On left: The honorable Bob Levy President of The Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society and on the right: David Weinhart Design welcoming the guests and starting the meeting. It was another large turnout with everyone wanting to know "What's Possible in Digital Audio in 2010". Many were outside eating, buying records and having fun.

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In a very special event titled "Digital Audio Today", The Los Angeles & Orange County Audio Society held another standing room only meet at Weinhart Design. The event featured Paul McGowan, President of PS Audio and the World Premiere of the new PS Audio Music Server and Bridge. A stellar pair that integrates the PerfectWave Transport and PerfectWave DAC using the iPad for seamless integration, control and feedback. Paul went into great detail about PS Audio's future plans for the world of Digital Audio and how high resolution files are nearing vinyl in resolution. Its so detailed and exciting that we posted PS Audio's entire newsletter below on the subject.

Todd Garfinkle, President of MA Recordings was on hand for a 1-on-1 Q&A session with Paul. Todd demonstrated his new hi-res recordings on the PS Audio Perfect Wave Transport, DAC system and discussed the cutting edge of digital recording techniques and shared how he makes his world renowned recordings.

The incomparable Magico M-5 speakers were being used with the Weinhart Design Tube Pre and Amplifier References: EAR 890 tube mono block amplifiers and EAR 912 tube pre amplifier.

Additionally, the cost no object cabling featured was the the top Tara Lab Zero Air Dielectric balanced interconnects and the Tara Labs The Omega Gold and power cords were the fabulous (PS Audio AC-12's their best and $995 for a 1.5 meter). Conditioning was provided by PS Audio & Running Springs. New levels of Reference Quality Sound was enjoyed by all and the Hi-Rez music was so good it was hard to believe!

JUST HOW COOL IS THIS STUFF ?

Well... to simplify it, it's an affordable game changer whether you looking for an affordable music server (price to be announced) The World Class PS Audio Perfect Wave DAC $2,995, best simply the best SOUNDING Transport made the Perfect Wave Transport $2,995 are two of the best values in the history of digital.

I recommend those of you interested in getting a PS Audio Bridge (only works with their Perfect Wave DAC at this time) to get your order in ASAP as quantities are limited and coming out in the next month or two (call or e-mail). The server is also looking & sounding great. While not yet priced out , it will be available in lots of different packages and/or software for existing laptops or computers and other PS Audio all- in-one solutions. Pricing and specifics to be announced. Those looking at Transports and DAC's in the $3K each range should make it a point to audition these incomparable feature packed pieces.

All of us at Weinhart Design want to thank Paul, Todd, Bob and all the Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society for making this another tremendous meeting. We always proud to support the LAOC Audio Society and its member. Don't forget about the special offers from Weinhart Design especially for the LAOC members.

The new PS Audio Pieces and what they are doing is best technically described in the May 2010 PS Audio Newsletter below:

To NAS or not to NAS?

That is the question, as they say. First, let me give you an overview of storing music, then explain what a NAS is, then jump into the why's and wherefore's of making the best choice in storage.

In the original model of a digital audio music system, the media is stored on optical discs, one per album. In a modern music system the media is stored on a hard drive, as transferred over from those optical disks. The hard drive can be located either inside or outside your computer. If it's located outside the computer it's called an external hard drive and there are two types of these: one that is attached to your computer and one that is not.

Since every type of hard drive requires some type of computer to control it, the lowest cost external hard drive uses your desktop computer for control and the highest cost external hard drive has a built in computer to control it.

The low cost external hard drives are distinguished by the way they are connected to your computer, either USB, firewire or eSata; the most common being USB. The more expensive external hard drives connect up over a network and have their own built in computers; they are called a NAS.

NAS stands for Network Attached Storage device; basically an external hard drive that connects up to a network and is controlled with its own built in computer. So, when you begin to think about building your music library the first thing you need to think about is where you're going to store your music: inside or outside your computer. Storing inside is a reasonable option for small music collections as long as you make sure you use some type of external portable storage to backup the library and as long as you don't mind having the computer on all the time. Storing outside your computer with a portable storage device is best for medium to large libraries as it can easily be backed up and allows for unlimited growth of the library and doesn't require a computer.

Let's focus our attention on external storage and what works and what doesnt. In previous newsletters, hundreds of email responses and conversations with Audio lovers all over the world, I have been a big advocate of the NAS as the main storage medium for your library. A NAS has a lot of advantages: it can be anywhere in the house, it needs no computer and it is portable. I have even gone so far as to recommend multiple brands of NAS for your consideration. I am here to tell you my opinion has changed. I now believe the USB connected external hard drives are a much better choice, in some cases, and I'll explain why.

First, and before panic sets in for those of you that took my advice and have a NAS, let me calm your fears. There's nothing wrong with a NAS, in fact, there's a lot right. We currently have a 12tB NAS with over 350,000 songs stored on it at PS Audio. I have a 4tB NAS at home and no USB storage. But for those of you making the decision of which way to go, let me explain the ups and downs of these approaches and why you might want to make one decision or another.

The issue of a NAS or not a NAS really boils down to one central issue: the quality of the control experience. By control experience I am referring to using our new media controller and how it allows you to select and play music. Let's face it, we all are excited about having our entire music library in the palm of our hand, flicking through the selections and rediscovering all the great music we own. It's the allure of the modern music center and once you try it, you're hooked for life.

However, up until the launch of the PerfectWave system and the network Bridge that gives it access to stored media, there simply hasn't been a fun and enjoyable way to access your library without having to compromise our shared high-end expectations and our shared refusal to accept anything less than the full 32 bit 192kHz network experience. But now that experience is a matter of weeks away and soon to be enjoyed by the thousands of you that have already purchased your PerfectWave system as well as those that are contemplating the same.

So, how do we ensure your experience is as fun and rewarding as your expectations? By making sure that the controller presents your music to you in a proper manner: something we cannot guarantee with a NAS.

So, here's the deal. A NAS has a built in computer and runs on built in software supplied by the manufacturer. This software is based on UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) standards which are all over the map when it comes to how music is presented and organized for a controller. Many NAS devices run on a program called Twonky out of Germany. Twonky is very good but not great when it comes to organizing and displaying your music on a compatible controller. Unfortunately, you can't really change this software and so it is what it is and you're stuck with it.

On the other hand, if you run with an external USB hard drive and let your computer control the hard drive, you can then install any number of programs and have more control over how the music is presented on your controller. Even Twonky is better run on your own computer because it allows a small amount of flexibility in how you view your music.

Another consideration is cost. Each NAS is very expensive, relative to USB hard drives because, of course, you are buying an internal computer and software every time you add a new NAS. Expanding gets expensive.

But USB hard drives have a downside as well: there really is no good UPnP software available and they need a computer of some sort to control them. To date, there's no perfect easy solution, but that's about to change.

PS Audio will be introducing two new solutions for this problem, both based around external USB hardware. One I will give you a hint about now, the other you'll have to hold your breath for. The key is that both solutions will be based around low cost USB external drives, so if you're starting out, that's the way to go.
The first solution will be PS Audio's own UPnP software that will give our customers a true PS Audio experience with their libraries, work on both Windows and MACS and best of all, will be free. Stay tuned to this newsletter for details as they unfold. The second solution I should be able to tell you about in the next few newsletters. Hint: you won't need a computer any more.

Blame Edison and Tesla

As I travel around the world and speak with music lovers everywhere I am finding lots and lots of questions and concerns about home networks - and you know what? Who can blame any of you for being confused? It's technical stuff that no one but geeks and engineers give a rat's *** about and should not even appear on a person's radar screen when considering implementing a network connected home music system. PS is committed to making sure the experience we offer to our family of customers is easy and fun and free of these issues and questions. But I thought it might be illuminating to get a completely non-technical overview of a network in the home, why it's there and how it evolved. I'll do my best to keep it simple and a big Birdseye view.

The world first experienced a network when we wired up people's homes for electricity. As we explain in our free DVD From Coal to Coltrane, our homes were isolated islands unto themselves with no physical connection or shared experience until the advent of electricity. Within a few decades the entire civilized world was connected together with copper wire and, for the first time in man's history, we were irrevocably tied together in a shared network experience of light and warmth from a central source; but home owners couldn't yet use these wires to communicate. That was soon to be changed.

Within another decade, yet another set of wires was installed to nearly every home in the civilized world; bringing the telephone. Amazing. Within a few short years, we went from total isolationists to a network connected society and the world has never been the same since.

The next revolution in networks came in the form of radio. Because telephone wires had almost no ability to pass anything but the very limited range of the human voice over telephone, music was not sent over a network until the advent of radio; followed shortly by the introduction of television. These were the first wireless networks and now we could send networked voice, music and film anywhere in the world. We were tied together in one giant communicating multi-way network.

But radio at that time was limited and so we went back to wires so we could get more connected in our homes. First in the form of cable TV and more recently, in the form of optical wires that bring the world together into a network that is capable of sending all our information at lightning speed.

As our homes gained access to the outside world, more and more family members within the home wanted access to more than just a single entry point for voice, music, film and of course the greatest network within a network, the internet. So, we simply added multiple access points to this central home input and that, my friends, is called a home network.

PS Audio is dedicated to bringing all the fun, freedom and access to the world’s musical resources into your home. It’s going to be easy and exciting for those of you who get involved. Just wait and see what we have up our sleeves.

Getting Ripped

When you want to add music to your library, you have to decide how you want to add it. You can go "raw" meaning it's a straight copy or you can go compressed which saves a lot of space. In fact, there are multiple forms of compression but for this article we're going to assume you don't want to compress your music in a way that guarantees a loss of quality. Fair enough? I am assuming this because it makes no sense to be interested in a music server system whose principal benefit is to bring uncompromised performance to your high-end system if you're starting with compromised media.

So let's take a look at the options before we decide what we're going to do. The two main forms of storing uncompressed music are in different formats depending on whether you're a Windows or MAC person. Windows uncompressed media is handled in what's called WAV and MAC is called AIFF although both formats can be used on either platform depending on what software you're running.

Then there's lossless compression. This method reduces the file size in half thus allowing you to have twice the musical data on your storage medium. The two main lossless formats are ALAC (Apple lossless) and FLAC (Free Lossless). FLAC is not supported by Apple and ALAC is not supported by Windows. Choose one or the other depending on your operating system.

The biggest differences between the two raw formats and the two lossless formats are file size and metadata.

In the two raw methods you have limited (and in some cases unavailable) metadata options and large file sizes. Metadata is the information about the song you are storing. It can be as incomplete as the song title and artist or as complete as all that plus the composer, the year it was recorded, the type of music it is and so on. Why is this important? Because the fun of a library is entirely dependent on the sorting experience. If there's lots of info it's a rewarding setup and if little info, then it can be frustrating.

WAV, for example, generally has very little song information - typically just the artist and title and not much else. AIFF can have more but generally doesn't. So aside from a larger file size, using either of these raw formats may severely impact your ability to sort through the library later down the road.

In the two lossless formats you have better metadata options and smaller file sizes. In my library, for example, about half of my music is in ALAC and the other half in FLAC. I am trying to decide on which one is better and haven't yet figured it out. General Audiophile wisdom has it that ALAC is better but doesn't sound as good a WAV or FLAC. What I have found is that the decoding process has a lot to do with the performance of all these formats. I will say that on the Bridge, a song on ALAC or FLAC, compared directly to the same disc on the PWT, sounds just slightly softer and with an ever-so slight loss of presence. The difference is extremely subtle and only recognizable on long listening sessions - and even then I sometimes prefer the slightly softer sound of the lossless version, sometimes not. WAV and AIFF sound closer, but again, these are very minute differences. Technically there shouldn't be any differences, but…. more investigating is required.

The conclusion of all this? The choice boils down to this: guaranteed peace of mind about any potential loss in quality at the cost of being able to effectively use the library controller features, versus a guaranteed wonderful library controller experience at the cost of a possible quality loss (that we may be able to address later).

I am personally bucking Audiophile wisdom and sticking with lossless compressed audio. I am doing this for two reasons: metadata is critical to my enjoyment of a high-end music library and so far, using the PS Bridge for decoding, both ALAC and FLAC sound so close to raw that in many cases I am having trouble deciding which is better (as I mentioned). If it’s that close on the PS reference system, then the fun of sorting music on my controller wins out every time.

When you decide which way you want to go, the good news is that the PS Bridge and PerfectWave DAC combo will support any and all of these formats without even batting an eye. If you choose a raw format, the PS library controller will display it, but not all that well. Sorting through a large library of WAV files, for example, is a near impossibility because there’s no info other than artist and title and in many cases, the titles start with numbers or weird characters which the library controller can’t make heads or tails of. Same with AIFF depending on how that info got attached to the songs. So make your choice, start building your library and be assured that when you get your new PerfectWave system you can at least play everything in your library.

iPod or iPad?
The new PS Library controller application will be launched in late June or early July depending on how busy the gatekeepers at Apple are. We've been in constant development mode for nearly a year and I am happy to report it's a fun device to use.

To bring you up to speed, every media server system needs some way to find what you want to listen to and to control that experience. In the PerfectWave system, you'll be able to handle some of this from the front panel touch screen - like scrolling through a playlist you've created and started playing - but you won't be able to scroll through the entire library. We made this decision because in testing it, we felt it was too clumsy and didn't really offer the PS experience of fun and ease of use we wanted.

Instead, we decided to forge ahead and build our own controller based on the Apple iPhone, iPod and iPad platforms. These touch screen products are low cost and available all over the world. In fact, if we were to build the same piece of hardware you'd pay many times more than what Apple is able to charge. They build in the many-millions of pieces, we build in the thousands and the cost differences are enormous.

The Apple app we're building is UPnP compatible, which means any UPnP compatible controller will work just fine so if you don't want to get our experience you are welcome to try other products. But most of us will want the real deal; the true PS experience and that's what I am going to focus on for this article. A little bit later down the page in this newsletter, there's a link for you to go experience the Library app as a video presentation to get a feel of what you can do with this great piece of software.

The thrust of this article will be short and sweet and I'll share the conclusion right up front. If you've yet to make a decision on your controller, whether iPod or iPad, go with the iPad and spend the few extra bucks.

There are three big reasons for choosing the iPad over the iPod for your PS library controller. The first is that the iPod launch app will work on either of them, but the second reason is even more important. We are working hard on a new iPad specific app that will launch later in the year and this will eclipse anything you've seen so far in the iPod specific app. The third reason is that I suspect many of you are just like me: looking for an excuse to buy an iPad and play with it. For many, this will be reason enough.

Frankly, it didn’t take me too long to fall in love with the iPad. I am lucky because as head of product development at PS I had a readymade excuse to go out and buy one. You may remember in last month’s newsletter I took the iPad to Turkey to show it off to our Russian dealers and they flipped over it. You will as well. The difference between the iPod and the iPad is the difference between a Hyundai and a BMW.

As you will see in the video of the iPod library controller app, this is one cool piece of kit to play with and sets you free to have fun with your library. Just imagine what we might be able to do on a ten inch screen as found on an iPad. We’re not going to just re-purpose the iPod app, we’re taking all our cool ideas and going to town with it.

So, you can load the original app on the iPod, iPhone or iPad and have the identical experience. Once the new iPad app launches, the game changes dramatically and the two smaller touch screens won’t be able to be updated to the same experience. Think long term.

Bridge beta testing
The long awaited Bridge beta testing program is about ready for launch. We have 10 Bridge beta kits just about ready now, the balance of 40 are delayed because of parts.

If you're not in the business you might not be aware that there's a worldwide shortage of electronic parts caused by the global economic meltdown. These parts delays were the reason why so many of you had to wait on DLIII DACS, Power Plant Premiers and PerfectWave DACS. We're scrambling to find alternate sources for these parts and should be ok, but it's going slower than we had anticipated and for reasons we could not have predicted.

So here's the way it's going to work. There will be 50 beta test kits available. We have about 10 Bridge Beta Kits reserved for people we want to have as testers, leaving 40 more. We are going to offer 15 of these 40 kits to the forum group that volunteered to help us design the iPod app and the balance will be made available to newsletter readers the world over.

The retail price of the Bridge will be $799 if purchased separately and $699 if purchased with a Bridge pre-installed after June 30th 2010. For PerfectWave DACS purchased before this date, the price will be $599.

Beta Kits will be sold only to customers who own a PWD at the time of submission for their bid to be a beta tester and the price for the beta kit will be $299.

So, what's involved with adding a Bridge to your PerfectWave DAC and what do you need to become a beta tester?

The Bridge is a PC board with a back panel attached to it containing all the connectors you need. To add the bridge to your PerfectWave DAC all you do is remove the two screws holding the existing cover plate on the PWD, slide the Bridge in place, put the two screws back and you're done with the Bridge insertion. All that's left to do is insert the included SD memory card in the back of the PWD, switch the unit on and you're done. The whole process takes a couple of minutes and is pretty brainless.

If you would like to apply to be a beta testers, here are the steps you need to take. First, you'll need to send us an email that includes the following

• The serial number of your PerfectWave DAC
• Description of your system (short and sweet is ok)
• How your music is stored (computer, NAS, USB external hard drive)
• Are you going to go wired through Ethernet or wireless? Either is fine, we want both
• How you plan to get UPnP access. This would either be through a UPnP NAS you already have, a UPnP router with USB share (we can recommend one), or willingness to purchase and install a copy of Twonky onto your Windows or MAC computer
• An iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad available when the Bridge kit arrives

Send your email to me, paul@psaudio.com and we'll choose those of you we feel will offer us the widest variety of testing opportunities and get back to you.

Lastly, if you're considering a PerfectWave media server setup in the future, I would urge you to step forward before June 30th and pickup at least a PWD to make sure you get the best price on the Bridge as well as availability.

The first official release of the Bridge will be limited to 100, the next month 200 and the following month 300 to 500 if we can as we ramp up production. Availability will focus on existing owners of PWD's first. There are currently just under 1,000 PWD's in the world today and that number goes up every month and will easily surpass 1000 units by the time the Bridge ships.

You do the math.

Power cables in a connected system
There's no question that the future of high-end audio is in a network connected world. Yes, even vinyl will soon be connected if we have anything to say about it, and no, you won't suffer anything but joy when listening to vinyl over a network.

But whenever we venture into new territory it always behooves us to step back a moment, catch our breath and reexamine all of our assumptions and decisions we made in the past. One of the most critical decisions is how we power up our gear; we always want the best AC power for high-end audio.

So, I am assuming you all are using a Power Plant Premier for your high-end audio system - or if not a Premier, you have at least made a judgment call for what you think gives out the best AC and are using it to maximum effect.

But how are you connecting your AC power to this new crop of digital audio products? Have you looked? I did and was surprised at the results.

Let me first qualify what I am writing here: everything in the PS system runs through a Power Plant. I continually reevaluate this decision and keep coming back to the same conclusion that I can't live without it. OK, done deal. Now to the cables.

In our reference sound room equipment and cables are continually coming in and out as everyone uses this room to test and make sure our products sound right. The PerfectWave production crew grabs samples of production every other day and carefully evaluates each piece to make sure we didn't miss something in production. So too do the warranty repair people when a customer complains that something isn't sounding right.

So, the other day I was auditioning a new PWD and Bridge combo for our Japanese distributor to use at the Tokyo high-end show that just finished up this last weekend.

Our senior Linux programmer, Dennis Kerrisk had just expanded the frame size from 24 bits to 32 bits on the Bridge and we all wanted to make sure this didn't adversely affect anything. I immediately was disappointed. Even on good old red book CD's the sound wasn't really coming alive as I was used to it.

I have learned that when I have a disappointing sonic experience in the PS Reference setup I first look at the Maggies. Fuses intact? Cable lifts in place? Then I turn to my DAAD diffusor sets and make sure the cleaning people didn't mess with them and so on. I go through an entire list and once exhausted my next step is to return the unit to engineering and have them check it out. They did and swore to me it should be fine. OK, the next step is to go back to the reference DAC that's sitting in the sound room always and cannot be removed under threat of death. It sounded great. Rats.

I could go on, but what I finally realized is that the Reference DAC had a PerfectWave AC12 connecting it to the power and the new unit had an AC5. They look almost the same, these power cables, but they sure don't sound the same! This was surprising to me because our preamp and power amp also show differences but not this extreme.

So, I spent the afternoon doing some investigating and even brought out my samples of the xStream series of power cables and compared the Statements with the AC series and here's what I found.

On analog equipment there's a noticeable difference between all of these models as you would expect, the AC series beating out the xStreams. Nothing huge here, but noticeable. But when it came to the DAC (either the DLIII or the PWD) the differences were the size of the Grand Canyon. Yikes!

First off, after what I heard, I wouldn't even consider the xStreams as candidates for digital equipment. They will be fine feeding your analog gear, Power Plants etc. but not for digital audio. Second, once we get into the AC Series, I think the AC5 is a bare minimum for a DAC and would strongly urge people to try the AC10. The improvement is magnificent. Where, you might ask, do I hear the biggest differences? In the life and harmonics of the music. I would heaver thought I'd get better slam and bass, but frankly I did not. What I did get was an amazing increase in life - openness if you will - harmonic richness like I never thought possible in the AC10 and AC12 (with the edge going to the 12). So big is this phenomena that I am tempted now to think much of the wonderful musicality of the PWD is due, in part, to this cable. I say this because just the difference between the AC5 and the AC10 was enough for me to suspect something was wrong.

The conclusion? Power and its delivery are even more important in the digital age than many of us may have thought. It's worth your time to reevaluate your power delivery system as I did.


Video tour of the iPhone app.

Unless you've been on a desert isle without communication for some time it would be surprising if you haven't heard of the Library management app we've designed to control our new media server system for the PerfectWave DAC. We've shown screenshots of it, taken it around the world to demonstrate the fun and control it brings and have been delighting folks with it for some time now.

The final tweaks to the system are finished and we're in the process of submitting it to Apple for their blessing. Once blessed it will be available on the iTunes app store for a whopping price of $4.99.

The Library app is a full media management tool the likes of which no one has available to them in a single package. The closest to it is the free Sonos app, which is a terrific app, but alas, the Sonos system isn't high end and won't support high resolution music. Nor will their app work with PerfectWave.

The PS Library app is a UPnP controller. So what does that mean? It means you can use this app to control any UPnP based system such as the PS, Linn, or the Boulder systems which are the only high-end UPnP based systems I am familiar with. The app will also control some of the lower end systems like the Sonos as well.

The app has a full high-end library and player access tool, controls any type of audio media stored on your computer or hard drive, displays full cover art and gives you the artist's bio to read while you're listening to the music. It has a full radio tuner that includes just about everything you'd need to listen to internet radio which, depending on the station, sounds terrific on the Bridge. It also has access to PS Audio's own eTracks stations, which will convince you forever that internet radio is almost as good as the best your library has to offer. It's a great app that we're very proud of.

The end of the GCHA
For several years now we have been building a terrific headphone amplifier, the GCHA. Even though we've sold nearly a thousand units, sales for this has slowed down to a point where it's time to call it quits. It's not surprising as a product like this always begs the question: how many people are interested in high-end headphones?

I know there's a strong and very loyal group of headphone devotees and we've done our best to support them.

In any case, the last of these beauties are being reduced in price to $499.99 until they are gone. If you want to grab one before there's not another chance, go to our site or call your local dealer. When they are gone, they are gone.

Weinhart Design has some, so act quickly!

Check this system out:
Good friend and fellow audio crazy Chuck Zellig sent me a link to one man's obsession with audio and I just had to share. Click here THE to see what I mean. The subwoofers in this system are built into an underground cavern and consist of 16 18” woofers horn loaded by giant cement labyrinths that lie below the floor of his listening room.

I can only imagine how this system must sound or, at the very least, impress with its sheer ease of presentation as it's also one of the most efficient setups I've seen in a long time. Thanks goodness for entrepreneurs like Roberto Delle Curti who created this magnificent temple to high-end audio.

Till June Well, I am off to Europe in a couple of days to show off the new PerfectWave system to our friends and extended family in the Netherlands, Austria and Germany. If you're around, come by and say hi.

Paul McGowan

Thanks Paul! If that doesn't explain everything for you then you have only one option. Come in and hear the difference!