DAC road traveled!

Randy Myers

Randy Myers

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Joined
Nov 7, 2015
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Location
Kansas
Well I am starting to think this new Wyred 4 Sound is the best DAC I have ever heard. The most "analog" sounding digital ever... and with DSD128 and DSD256... holy cow... Lyn Stanley, Cat Stevens, Claire Barlow, and others at 128... Fiona Joy at 256... I will put this against any turntable/vinyl combination you come up with... simply WOW...

DACs I have used since jumping back into this crazy hobby 1.5 years ago as a comparison...

McIntosh MX-A70, BurrBrown, PCM only
Teac UD-501, BurrBrown, w/DSD up to 128
Ayres Pono, ESS 9018 mobile, DSD up to 128*
Denon, BurrBrown, DSD up to 128
Wyred 4 Sound DAC-1LE, ESS 9018, DSD up to 256
Marantz SA8005, Cyrus Logic, DSD up to 128*
NuPrime DAC-10H, ESS 9018, DSD up to 256
Benchmark DAC2 HGC, ESS 9018, DSD 64
Benchmark DAC3 HGC, ESS 9028 Pro, DSD 64*
Wyred 4 Sound DAC-2v2SE, ESS 9038 Pro, DSD up to 256*

* Currently own...

This new Wyred is simply put.... Amazing!
 
Not much into DSD; how does it compare to the Benchmark DAC3 on PCM?
 
So far, in every way, the Wyred DAC is amazing. The Benchmark is a solid DAC but the DAC-2v2SE is in an entirely different league. I have listened to several PCM (flac) albums and it plays these albums the best I have heard. I have concentrated on better DSD albums since these are the absolute best sounding digital available (in my opinion, in virtually any type of music I have listened to), because I wanted to see just how good this DAC could be.

The answer is, as good as I have heard.

If you have an opportunity of trying a few DSD albums, even on the Benchmark, I would encourage you to do so. Even though the Benchmark only supports DSD64, it does it superbly. There is quite an amazing amount of music available in DSD, in every genera. Scan through Acoustic Sounds and you might be surprised.
 
Randy Myers said:
Well I am starting to think this new Wyred 4 Sound is the best DAC I have ever heard. The most "analog" sounding digital ever... and with DSD128 and DSD256... holy cow... Lyn Stanley, Cat Stevens, Claire Barlow, and others at 128... Fiona Joy at 256... I will put this against any turntable/vinyl combination you come up with... simply WOW...

DACs I have used since jumping back into this crazy hobby 1.5 years ago as a comparison...

McIntosh MX-A70, BurrBrown, PCM only
Teac UD-501, BurrBrown, w/DSD up to 128
Ayres Pono, ESS 9018 mobile, DSD up to 128*
Denon, BurrBrown, DSD up to 128
Wyred 4 Sound DAC-1LE, ESS 9018, DSD up to 256
Marantz SA8005, Cyrus Logic, DSD up to 128*
NuPrime DAC-10H, ESS 9018, DSD up to 256
Benchmark DAC2 HGC, ESS 9018, DSD 64
Benchmark DAC3 HGC, ESS 9028 Pro, DSD 64*
Wyred 4 Sound DAC-2v2SE, ESS 9038 Pro, DSD up to 256*

* Currently own...

This new Wyred is simply put.... Amazing!
Click to expand...

Slow down Randy. Love the enthusiasm but your list should be named with "under $2k" somewhere. It's still far from best digital, let alone "against any turntable/vinyl combinations".
 
kzhtoo said:
Slow down Randy. Love the enthusiasm but your list should be named with "under $2k" somewhere. It's still far from best digital, let alone "against any turntable/vinyl combinations".
Click to expand...

You may be surprised... a friend has an extreme high end phono setup, including the ARC Ref10 ($30k phono stage).... I prefer my digital setup. Also, back in the day I did have a pretty decent turntable setup and know what to expect from vinyl (several direct to disk, 4x UHQR, etc.)... I do believe that with the latest generation digital is very close to and in some cases equal to top tier turntable. Again, to my 50+ ears :)....

The new Wyred DAC is $3800, so certainly not under $2k.... but not in the crazy level $20k DACs either. It is a matter of perspective of course. But, some of the DACs on that list are top rated DACs. The Benchmark for example are on the very short list of A+ rated DACs by Stereophile. The previous generation Wyred gets TAS Editor's Choice Awards most years and the new one is very much improved!
 
I can only find four companies using the new ESS 9038 Pro chip. Ayres, Wyred 4 Sound, Oppo, and Matrix. Does anyone know of any others?

I do know the Wyred is pretty amazing... I have no experience with the others. I do know two friends who returned the Oppo... I assume the Ayres is fairly amazing, at a price!

So from what I can tell;
Oppo for $799
Matrix for $1699
W4S DAC-2v2SE $3799
Ayres QX-5 Twenty for $8000

So Oppo does not seem to compare, I know no one who has tried Matrix. Wyred is amazing with full Stage 2 upgrades, femto clock, etc. I assume Ayres is also amazing, but at over twice the price.

I was concentrating on DSD with my new DAC-2v2SE, but now I am listening to some Redbooks going through the Remedy through the new DAC. I have never heard Redbook CDs sound better...
 
On paper is one thing, how it is implemented is completely another.... I am very confident with the Ayres and Wyred 4 Sound.... not so much with the others... and of course no knowledge of the LKS004....
 
I'm looking for a replacement for my Benchmark Dac2 and struggle with the replacement cost of the Dac3 for what it achieves. The Holo spring has certainly upped the game and now we have more upgraded Dacs entering the market with the new Ess chips.
 
I like my DAC3 HGC. Unfortunately it is being used exclusively as a headphone amp now. Very good headphone amp... I have not seen another headphone amp using the new ESS chips...

The Wired DSD-2v2SE is a whole other world. Simply an amazing sounding DAC to my old ears :)...
 
Robocop said:
I'm looking for a replacement for my Benchmark Dac2 and struggle with the replacement cost of the Dac3 for what it achieves. The Holo spring has certainly upped the game and now we have more upgraded Dacs entering the market with the new Ess chips.
Click to expand...
I was just reading about this DAC today. Would love to hear one.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
 
Randy Myers said:
Well I am starting to think this new Wyred 4 Sound is the best DAC I have ever heard. The most "analog" sounding digital ever... and with DSD128 and DSD256... holy cow... Lyn Stanley, Cat Stevens, Claire Barlow, and others at 128... Fiona Joy at 256... I will put this against any turntable/vinyl combination you come up with... simply WOW...

DACs I have used since jumping back into this crazy hobby 1.5 years ago as a comparison...

McIntosh MX-A70, BurrBrown, PCM only
Teac UD-501, BurrBrown, w/DSD up to 128
Ayres Pono, ESS 9018 mobile, DSD up to 128*
Denon, BurrBrown, DSD up to 128
Wyred 4 Sound DAC-1LE, ESS 9018, DSD up to 256
Marantz SA8005, Cyrus Logic, DSD up to 128*
NuPrime DAC-10H, ESS 9018, DSD up to 256
Benchmark DAC2 HGC, ESS 9018, DSD 64
Benchmark DAC3 HGC, ESS 9028 Pro, DSD 64*
Wyred 4 Sound DAC-2v2SE, ESS 9038 Pro, DSD up to 256*

* Currently own...

This new Wyred is simply put.... Amazing!
Click to expand...
OK, so you have not heard DSD512 yet. That is a treat!

As you know, its not about being into DSD, you can upsample redbook on the fly. I have not heard the new ESS chips yet and am curious, but I dont really hanker for chipsets anymore...my Dac has none.
 
Hey Norman, Yea I know the Big7 is supposed to be amazing... but.... :D.... anyway the 9038 Pro chips seems to be excellent, but like everything else appears to be very dependent on implementation. I know that the Ayres and Wyred 4 Sound have implemented very well.... a couple I do not know about, and the Oppo is very inferior. EJ told me that the 9038 is much more dependent on implementation than other chips he has used.

The maximum I have is DSD256, and glad to have that since my Benchmark only did DSD64. That was a specific choice on their part which has always bewildered me. Even if they don't believe it is an improvement, purely from a marketing point it makes no sense.

I have not seen any music that I am interested in available in DSD512. I do have 4 albums in DSD256, either 14 or 15 in DSD128, and over 100 in DSD64. I absolutely love DSD.

Previous DACs I have owned appeared to better in either PCM or DSD. The Wyred does not. It seems to be absolutely superior in both PCM and DSD!!!
 
Interesting discussion but oh, this stuff is so SUBJECTIVE! I read the comments on head-fi and computer audiophile concerning that Shenzhen DAC with the two 9038 chips and they seem to love this DAC as well. Long live the audiophiles' need to get that extra bit of perceived resolution and quality from the latest/greatest equipment!
 
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