What transport (not PS Audio) do y'all use with I2S-enabled PS Audio DACs?

That name is new to me. Thank you kindly, dawkinsj! I will investigate.

Lonson,

Your knowledge of these digital (and, I suspect, all hifi) matters are a true bonus to me. Thank you, Chaz

P.S. Once I get ambitious and unhook the PWD2 and hook up the 970hd, I will report back.

Glad to be of help. Will enjoy hearing what transpires.

chazz

Nuprime is the core group from what was Nuforce.

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Jack,

Yep, Nuforce I recognize. Thank you for the update about Nuforceā€™s becoming Nuprime. (Ainā€™t branding great?)

Thanks again, Chaz

When Nuforce sold out to Optima about 8 years ago and Optima was not interested in the Home Audio market they let the Nuforce founders re-group as Nuprime. The Nuprime gear is even better than the old stuff and still realistically priced. Iā€™ve been using one of their CD players into the DS Sr. for about two years.

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transports

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Jayā€™s Audio CDT2 MkII and now also an Oppomodded UDP-203 with the latest version of Oppomodā€™s I2S over HDMI output card. Like the CDT2, you can request that the manufacturer optimize the card for use with the DirectStream Dac when you order it.

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Mercy, beautiful rig!

However, I own the PerfectWave DAC (Mk II), not the DSD.

Iā€™m just not a state-of-the-art guy, so I fear that Jayā€™s gear wonā€™t be in my future. Great to know, however.

Hey @chazz, Iā€™ll point out the fact that the beautifully designed and realized Jayā€™s Audio transports along with the similar new Denefrips transport are surprisingly cost effective. Either would be no more spendy than the PS PerfectWave Transport which was the original mate to your current DAC.

Denafrips Avator transport looks nice for the moneyā€¦ Around $1,220.00 USD

https://www.denafrips.com/avatar

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Good looking piece of kitā€¦

Thanks fo the link.

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I got industrious yesterday, pulled the Oppo 970 from the attic and installed it in the big rig in place of the PS Audio Perfectwave transport.

Used a single 0.5m Kimber PBJ as the coax connector.

It sounds fine!

Thank you, lonson, for the suggestion and assorted other hand-holding. (And, man, that Audiolab 6000 CDT is my new lust for hifi-gear acquisition.)

Looked up my ownership of the Perfectwave transport - 3 years 4 months - bought new from the mothership in Boulder when the PWT was being blown out via B stock pricing (but called to check after my receipt of shipment/installation in the big rig and was told that my PWT was new product, not B stock).

Bummed that a piece of gear built like a tank like the PWT developed an existential problem after only a bit longer than 3 years of ownership.

Thank again, lonson.
Chaz

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Youā€™re certainly welcome Chaz, glad that it was an easy solution, out of the closet and into operation!

Sorry about that bad luck with the PWT. I had two, one I used for longer than yours, the other in a second system for about three years. Sold the youngest still working and Iā€™m pretty sure it still is in its new hands, the first I traded in towards a DMP. But if you are not using SACD that Audiolab transport should give you a bit of a boost from the Oppoā€“it has a buffer as the PWT did and its build quality is pretty darned good, and I like the slot loading.

Not sure if anyone has mentioned that your PWT may need a new optical drive. Just replaced mine for a grand total of $20 and a couple hours labor (being careful as it was my first time). I noticed that most of my high-res files burned to DVD were having issues playing at about the same mechanical, radial location so figured why not try this. Worked like a charm.

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Good day, Kurt,

Thanks for asking. Yes, upthread elk said that the drive might need replacing. I asked him for a ballpark repair figure and heard . . . crickets.

Iā€™ve searched the forum for ā€œtransportsā€ and found lots of threads, but nothing comprehensive.

Could you describe the drive you bought (Amazon link, maybe?) and anything else thatā€™s not too much trouble to put down in black on white?

(Note: Sometime ago, I bought a PWD mk II upgrade kit. I used the long screws included in that kit to [with a lot of effort!] remove the polished MDF top plate of the PWD . . . and discovered that my PWD had already been upgraded! But thatā€™s another story.)

My point is Iā€™m not super DIY, but Iā€™m willing to try. However, Iā€™m pretty sure that I wonā€™t be investing much more money in the PWT.

Thanks again, Chaz

@chazz please have a look at this thread PWT disc drive replacement
Also, you need to know the vintage of your PWT to determine if it has an optical drive with an IDE (older) or SATA (newer) interface. The SATA drives are easy and cheap to obtain, the IDE a bit tougher, but also may be more robust? PSA should be able to help you determine which type of drive before you open if you provide them a build date. Not sure if this is true if any updates have been performed on your PWT, but PSA should know that too.

Hereā€™s the optical drive I purchased: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0033Z2BAQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

EDIT: Once you have the PWT open using those funky threaded screws the only somewhat tricky part is removing the front plastic bezel from the new drive (need to open the drawer with a paper clip, etc.) and then transferring the drawer front from the old to new drive. Pretty sure mine was glued on so you need to gently slide that drawer front up on the drawer.

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Yes, that Audiolab transport is a fine looking piece of gear. Plus the slot loading has me wanting it, badly.

I tried to find anything on the web that showed the slot loading in action and came up empty-handed.

Ha! Not much to see with the slot loadingā€“you put it partly in and the drive pulls it in the rest of the way, and when you hit eject the drive pops it about halfway out for your easy retrieval.

Itā€™s a very nice drive, a very nice transport. Just listened to the redbook layer of an SACD and it sounded great (via coax the signal went to a NuWave DAC then to a GCHA and a pair of ZMF Ori headphones.)

Hi, reading this, because researching I2S for a German distributors website Iā€™m setting up, DACs and transports from a well known French brand. I2S is great - just wanted to let you know, that it has absolutely nothing to do with HDMI, its just the same plugs, but a completely different standard. I2S has seperate wires for clock signals (bit and word) and data, which makes it so interesting, because it could be synched directly by the receiver without re-generating the clock. HDMI audio uses the muxed TMDS clock.

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