I managed to get hold of a Sapphire Vega 56 Pulse. So far my feelings are mixed.
Pros in comparison to my Sapphire RX580 Nitro:
*30-50+% quicker in everything I've tried so far. My 580 must have been borderline capable at the settings I've been using at 1440p because everything seems so smooth now.
*at sustained load (after 30+ mins in Battlefield / Battlefront up to 2hrs or so) the card is quieter and heats up less than the 580. Was 67C after 2hrs with 38% fan speed. In comparison the 580 starts off really quiet, but approaches hair dryer volume after 30mins or so. I think the tiny Vega PCB allowing half the heatsink to overhang prevents a lot of heat build up like some of the old Furys.
Negatives:
*Minimum fan speed seems to be much higher on the Vega over the 580, so it's instantly audible once the fans start up (about 1400rpm, vs 800rpm on the Nitro). For more graphically basic games, it means I don't get the near silence I had before.
*Looks/feels a little cheap compared to the 580 Nitro, but not surprising as the Pulse is below the Nitro.
*It's a bit of a squealer. Not quite on the coilwhine levels I recall my Fury/Nano being, but it's an annoying pitch and present even at 60fps and youtube videos.. The 580 has coil whine (I've long given up thinking I can get a non-whining card with my EVGA P2), but it's much deeper and not present at low fps.
Overall I'm happy enough, but the coil whine thing and the low minimum fan speed has given me an injection of "buyer's remorse". Not fully decided yet.
Also: in GPU-Z the PCI link never seems to drop to x1.1 (or whatever it is) at idle like all previous cards I can remember have done. It stays at 16x 3.0 - bug, or it's designed like this?