get into more specifics. Initial impressions are that the PMG provides more detail and it is more holographic than the MK II. Backgrounds are blacker & the soundstage is wider & a little deeper.
After dinner, I spent a few more hours listening before turning in. The evening session was even more rewarding & cemented my decision to keep the PMG & return the MK II. I kept it playing through the night & hope to get some more listening time today. I promised to take my wife out for some leaf peeping and lunch at a lobster pound today but I hope to do a more detailed post tomorrow.
Very similar to my findings.
I dunno if I can trust any evaluation with any new gear with 3” Angels Envy (really, not more?). My Sonos sounded great with 1” whiskey already. 
@dchang05. Maybe with 3 fingers it would sound great. Actually 3 fingers over 4 hour’s isn’t much & it did not color my observations.
It would be an insult to the electrons inhabiting your house if you did not salute them with a good drink of your choice. Now all will be good. 
I think three or four fingers would render my iPhone into an audiophile device 
But on a more serious note, being in a proper frame of mind is a must for good listening. Just received my PMG this morning - @Iwin1949: you have given me something to look forward to - will share my initial thoughts when I can.
I like my drinks with nobodys fingers in it…
I thout about burning in new components for expedited break in time, but then i decided it should be fun to listen to the break in time aswell…
Wha ive noticed, and i hope if anyone has the same experience to share but, i find with speakers especially they dont change much during session. Its when i power down and all the components cool down, that the next day i notice severe change and openness.
That hot n cold melt in time. Anyway thats my experience 
I also received my PMG DAC yesterday, and had it connected and running by mid-day. Replacing the MKII & Airlens, connected to PMG PRE. I wanted to start by keeping the Airlens so that there was only one new variable. Right away I thought - no better than the MKII, in fact maybe worse. Four hours of burn-in later, and it was much better. More “natural/organic” sounding. Bass was tighter/faster and deeper. Drums especially sounding good and headed in the right direction. A couple of hours later, I switched from the Airlens to the built-in streamer. Not good. Took a step backward. Let that play for an hour, and magic was back. I am really getting more of a sense of the “room” from the recordings. More than once I had to hit mute to see if that was a sound in the room, or on the recording. Left on for additional burn-in today and tonight we continue listening.
One thing I can’t figure out yet is how to switch to the Streamer input with the remote. If I am in any other input, there is no button for streamer on the remote. Also, it does not always display the correct sample rate - I assume that will be fixed in a software update.
Hit the optical button twice in a row. Honestly inhave paid much attention to the display for rate. Too small.
I don’t drink alcohol at all, fingers or not.
I agree that with components a handful of getting hot and then cooling down settles the components and after a half a dozen say five hours on, five hour off periods breakin is pretty much achieved.
Yea pretty, its a sudden change for me everytime i turn it on again… thanks fr sharing!
I will withhold all my comments from now on since I don’t own any of PMG products, and I don’t want to sound judgmental.
I had a hard round of golf in the rain, so I am going to enjoy my four fingers Mars Maltage Cosmo whiskey and some beautiful music.
I raise you a finger 
all card on the table! 
For clarification purposes attached is a picture of the style of whiskey glass I use with a cheap ballpoint pen in it for size comparison. I also measured it and found out that I am only drinking two & a half fingers. I drink mine neat. If I was using the traditional whiskey tumbler, I wouldn’t trust my observations either but I would probably have a good time until the next morning.
To get back on topic, I returned my MK II via FedEx today and I left the PMG DAC & my Wolf Audio server running while I am away for the weekend. I plan to do a more comprehensive report either Monday or Tuesday by which time the unit will have somewhere around 100 hours on it.
Now that is a lightweight glass. Mine is bigger but I drink with ice unless it is from my special collection, so 4 finger is about right before everything sounds ridiculously better.
No drinking and music for the next three weeks. I will shut down everything and unplug the main cord because we are leaving tomorrow.
Just watch where you’re swinging that remote! 
Besides sounding more open, detailed and just better than the Mk2, does this new DAC do anything for removing that artifice of digital sound? Through all my DAC upgrades, lately all in the PS Audio line, the sound keeps getting closer but still does not match the naturalness of my vinyl setup.
@pcullen1 That is a good question but one that isn’t easily answered by myself. I am hoping others will jump in & will surely answer it better than I will. I grew up with vinyl & I have a halfway decent playback system consisting of a VPI rim drive HRX turntable, PSA Stellar phono pre with a Soundsmith The Voice cartridge. When PSA announced their PMG series I knew I was going to get the pre but due to available funds I had to choose between the PMG phono pre or the DAC. I choose the DAC because I play way more digital now than vinyl. Another reason I chose the DAC was my goal has always been to get as close as possible to the recorded event whether live or in the studio. The clicks & pops on vinyl really interfere with that. For me in most cases, digital gets me closer to the actual event than vinyl. After saying this, I have more than a few vinyl recordings that I have yet to hear digital match let alone exceed. The MF UQHR record of Santana’s Abraxas is one of my favorites that immediately comes to mind. I also have vinyl records that I enjoy that aren’t on Tidal or Qobuz both of which I subscribe to.
I think that the MK II is more forgiving than the PMG . However the PMG is never harsh sounding unless the recording itself is. It retrieves more detail & for me is more musical than the MK II. It also gets me closer to my goal of being there.
I just hooked up my PMG Dac this morning. I can’t get Roon to recognize the new dac. Tried rebooting both the dac and Roon several times, but no luck. The dac recognizes my Eathernet and says it’s connected. The only thing i can see that’s different is the Eathernet light is flashing yellow and all my other connections are flashing green. Thoughts anyone?
Interesting conversation with the designer of Playback designs DACs. He mentioned that the sweet spot for upsamling DSD is 128. Anything higher introduces more noise.
