®
Questions And Answers
©2012 PS Audio International Inc. All rights reserved.
Owner’s Reference
NuWave DAC
Questions and Answers D
4826 Sterling Drive, Boulder, CO 80301
15-044-31-1
PH: 720.406.8946 [email protected] www.psaudio.com
Rev C
The NWD is best left powered on at all times. The current draw is negligible and keeping it powered
on will make sure the internal AC capacitors stay working properly and the sound quality is perfect.
There is no harm in leaving the unit on at all times as the lifespan of the NWD will be unaffected by
leaving it on.
There is an internal fuse in the NWD which we recommend leaving alone. There may be improvements
to be gained by replacing the internal fuse with an aftermarket high-end fuse but this should only be
attempted if you are comfortable working inside the unit. The components inside the NWD have
lethal voltages when powered. Capacitors inside the NWD can retain an electrical charge after the
unit has been powered down. Do not attempt to get inside the unit for any reason unless power has
been removed and you are fully aware of the inherent dangers of doing so. Should the NWD cease to
function, contact your dealer or PS Audio’s service center for help.
Placement of the NWD is not critical. Placement with respect to other equipment can be important.
In general, place the NWD close to the transport, CD player or computer as possible. It is always
preferable to have long digital interconnects and short audio interconnects if there is a distance problem
unless you are connecting to a computer through USB. USB cables should be of the highest quality
and the shortest distance possible for best result. Long USB cables may display signs of skipping,
dropouts or static.
Isolation through the use of a PS PowerBase, spikes, cones or Sorbothane feet is recommended for
the NWD if space and budget allows. Isolation of any piece of high-end stereo and theater equipment
is always recommended wherever practical.
Yes, cables make a difference. It is important to use the best power cables, digital interconnects and
audio interconnects when operating the NWD.
The master power switch is located on the rear panel of the NWD next to its AC inlet.
Native mode, which bypasses the internal SRC of the DAC, is the recommended listening mode. You
will always enjoy music in the sample rate it was mastered in if you leave it in Native Mode. Upsampling
to 192kHz can benefi t some material on some systems. Listen carefully to your choices to see which
one sounds more like live music to you. It is fi ne to select this while you are playing music.
You can easily select any of the three inputs manually or let the Autoscan feature of the NWD work for
you. The default or factory setting is Autoscan and if you only have one input connected to the digital
in, we recommend leaving the NWD in the default Autoscan mode. The Autoscan feature will look for
which input has a digital signal and automatically go to that input and lock on it.
You can simply turn your CD player, computer or digital source on or off and Autoscan will fi gure it out
for you and go to the proper input.
If you have multiple sources connected to the digital inputs and you wish to use the front panel input
Should the unit
be on all the
time?
Are there any
internal fuses?
Placement?
Isolation?
Power Switch
Do cables make a
diff erence?
How do I
manually select
an input?
Which sample
rate is best?
