Been messing around with ARC Genesis speaker adjustments and fixed volume mode. This is just a hunch, but do you think the amount of ARC adjustment has an audible effect on the output in fixed mode? I.e. it feels like adding, say, room gain or deep bass boost makes the PW Link to clip at lower volumes than when the adjustment values were more modest.
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Review and Measurements of Paradigm PW-Link Streamer/DAC
- Thread starter amirm
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I haven’t looked at it enough, but I always assumed ARC worked mostly by pulling down freq, rather than pushing any up. Also, possibly a way to test this, if you use digital out how does that change things?
in my setup I have the PWLink (in fixed mode) connected via optical and RCA to my ”preamp” just so I can switch between. The analog has more gain, all other things being equal when paired with the Vanatoo T1E. I don’t notice any clipping in either setting, but I also don’t have golden ears.
in my setup I have the PWLink (in fixed mode) connected via optical and RCA to my ”preamp” just so I can switch between. The analog has more gain, all other things being equal when paired with the Vanatoo T1E. I don’t notice any clipping in either setting, but I also don’t have golden ears.
Chesapeake
New Member
I've been using PW Link with DTS Play-Fi for over a year. I've had absolutely zero issues using it through Alexa. On Windows 10 it's crashed a handful of times on startup, but not to the point I'd say it's broken. 95% of my listening is through Alexa via Amazon Music HD anyway. Given DTS Play-Fi through Alexa allows complete voice control of my system, I think it's a stunning success for $157, which is what I paid for it. I've used it in front of a MiniDSP for my active crossover system, and also into a DAC for my vintage systems.
Yeah, I'm using optical out and fixed volume as well. The 'clipping' might be better described as a (sidechained) compression-like effect, where the volume rapidly ducks and rises in tandem with the music.
But it also seems like the fixed volume can't be adjusted–I think I tried setting the volume to approx 1/4 and enabling fixed volume, which resulted in the output volume rising notably. Almost like the previous volume setting has no effect on the fixed volume or if there's a relationship, the nature of it is muddy.
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I don't believe "fixed volume" means that the volume just stops changing. It means full output so that volume can be controlled later in the chain. I thought that I read the "dips" in volume were caused by differences in bit rate from the digital outputs. You should try the analog output and see if you still get the dips.
Interesting! I've never even tried the analog output (because the DAC is, well, we all know how it measured), so I assumed this is something that happens in the digital domain and thus would would change the signal no matter the output.
It may not affect anything, but if the "dips" are caused by digital bit rate handshaking issues between the PW-Link and your DAC. Switching to the Analog output would eliminate that handshake, although possibly give you inferior audio due to the lesser DAC in the PW-Link. Although, I'm definitely in the camp of people who think a DAC has to be pretty bad before you can hear it being bad. I'll say I don't typically have any issue with dips. My biggest complaint when using the PW Link is the streaming between my control device and the PWLink doesn't always work great (2-3 second buffering dropouts), even though I have a very robust wireless network. I've found that as long as I use an IPad solely for streaming and not using it for other things, I usually don't have any trouble. The latest Play-Fi update seems to have incorporated some sort of direct streaming feature like casting.
Hi ! I moved from Tidal to Spotify a year ago because Tidal app didn't recognized pw link like Spotify one.
Can Tidal and Qobuz users confirm to me that both apps now recognize Pw link and that we can use Tidal connect ?
Thanks !
Can Tidal and Qobuz users confirm to me that both apps now recognize Pw link and that we can use Tidal connect ?
Thanks !
DonM
Member
The Martin Logan Unison device does support Tidal and Apple Airplay. It is identical to the PW Link from a hardware perspective. Check it out.
Let me clarify. The Tidal app does not support PWLink via Tidal Connect (what batfunk was asking). I would lay good money that the Unison doesn't either. The "Connect" feature allows playback control directly to the Play-Fi device, and it's definitely convenient as it bypasses the Play-Fi app and other avenues of control. Spotify did the extra work to enable their app to connect to Play-Fi.
DonM
Member
Yes thanks for adding that additional information. I don’t use Tidal with my Unison device.
DonM
Member
Yes I would assume that the PW-Link and Martin Logan Unison (MLU) use the same electronic platform with slightly different firmware. My personal experience with the MLU is different however. I have used Foobar (desktop & mobile) and DTS Play-Fi to play both cd quality and compressed music from a Synology drive. In addition music has also been streamed from the internet. To date there has been no pops or clicks using the MLU. The MLU is connected to my home network by ethernet and I’m using the digital outputs which are plugged into a Panasonic SA-XR45 receiver.
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ta240
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interesting, if it was going to act up I'd think the audio from the desktop should have done it. From what I've read the PW-Link defaults to 48 for the bitrate so when there is a pause between songs that aren't at 48 it will momentarily switch to 48 and try to decode the next song in 48, burp out some noise from that for a tiny fraction of a second as it switches to the correct rate.
Do you connect the MLU to another DAC or use the analog outputs?
The MLU has 60 day return so it may be worth trying.
DonM
Member
The digital output from the MLU is connected to the optical input on my Panasonic SA-XR45. That receiver is completely digital. And I also relied on that 60 day return policy just in case I had any issues with it. Finally there is also a 2 year warranty.
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