$6k for a transport, eh? I was shocked when it was announced at $5k, what comes after shock, grief? Still gotta ask … what’s the status of release, both Beta and full production?
Understood and we’ll do our best. This “bump” you refer to is one of the reasons I hesitate to ever even give a stab at what something might cost. I am always hopeful it will be less, but when costs are added up it’s usually more.
We price all our products not to what the market will bear but based strictly on what it costs to build it.
The bean counters tell me what we have to charge in order to deliver a product without compromise while keep us in business still.
Paul…As I mentioned before… For those not interested in sacd playback, how about a PWT jr? I would love the benefit of the new tech in the new transport for “any redbook” improvement… but I do not want to pay for something that I will never use also.
$ 6k is a hefty price tag for the U.S. and I wonder what will be the price in Europe in €… 
I can only hope that trade-in value of existing PWT I devices will be set between $ 2-3 k or so. Otherwise, I’ll probably stick to my old device or wait for the first pre-owned PWT II to be offered on the market.
I’m with you. I would be in better shape if I hadn’t bought a P10, but I decided that was probably more important for my system this year. If the trade in knocks the price down 50 percent I may be able to swing it, if not. . . I’ve got great sound now. At some point you have to be satisfied with what you have.
mark-d said Paul....As I mentioned before... For those not interested in sacd playback, how about a PWT jr? I would love the benefit of the new tech in the new transport for "any redbook" improvement... but I do not want to pay for something that I will never use also.I wish it were that easy - and maybe someday we can figure something out. But SACD playback, while a benefit, isn't the biggest of deals when it comes to this transport.
What this does for CDs is just crazy - and that’s what I use it for and have fallen in love with it for. CDs.
Heck, I have a dozen or so SACD and will no doubt purchase more, but its real value is CD playback - and that takes everything we put into it.
Paul,
Will the disc content be buffered as before (digital lens) so the quality of the disc drive itself (except for robustness) will be less of a concern?
Arcus7 said $ 6k is a hefty price tag for the U.S. and I wonder what will be the price in Europe in €... :/ I can only hope that trade-in value of existing PWT I devices will be set between $ 2-3 k or so. Otherwise, I'll probably stick to my old device or wait for the first pre-owned PWT II to be offered on the market.I would hope 3k at a minimum.
Frode said Paul,Will the disc content be buffered as before (digital lens) so the quality of the disc drive itself (except for robustness) will be less of a concern?
Yes, indeed it will.
In anticipation of getting the new transport I guess I should get an “audiophile” HDMI-I2S cable for SACD playback.
Assuming I can find one, are the PS Audio HDMI cables from a few years back still the best?
Paul, what are you using now?
Hard to say if they’re the best still but they are what I use and I’ve yet to stumble upon anything better.
Paul McGowan saidmakfi said is it going to upgradable from the original pwt?No. It’s an entirely new set of guts, back panel, bottom panel and front panel - I think perhaps the top cover is the same. We will be doing our best to offer substantial help with trade ins - as we always try to do.
The output for SACD raw DSD will be through I2S - and not just one I2S. We will have 3 I2S outputs so multi-channel SACD can play raw DSD into multiple DirectStream DACs for those interested in multi-channel.
The one hitch will be it only works into DirectStream. There’s going to be a proprietary handshake between the two machines ensuring people cannot copy what’s on the SACD. We gotta keep Sony happy.
Hi Paul,
Can you confirm that the trade in program will cover non US countries. In particular UK ?
We are going to do our best to work with all our distributors to make this happen. Having written that, I cannot guarantee anything. Each distributor is an independent contractor and other than pleading and scolding we can not force them to do anything.
I would think it’s a very good possibility.
Paul McGowan said We are going to do our best to work with all our distributors to make this happen. Having written that, I cannot guarantee anything. Each distributor is an independent contractor and other than pleading and scolding we can not force them to do anything.I would think it’s a very good possibility.
Thanks Paul,
So PS Audio will be willing to take back PWT’s from non US distributers under the trade up program,
but its up to the individual distributers in each country whether they join in
Is that right ?
It is up to the individual distributors and we will do our best to make it easy for them, but they have to deal with the trade ins.
Paul McGowan said It is up to the individual distributors and we will do our best to make it easy for them, but they have to deal with the trade ins.Hi Paul,
Just to clarify, do you mean:
The Distributers will have to deal with shipping the trade ins back to you.
OR
That the Distributers will have to sell-on the trade ins themselves ?
Thanks
[edited for formatting.]
I’m just dying to get my hands on a unit!
Paul, will the PWT II use the same Mediatek MT8580 chipset as the Oppo 103/105 units?
Yup. It is based on the Oppo platform and we grab the signal after it’s done being processed and strip the clocks from it - and take it over from that point forward.
If I am not much mistaken the specific reference to the chipset has to do with a new method of SACD ripping…(?)