If you go to the following link you can see link you will see the review that my wife and I did when we replaced the DMP with the new Perfectwave SACD Transport (PST). Beta Tester’s Impressions of the New PerfectWave SACD Transport. We repeated this exact same review process when I switched from Windom FW to Sunlight FW on the PS Audio DS DAC. We first listened to the four SACD tracks with the DS DAC set at 92 volume level with the Windom FW. Then I inserted the SD card with the Sunlight FW. It took about 4 minutes for the DS DAC to initialize with the Sunlight FW. The we immediately listened to the same four tracks with the DS DAC set at 92 volume level.
We both felt that on all of the tracks there was even more clarity in the music with the Sunlight FW. My wife felt that the sound brighter with the Sunlight FW. I felt that on loud passages the sound was louder with the Sunlight FW. Can someone tell me if the DS DAC actually does play louder with the Sunlight FW even though I had it set at 92 for both the Windom FW and Sunlight FW or is it just my perception that it is playing louder?
Both of is felt that the Windom to Sunlight upgrade improvement in SQ was not quite equal to the improvement in SQ that we had when the DMP was replaced by the PST. This is not a criticism of Sunlight FW in anyway. The SQ of the PST / DS DAC combo with Windom FW was already at a very high level and to make further improvement on it is incredible. Paul has said that there will be a new DS DAC this year that will be even better. I eagerly await this even though it is hard to imagine how there will be further improvement given were the bar is now set with Sunlight. Well done Ted!