wyred4sound amps

Yerude1

I've found the Wyred4Sound ST500 to be a very good amp. I was told (and read on line) that the 250 was one to avoid as it had a different chipset and was not the sonic mate of the other two amps in the line. If someone told you the amp was tubey they must have been a solid state lover.

I should add that I'm happy with the ST500 (though it forced me to get a much better preamp to put in front of it) I don't find that it is a world-beater unless you value pacing and transparency. I can see a lot of people listening with different priorities who would find the amp ordinary or guilty of some other sins of subjective omission. I have 4 ohms speakers and the amps control them effortlessly, but I’ve had other amps that have impressed with more slam, but less music. I’ve had (tube) amps that added more tone but less pacing and masked musical lines. I am keeping it until I commit to a design philosophy (or maybe simply a typology) that gives me better pacing, tone and dynamics. But I need to get the vinyl settled first, so I may have it for a while.

I am sure that there are better amps – and maybe equally good digital amps in the price range - I just don’t want W4S to be a victim of their hype. It’s a great amp for $1500, but it’s still an amp for $1500. I am tired of every amp besting amps three times their price, and the amp that was bested was earlier reviewed for “trouncing” an amp twice its price…….... leading me to believe that the W4S ST500 is better than $15-20,000 amps – that’s grade inflation.

When I was listening to SET I had Cain&Cain Abby’s (still have them), like the W4S they do something really right, not the be all and end all, but they can stop a lot of searching until one has more listing experience under one’s belt.

I have a lot of records to re-listen to with my now more open system. Certain tube sound that is wonderful, but far from a “live” sound; like SS slam, far from an acoustic reality (on the other side of the spectrum). So a little more grounded if a little less transfixed. More foot tapping but less “heart-stopping?” There’s a deeper thrill in verisimilitude (on the level that I can afford, a level that to those higher on the food chain might be pretty basic), that’s what kept me going with the amp for the first weeks (when I thought it was harsh and mediocre) because there were little revelations in so many works familiar and less familiar. If I had $3000 maybe I’d be saying the same about another amp, but in this price rage it’s doing its thing right.


Gregg

GreggD - "I just don’t want W4S to be a victim of their hype. It’s a great amp for $1500, but it’s still an amp for $1500."

I'm all for level-headed cost comparisons but isn't one of the advantages of W4S amp pricing that they dispense with a) retail distribution and b) expensive, attractive casings? So if you compare a W4S ST500 at $1500 with a unit like the AudioResearch 300.2 with a sale price of $4000, you need to discount the AR unit for the dealer mark-up and the attractive case, the prices are in the same ballpark (although I would guess the AR is still more expensive on an apples-to-apples basis, maybe by $500-750).

Jult, good point.

I do not adhere to the idea that price dictates performance. It may or may not for various reasons some of which you identify.

You can take a great expensive piece put in teh wrong system and sound crappy or you can take a less expensive piece that is well designed and executed put it in the right system and exceed the expectations of most. The devil is in the details.

I had the 125 wpc amplifier driven by a hevily modded Airtight tube preamp, a modded Alesis 9600 CD player/recorder going out to Von Schweikert VR5 HSE Anniversary speakers. I used some locally (auto cable engineer) made copper cable (excellent by the way)out to he speakers.

The W4S has a very clean, clear, and exceptionally smooth sound. Loads of detail. It does not, however, sound like either solid state or tube gear. I have described the W4S as pathologically smooth; it is also the opposite of big-hipped, juicy and lush tube sound.

I ultimately sold the piece because, despite it's positive attributes, it just did not awaken my inner soul. I have a class D amp right (100 wpc) made by a local audiophile in my system running the same copper cable out to Magnepan 1.7's; they have been outfitted with Enacom speaker filters (a dramatic, immediate improvement in bass solidity, upper end sparkle, and detail) and the amplifier has a pair of Dakiom's on it. The system sounds magical; I thought thye amp did not have enough power for the Magnepans. My immediate reaction to the very obvious improvements the Enacom speaker filters made was that the Mags are very RF sensitive as the Enacoms. I don't remeber if I ever ran these tweaks though on the W4S amplifier.

"pathologically smooth"

I would say that is a reasonable description of the BelConto ref 1000m Icepower amps I use also. And I would mean it in a good way.