Wyred DACS

I agree, no glare or sibilance here with my DAC-1 or DAC-2. Maybe he has an impedance mismatch or just poor synergy?

@Face and Nglazer,

Thanks for your points and thoughts. Much appreciated.

Your speculations are exactly the kinds of things, especially the variables of impedance mismatch or poor synergy that daunt me in the DAC ugrade selection process.

Wyred and others don't seem too enthusiastic about a trial period, or mention of a "loaner," and while I understand their point of view regarding this, a poor fit into a system could be expensive on a number of annoying levels. Even the idea of going to a dealer and listening to the DACs in question is problematic given these variables.

I continue to be very interested in audiogoners' careful and thoughtful recommendations; I'm definitely not interested in a bandwagon rah-rah approach.

:) listening,

Ed

>>Overall, I think it is an exceptional DAC regardless of price and facilities<<

I agree 100%

Hi Guys

Regarding the glare and sibilance thing its great you guys are not experiencing it. However everyone at the recent DAC shootout heard it and the other DAC's did not have it - well the modded Oppo may have had it a little bit but that was from someone with am exceptional ear who listens to Hi Fi day on day out for a living - I actually didn't hear it in the Oppo. My personal opinion is its a system synergy thing that appears if you system is revealing enough. The system we tried it on at the shootout was very very reveling without going into the details. Buy IMHO it does not have to be uber revealing - it shows up quite easily on my home system. Also I want to emphasize at least one person thought this was the best DAC there which is a really great accomplishment. Just had a chat to the guy that wrote about the WFS at the shootout and he still thinks what he said sums it up:
An amazing amount of detail, excellent tonal consistency and powerful bass. But it sounded like you were playing a CD and there were electronic artifacts in the form of a mid treble glare that intruded. Grey background. Microdynamically restricted. However its combination of consistent tonality and detail was impressive in a hifi sense and I can actually believe that some listeners might place this as their favorite.

As far as hearing one is concerned this DAC is the DAC of the moment right now so if you got one and didn't like you it you should have no trouble on selling it. Its what I did and have no regrets about trying it. I will be getting a good friend who runs a review site to review it then on sell it. I am pretty sure I will get close to what I paid for it.

Thanks
Bill

I should have been clearer. The issue was a bit of harshness in the upper range when i started to really drive the speakers. That's why I was wondering if it could have been the amp. With the pre-amp in place I settled on a volume of 67. Never had any issues. But now with DAC to amp I sometimes get some harshness on the high level section of a song when I'm cranking it (like Lucinda Williams voice). For me cranking it doesn't mean ear drum shattering. But my neighbors know when I'm home. It seemed like something that could be happening with the amp. Wish I had a multitude of equipment to interchange. As far as a sibilance issue. It doesn't sound like that to me. Not that I haven't heard some. But if I hear a couple seconds of sibilance once every two or three hundred songs, I don't attribute it to the DAC but to the recording or mastering/compression. That's my experience anyway. I listened through headphones straight from the DAC a couple nights ago, didn't really experience the issue. I could try out new cable combos. But sometimes you're just tired of all the experimentation and just want a solution so you can listen. :)

I appreciate everyone who's been comparing their experiences. The biggest difference in equipment is us: our own expectations and preferences.