Wyred4Sound Dac 2 – An Owners Review

As some of you here will know, I have been toying with the idea of upgrading my source for some time now.
For two reasons really - A thirst for a more ‘refined, detailed ‘sound and the need to move to a HDD based transport in the near future.I briefly toyed around with the idea of upgrading to a CDP that allowed access to its dac. Fortunately, I was persuaded otherwise.

I know next to nothing about DACs and have heard only a very few over the years – The Naim, a DIY Twisted Pear Buffalo ,Ayon Scylla, Peter Daniels NOS.So what follows is based largely on my experience with the W4S Dac

The opportunity to act, presented itself,when my wife said that she had a conference to attend in Singapore a couple of months back. I quickly scanned what was available in Singapore and narrowed down on the W4S DAC 2. It seemed to have everything that I wanted, at a price that I could afford.

The only catch, (and a big one at that ) was that I would have to take a punt and buy it blind. Fortunately, the tons of positive reviews and user feedback on the net made that decision a little easier.

The DAC is currently hooked up to my CDP, and has about 150 hours on it.I have not yet found the time to hook it up to a laptop.

Here are my impressions, based on what I hear, using my CDP as transport.

Sound Quality
My rather humble Rotel RCD 02 CDP,now when mated to the W4S DAC2 sounds like a utra hi-end source.To use an analogy, imagine the drastic upgrade in PQ, if a point- and- shoot camera was magically transformed into a high end DSLR

Specifically stuff like

Detail: My speakers anyway are quite revealing and now I hear even more. Remember that finger snap in “grandma’s hand”, well that has become more flesh and bone. Applause sounds like a bunch of people clapping rather than a wave of sound. I can now hear subtle,minute inflections in voices, both male and female.The sharp intake of breath.The caress of a phrase.

Sound Stage: The first thing that I noticed was that the stage had moved from the front of the speakers to behind. Width,, Depth and Height have also improved tremendously.Remember the mute trumpet in that Sara K number, I could sing the blues. It actually ‘feels ‘ like it’s at a distance of 15 feet in the sound stage.

Imaging: Has become more etched,, relative space between instruments has become more defined.

Treble: Has become more airy. I have new found respect for the great Jack Dejohnette’s brush work on Keith Jarrett’s albums.

Bass:The one significant criticism that a lot of people have about my speakers, is Bass. Or rather the lack of it. That has changed with the W4S DAC.Bass has acquired even greater definition and weight.Listening to acoustic bass has become a treat. The song that comes to mind is Gazali by Renaud Garcia Fons. The elastic quality of the pluck, the sound resonating in the large hollow wooden body, the decay of the note, all of this has become more palpable.

Tonality: The W4S DAC 2 has an Open, Detailed,, ‘illuminated’ sound,. I don’t think it’s cold or analytical. But that’s me.

Construction, Cosmetics, Connectivity etc
The W4S DAC 2 is not the prettiest piece of kit on my rack. It looks like something that started out life, wanting to a laboratory instrument but somewhere down the line, had a change of heart and ended up becoming a piece of HiFi equipment. Oh well, Handsome is what Handsome does and in this case by the mile.

To be fair, the construction is very solid. It has all the connectivity you can ask for and then some. If that were not enough, it offers a variety of useful and sometimes quirky settings. It also has a beefy power supply,not be found in similar DACs like the M2Tech Young or the Calyx ( Both of these were on my shortlist).

The icing on the cake of course is that all of this does not cost, an arm and a leg. As one gentleman I know rather well put it, it’s less than what you would pay for a high quality IC.

All in all a ‘killer’ Hifi proposition!

Things to like
The open , detailed sound,build quality,connectivity, price.

Things to dislike
Ugly, if that should bother you. Maybe the SQ. It’s definitely not like some DACs that follow a house sound.Think Naim or the Ayon Skylla. The W4S is far more detailed than either of these. If you like some caramel in your cappuchino, then this is not the right DAC for you.

As for me , I’m a happy camper. I have found what I’m looking for.

Next step – Computer audio.