DESIGN

APPLICATION

Technology

OVERVIEW

If you are like most of us, you still have a large library of physical discs. There’s something about the tactile feel of opening a jewel case or pulling from a sleeve, the shiny silver disc, and enjoying what’s captured on it. Despite today’s trend towards streaming, CDs, SACDs, and data discs remain the best sounding media in many a library if a great disc reader is employed. None are finer or better sounding than PS Audio’s PerfectWave SACD Transport. PST defines state-of-the-art performance. From the very first notes, you’ll understand the sheer magnitude of performance increase brought to the system by PST. The secret to PST’s ability to lower noise and jitter while extracting every nuance possible lies in its galvanically isolated output stage which separates both physically and electrically the pure digital audio data from its noisy environment. Hear more than you ever imagined possible on your discs with PST.

GALVANIC ISOLATION

Unlike the relatively quiet environment enjoyed by analog electronics, digital audio equipment is inherently noisy. Digital timing clocks running at high enough speeds to mirror those of radio transmitters is a serious technological challenge when the goal is a quiet, jitter-free digital audio output stream. Engineers have worked for years with shielding and advanced grounding technologies in an effort to keep noise levels at legal levels (let alone quiet levels). The most effective means of removing noise is by physically distancing noisy components from quiet ones and most important, electrical isolation. The standard means by which digital audio subsystems are interconnected is by the use of wires in the signal and power paths. These interconnecting media radiate high frequencies throughout the circuit and make noisy environments worse. PS Audio’s solution is to both physically and electrically isolate PST’s output stage: no wires, no ground connections, no common power supply interactions. Inside PST there are two completely separated power supplies: one for the noisy electronics, a second for the quiet output stage. Signals are transferred by a form of focused beam short-wavelength radio signals between the two boards. The results are spectacular. With PST playing your discs, musical information once hidden by noise and jitter are free to come to life.

DSD MASTER LAYER

The Sony/Philips introduction of the SACD (Super Audio Compact Disc) in 1999 heralded a new format of high-performance audio. Not since the original introduction of the Compact Disc in 1982 had there been a major improvement in the performance of digital audio. With the SACD, digital audio took a major leap forward, surpassing not only the Compact Disc but, to many, the performance of analog. The technology behind the SACD is DSD, a high-sample rate (2.8mHz or 64 times that of a CD) 1-bit recording system that achieves 120dB of signal to noise ratio and dynamic performance without any hint of digital glare. Unfortunately, the DSD layer on SACDs is locked and cannot be extracted from the disc for playback on an external DAC. That was until the introduction of the PS Audio PerfectWave SACD Transport. PST is able, through the use of our I²S output, to directly connect the DSD layer to a PS Audio enabled DAC. The results are breathtaking. Now, for the first time, SACD owners can connect directly to the master quality source locked onto the SACD’s master layer. This is a major triumph for music lovers around the world. Hear for the first time what mastering engineers get to enjoy. The pure DSD Master layer.