Wavelength Brick

Ck! Been listening to the Brick all weekend, so far NOT impressed at all. Sounds thin to me, exaggerates the high tones and voices and leave the bottom end sort of blank. The sound-stage is very shallow, leaving the instruments deep in a jazz performance very faitn sounding.

I am a little confused as to what to do now since I can't afford the Cosecant, which might be the better match for my system. But I am hesitant to pay double the money for a product that is only about 25% better.

I understand the whole burn-in concept completely, but you can usually get a good idea for the overall sound signature right out of the box. Not to mention this unit had about 20 or 30 hours on it before I got it. So far the Brick has yet to impress me on ANY of my reference recordings, and quite honestly it hisses at high volumes, and at low volumes all I hear it Tweeter. Tssss, Tssss, Tsss as the most significant signal. I have never experienced this with any piece of equipment on my system, and I have auditioned quite a few pieces. In fact, two weeks ago I auditioned a used X-DAC v3 from MF and it sound much better than this Brick for 1/3 of the price.

The pre-amp (VTL) I have is single-handedly the best piece in my system, and very warm and balanced sounding. But from what I can hear with the Brick it does not feed my preamp to it's potential.

I have to make a decision and I don't know what it will be yet, but right now I am not impressed enough to invest this amount of money in this amount of sound ability. Other than the functionality of the Brick I am feeling it is a little over-priced.

Hi - suggest you call Gordon in the morning and share your findings - see what he suggests. There is no doubt in my mind that your satisfaction is paramount to him. Meanwhile it sounds as though a few aspirin are in order. Sorry to hear this,

i have owned a BRICK for two month , it was a very soft sounding box
with a lack of details in the upper and muddy bass .; some call it "analog" sounding.. you also need a very high gain preamp , not a passive because the brick only get less than 1volt output.
i have replace it with a moded "airport" express to a PASSLAB D1 dac
and will never look back.. ( not the same price also...)

Cheers

WOW! I was completely wrong...I was running this on a Dell PC while I auditioned and until I got my MAC, which came today. I had been in contact with Gordon all the while, and he was very patient and helpful throughout. He seemed to feel pretty strongly that it was the PC (Foobar/ASIO) combination that was causing the sound deficiency for me. I had my doubts, until today.....I got the MAC and WOW! what a difference it has made. Everything is quieter, soundstage is deeper, picking up instruments in the very back of a performance with much greater detail, and getting a nice edge on my horns ands violins. Not fatiguing anymore at all. Much sweeter, albeit a little on the bright side for now.

I am believer now, and I very happy I got the MAC and got rid of the crappy Dell PC.

Problem I have now is, I don't know which toy to play with first, the MAC or my hi-fi. I am very satisfied with the sound up to now and I am glad I didn't overspend on the Cosecant, although I am sure it sounds sensational.

In regards to the pre amp, I am pretty sure mine fits the bill of being worthy of the task. It's a VTL 5.5, brand new, and we both have a sort of love affair with one another. I might even give a kidney for it if it asked. : )

So all is well over here, and thanks for the responses and help, you have been great !

Hello from another Brick/Macbook Owner. I just got my Brick about two months ago.

Glad to hear you like the Mac - Brick combination. I never tried anything but the Mac on the Brick.

Let the Brick settle in a little more - The highs should settle in even further. Also, you can try changing tubes which does change the sound a bit. Gordon put some EI 12AU7 Goldpin in mine and they are very detailed but might exaggerate highs a little until they break in. By the way, tube break in as well as coupling transformer break-in does take much longer than usual electronics.I still feel the Brick is changing a little over time.

Finally I did notice some difference. The output is on the low side (which I very much like). Running the Brick into the higher gain setting (23dB) of my tube amp give much tighter bass and more dynamics than the lower gain setting (13dB).

Enjoy and let us know your impressions after a while.