(Re-posted from the Latest PS Audio News forum)
DSD is certainly not dropped [from the Bridge] but the problem is we don’t know what to do with it. [...] That means that the Bridge is capable of transferring DSD over the network and the PWD is capable of playing it (although it may require a mod to do so) but we cannot control the volume. ... One simple thing would be to not control the volume, but then that would mean if you were going to play DSD through the PerfectWave system you’d be required to use an analog preamp for everything - not something I like frankly.
Deal Paul, PSA Team: As you’ve already noted, getting the PWD to do DSD will require a mod, would it be inconceivable to (optionally?) rebuild the output stage around a Gain Cell at the same time? It seems that the Gain Cell is a very nice, tidy and self-contained device and it’s ability to control output in the analog domain would open up great (DSD and/or analog) opportunities with the PWD. I appreciate that you have said elsewhere about the Gain Cell that:
[The Gain Cell’s] only failing was that it was a separate stage fed by sources - so no matter how clean the preamp is - it was still more than nothing. Enter the PWD. The PWD is the source and that source can have its gain adjusted through the front panel, thus eliminating an entire part of the chain. There’s no preamp like no preamp.
Still, the ability to “rip” LPs in DSD with a PerfectWave-series phono (or the KORG or Tascam recorders) and store and play them back over the network would be awesome! (If Linn, Ref Recordings, etc. made available their DSD catalogs for download, as Member Todd C. noted some artists have as dsddiff files, it would be even awesome-er), potentially outweighing the problems of an extra gain stage (esp. if this mod was offered as an optional upgrade as part of a general DSD mod).
I don’t know, maybe I am crazy or way off. But it looks like there is room in the PWD chassis... maybe this is a job for Rick Cullen? (I am re-posting this question in the Mods forum as well….)
