Berzerkley Alpha 2? Not unless a used original PWD mk 1>2 makes it. The Alpha is a bit tonally cleaner and linear sounding (maybe a bit tonally compressed?) but the PWD is still more micro dynamics and resolving to me. Also depends which inputs. It will crush the PWD via USB. The Alpha 2 signature seemed something in between the PWD mk1>2 and a Lavry, which is not a bad thing.
Is the X-Sabre the DAC we compared to the PWD2 in Anax's rig at that mini meet? I thought that thing sounded awful.
That was the Vega. Luis hated it too.
Yeah. it was noticeably softer among other things. Maybe a fw update can help? The machined casework is brilliant though. It becomes confusing when picking tradeoffs of sonics for feature sets at certain lower price points. Is it better than a Pulse Xfi+LPS would be my question. I doubt it but I haven't heard for sure yet as it's not yet shipping. Maybe we just need to separate SABRE DACs into their own category.