Keep us posted...am interested in getting the unit as well!they are going to send a new one; fingers crossed
Keep us posted...am interested in getting the unit as well!they are going to send a new one; fingers crossed
PW-Link arrived a couple of days ago. Just tested the optical in and out so far. Haven't tried streaming or room correction. Wanted to see if the digital chain works OK before setting up room correction
Laptop (Foobar/Tidal) --> D10 (USB in, optical out) --> PW-Link (optical in and out) --> SMSL SU8 --> Headphone amp
Of course, tried the setup first WITHOUT the PW-Link in the chain, and everything works perfectly, including preservation of high sampling rate in the USB-optical conversion at least up to 192K.
With the PW link in the chain, here's what I found.
1. 96 and 192K are downsampled to 48K
2. 88K is downsampled to 44
3. I get the same 250-500 ms of "garbage" noise at the beginning of tracks as discussed above (both using foobar and tidal). This happens whenever clicking on a new track, forwarding to a new track, changing positions within a track, or changing sample rates between tracks. The only good news is that there is no garbage noise during the transition between two tracks in a playlist of the same sample rate. This is true even for gapless transitions. So, for the transitions between tracks on the continuous section of Abbey Road, there are no problems at all -- smooth gapless playback (whew!). If you can handle a little digital noise whenever manually switching tracks or positions, then this is not a huge problem, since full album playback is fine once it gets started. I did try to add 1 sec of silence before starting a track. The noise was still present but, of course, it didn't intrude on the beginning of the song, so this might be a viable workaround.
4. I can find no way to make the digital output fixed volume. The suggestion above was to press mute and vol down for 5 sec. This does result in a confirmation beep, but it doesn't have any effect that I can find on the digital out. Volume still changes when pressing the buttons on the front of the unit. It is possible that this setting applies only to the analog out.
5. When in the "external source" mode (analog or digital in), the Android app has no effect on volume (which makes sense).
6. As discussed above, rebooting the machine resets the volume to default. The default level appears to be ~30% (10 clicks down to silence, 20 clicks up to max).
One thing that's not clear to me is the optimal volume setting -- a little below max? a little below default?
The only good news is that there is no garbage noise during the transition between two tracks in a playlist of the same sample rate. This is true even for gapless transitions. So, for the transitions between tracks on the continuous section of Abbey Road, there are no problems at all -- smooth gapless playback (whew!).
......I am hearing them between every track in this album......Played from Deezer on Bluesound Node through the PW Link with ARC, analog out from the PW Link....
Are you using the analog output of the Bluesound Node? I have never had any issues through analog on my PW/Link.
I am not sure there is a technical advantage to using the Node's Toslink output instead of analog when the PW/Link is going to re-sample anyway. The issues reported so far seem to happen mostly when using an external streaming device's (either Node or Squeezebox) Toslink out.
I have had issues similar to those described here when using my Yulong D200 DAC with a Chromecast Audio Toslink output. That is, noise or dropouts between tracks. I think it had to do with how the streaming service and the CCA handled gaps. Other DACs handled the CCA fine. But, since I never heard any objective difference between the CCA analog and Toslink outputs in terms of quality...I just used analog out instead of worrying about it if there was an issue.
Are you using the analog output of the Bluesound Node? I have never had any issues through analog on my PW/Link.
I am not sure there is a technical advantage to using the Node's Toslink output instead of analog when the PW/Link is going to re-sample anyway. The issues reported so far seem to happen mostly when using an external streaming device's (either Node or Squeezebox) Toslink out.
I agree it would be disappointing to have to use it with analog input. Not sure about the PW Link but some of the stuff reviewed here has far worse performance with analog input. The all digital processing is part of what makes this attractive.I guess it might not be a big deal but using the analog in and out doesn't it have to go from analog to digital then process the sound then back to analog again?
......I guess it might not be a big deal but using the analog in and out doesn't it have to go from analog to digital then process the sound then back to analog again?
......For the negative, I don't know how to remote control power, source or volume with a phone or Harmony.....I also changed the oppo settings to stick to fixed 192 instead of bitstream, and PCM for DSD instead of auto.
......So I am still willing to give this a try, but beware of the same issues that have been brought up previously in this thread..
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- The PW Link updated itself on two separate occasions as recently as two weeks ago.
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Yes, slope, frequency, and a lot more can be configured.
The new ARC Genesis for Windows & Mac can be downloaded here and has a demo mode.
There is a goodinterview with a subjective review and mfg interview for the Martin Logan Unison here. I believe it is identical to the PW/Link except for cosmetics.
Not quite the same. The Unison has a big feature upgrade: Airplay streaming....
Sorry, but I don't use the analog outputs.If you use the fix volume output, is it below the 1.3 volt limit where distortion happens?