Positive Feedback IS
september/oc
The Wyred 4 Sound DAC-2: Let's All Get Totally Wired
by Andy Schaub
In the "6moons.com" review of the Wyred 4 Sound DAC-2 page, it says:
"Discrete as Casanova? Perhaps not. Definitely though an output stage that won't bed any op-amps.
the $1499 DAC2, there's 24/192 async USB via proprietary drivers for 32/64-bit Windows XP/Vista/7
Mac OS 10.4 through 6."
And I am dancing in the street because that's why this thing sounds so frigging good, NO op amps.
OK, that's not the ONLY reason it sounds so good, and it's not going to win the if product design awa
that LaCie's 2big and Little Disk Families have, both of which I have owned; however, setup properly
burned in for a VERY long time, the W4S DAC-2 can sound really lovely as has been revealed to me
beginning to sound prophetic) in both my office system—both on the speakers and with my Blossom
balanced headphone amp driving my "universal" Silver Dragon Ultrasone Edition 8's via the balanced
connector extension—AND in my main system where it held up very well against the USB-directly-dr
dCS Debussy and the Sonicweld Diverter/Locus Core S/PDIF cable driven Audio Note [all tube analo
DAC 3.1X.
All things considered it sounded closer to the latter—which is less of a surprise to me now that I know
doesn't have any op-amps in the output stage; op-amps are evil, my Dad and I built I "lie detector" us
one from Radio Shack in the 1970's; do you really want that in your DAC?—but, like I said it took a v
long time to burn in, continuous iTunes repeats for several (well, 2) weeks. Before that, it seemed a l
rough around the edges and it warbled some on high resolution material and quite honestly I told Dav
Clark, the editor of PFO, that I didn't think I could review it because I couldn't think of anything nice to
say. He told me to just burn it in for a very long time, which I did, and NOW I'm planning to purchase
demo unit.
To establish the main context, here's my office system:
Rega P3-24 turntable including tonearm with TT-PSU external power supply on
Quadraspire Q4EVO 2 shelf stand
Audio Note IQ3 MM phono cartridge
Audiomat Phono 1.5 phonostage on bottom shelf of Q4EVO
Triode Audio Corporation ("Tri") TRV-CD4SE 24bit192kHz up sampling CD player with
6DJ8(6922)*1, in my case an NOS tube
Tri TRV-88SE KT88 push-pull integrated / power amplifier with stock tubes; have 3 line
level inputs plus 1 "preamp in" if you want to use it as a power amp (there's a matching
preamp with a phonostage, but I preferred the sound of the Audiomat Phono 1.5); has
built in single-ended headphone amp
Modified (silver wired) Micro Pure CZ310ES Mini Speakers on hand-turned wooden
cones on cork paper on glass desk
Essex SW2 12" active subwoofer
Mostly Audio Note silver/copper cabling
Used to have an Apogee Duet with custom Locus Design FireWire cable and Locus
"Vision breakout cable"
Now heading towards the Wyred 4 Sound DAC-2 with a 6 foot Locus Axis USB cable and
Locus Vision interconnects
Blossom BLO-0299 balanced headphone amp, with black Welborne Labs Upgraded
Power Supply (preassembled) and "universal" Edition 8's plus "universal" Sennheiser
HD800's (they use the same system of Silver Dragon extensions from Moon Audio)
27" Quad Core iMac with 16GB of RAM, 2TB fixed drive and 4TB RAID 0 backup drive
plus extra LaCie Rugged 500GB bus-powered FireWire drive for backing up digital
photographs and a NitroAV 8 port FireWire 800 hub (powered) attached to a thick piece
of finely-trimmed construction paper with some Scotch double-sided/removable "poster
tape" to avoid rattling on the glass
The software I used to drive the W4S was iTunes 10—have you noticed the drawer icon is no longer
spinning CD? It's a music note in a blue circle—running under Mac OS 10.6.4 and Amarra 2.0, which
great and really ties the whole thing together anywhere from 16/44.1 to 24/192 (yep, the W4S DAC-2
goes that high; I have heard it and it is a thing of beauty).
You do have to install drivers to get the DAC-2 to work; but they can be uninstalled should it ever be
necessary.
My wise cracks about op-amps notwithstanding, because I honestly don't know what makes the dCS
(I had always assumed it was magic) it is the case that both the dCS and the Audio Note DAC 3.1X h
a little more air or ambience than the W4S DAC-2, which can be quite forward in the midrange; but th
OK. It continues to open up, even now, and Amarra helps; so for $1499, I say go forth and multiply (i
multiply the number of Prius's you can have and still get music from your computer with quality).
With regard to my comments on its appearance (I have the "silver" one, which is still mostly black; I
actually prefer the aesthetics of the all black, but I'm not being picky about the demo purchase) the W
DAC-2 is—as my former girlfriend Robin would say—just another black and silver shiny thing; althou
she would often say it with great frustration practically sputtering like Daffy Duck because she was so
mad at me for buying a Spectral DMA-150 without telling her first. But really, the DAC-2 is a thing of
beauty because it MAKES beauty out of bytes; so, like Picasso, it/he is more the artist than the art.
Here's a brief description of what you see on the front panel and how it operates; (by the way, I've jus
used a very old but serviceable Nordost El Dorado power cable for all my testing because of its richn
of sound; I did not try the Shunyata Diamondback Platinum I have because it cleans up the bass too
much and the bass coming from the DAC-2 is fine as is):
You see a two-line LED display—sort of like the electronic banners at Times Square only on a much
smaller scale—with silver buttons on either side marked "Down" on the left and "Up" on the right and
below the display marked "Power".
To get the power switch to turn the DAC-2 on or off, you have to hold it in for several seconds. The s
thing is true of the dCS Debussy and is a sensible safety precaution; however, it allows the "Power"
switch on the DAC-2 to have a separate function, which is to toggle the "cursor"— for lack of a better
term—between the higher and lower, or first and second, line on the "Times Square display".
Once you're on the upper line, you can use the "Up" and "Down" buttons to select the input (USB, S/
or "COAX", AES/EBU, Etc., and sometimes more than one of each) and on the lower line, the volume
which at least with the USB input only goes to 65; but that does seem more than enough output to dr
any reasonably powerful line-level input. In fact, I leave it at 60 going into one of the line level ins on
Tri TRV-88SE KT88 tube 45w push-pull class AB integrated amp to avoid overloading the amp and
distorting.
I have tried using this DAC, in my main system, both with direct USB connection to my 13" MacBook
using a Locus Design Cynosure USB cable—which costs about twice as much as the DAC-2—and I
also used it "indirectly" by plugging the Cynosure into my Sonicweld Diverter and then running the
S/PDIF out of that (the Diverter being an immensely well-designed USB --> S/PDIF converter) into th
"COAX 1" in of the DAC-2 via a Locus Design Core S/PDIF cable. I would have to say, all things
considered, I prefer the latter arrangement; the music has more "height" and "structure". On the othe
hand, I actually asked Lee Weiland at Locus Design to build me 6 foot Axis USB cable (his second to
least expensive, costing about $729 for that length) because I plan to purchase the demo unit after th
swap out the silver for a black case and use it to replace my Apogee Duet, as it is more reliable and
much better sounding; in both cases, I have been using Locus Design Vision interconnects with the
Apogee Duet and the W4S DAC-2, and in the latter case, it just keeps getting better as you add bette
cabling even though it only costs $1499. So think of the USB cable, DAC and analog interconnects a
matched "kit" and don't worry about the Sonicweld Diverter until you move the DAC-2 into your main
system, with your Spectral monoblocks and Wilson WATT/Puppies or, in my case, the 7-watt per cha
Audio Note Meishu Phono Silver and some highly efficient Audio Note AN-E SEC Silver loudspeaker
which go down to 20Hz and play very loud, even using just two Western Electric 300B's (two total, 1
channel).
I guess the greatest compliment a reviewer can give the manufacturer is to ask to buy the demo unit
some aesthetic changes) and to even spend quite a bit of money on having a custom, higher-end, 6
cable built for it, and to get a second copy of Amarra 2.0 with the iLok dongle and everything to "proc
the sound a little and control the MIDI settings, so the DAC knows it's getting a 24/192 signal (which
sample and which sounded lovely).
As I said before, my main complaint is that the sound is a little forward and lacks some air and ambie
however, that depends greatly on what cables you use—both digital and analog—and the kind of mu
you enjoy (i. e., the quality of the recording, how much air and ambience is there to begin with, etc.).
have expressed my preference for the black one and expressed SOME concern at having to use driv
to get it to function at higher resolutions on a Mac. I know that's necessary for the PC but most, or at
many, higher resolution devices I know of don't use drivers with USB 2.0 on a Mac, and when I say U
2.0, I mean "24/176.4" or "24/192", although there's nothing WRONG with using a driver as long as y
can remove them, which you can.
So I suppose, to sum things up, despite a few minor complaints that really apply more to a $10K DAC
the Wyred 4 Sound DAC-2 can give you some very lovely sound with a minimum amount of effort an
true plethora on input choices and configuration options, like volume control and processing up to
24/192KHz files (automatically selected with Amarra 2.0, I add again). I think—although it does have
more air and ambience and perhaps an overall more elegant design and user interface—given that th
PS Audio PerfectWave DAC costs almost exactly twice as much as the DAC-2 (it appears to retail fo
2999.99 commonly) and you can get the DAC-2 and put that extra $1500 into some bitching cables—
say go with the DAC-2. There's nothing wrong with the PerfectWave, and it has a slightly higher "Wif
Acceptance Factor"; however, I could never find a filter on it that sounded quite right and – quite
honestly—I don't know what kind of filtering the W4S DAC-2 uses but, as Goldilocks said, "It's just rig
Like I said, I'm buying the demo.
Kindest regards,
Andy
Wyred 4 Sound
web address: www.wyred4sound.com
email address: sales@wyred4sound.com
2323 Tuley Road, Unit A-C
Paso Robles, CA 93446
TEL: 805. 237. 2113
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