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W4S DAC

There's always a lot of talk about DACs with most revolving around names like Denefrips, Gustard, T&A, Weiss, Border Patrol and many others, but I see no mention of the Wyred 4 Sound DAC and in particular the 10th anniversary edition. Even a quick search of the forum doesn't bring much up in the last couple of years.

It is competitively priced, made in the USA and it was well reviewed at the time (2018)

Has anyone compared this DAC to the newer ones most that are most mentioned here? Maybe technology has surpassed a DAC that is now 5 years past its prime?

 

128x128navyachts
chayro
2,935 posts
 

W4s always made good products and they were more popular several years ago, but I think the huge influx of excellent dacs from China killed them. Who’s going to buy a 5k W4s when they can buy a Terminator or a May that every major reviewer went crazy over? Also, W4s is using ESS chips, which are not popular now in higher priced dacs, where buyers either want ladder, fpga or vintage chips.  

jond's avatar
jond
5,689 posts
 

The idea that Dac tech moves that fast is meaningless a good Dac is still a good Dac if you evaluate it based on SQ. My Dac is around 13 years old and sounds fantastic.

navyachts's avatar
navyachts OP
481 posts
 

Great discussion. Good points on both sides of the coin!

elrod
233 posts
 

I had a DAC-2v2 SE DAC for a number of years and it's a very nice sounding DAC which you can pick up used at a very reasonable price.

I thought I was upgrading when I bought a HOLO Springs 3 KTE DAC, but I was mistaken. The HOLO had a quirk that drove me absolutely nuts - I couldn't take it after six months. I decided to step clear of all the flavor of the month DACS which are so frequently reviewed and bought a Aries Cerat Helene DAC.

It wasn't cheap, but I'm now content in the world of DACs

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