I'll toss my .02 cents in here. I by no means have heard everything in the DA world. But I have owned/heard many, and I currently own a Wyred DAC-2 since last fall. I have owned a Levinson #39, some of the CAL stuff long ago, Musical Fidelity, started with Audio Alchemy back in the day - hey, hey! A PS Audio DAC or two has passed thru the system. And though I have heard the PWD, I have never had it in my system. I have also owned and/or had in my system, every DAC or player that Theta Digital has ever made, except the current Gen. 8. To my ears, Theta has been superior to everything I've ever owned or heard. Bear with me - this will be relevant shortly. Their DAC's just make music sound more "live", more "real" to me. I think Theta was way ahead of the times. They were up-sampling and oversampling long before those became marketing buzz words. And I think a lot of the Theta "house sound" has to do with the analog output sections in their products. To say they are robust, would be a huge understatement. But anyway to cut to the chase. My 1999 model Theta has been my preferred Reference DAC for over a decade, besting all comers - up until the Wyred DAC-2 hit my system last fall. Now to put this into perspective, the Wyred does not annihilate the Theta or anything like that. But the Wyred is "as good" as the Theta in all areas, and best it in a couple areas, and is just "different" in some other sonic aspects. Where the Wyred does whoop up on the Theta is in connection flexibility, bit depth and sampling rate capability, volume control if you like, etc. I am slowly headed to a music server type rig setup so I can sit on my fat butt in my listening chair and call up any tune I want via my iPad without ever having to move! And my Theta will not accommodate this, and thus I went on a search for a DAC that would, and that did not sacrifice the sonic qualities I value so highly in my Theta. The Wyred DAC2 meets my needs – sonically and functionally. And I can’t say enough good about the company and its customer service so far – excellent. Met them at RMAF too, a couple of years ago before I ever bought one of their products – really good guys. Now I have one of their STi-1000’s also.. as well as my Torii…. But that’s a whole nother discussion!
Also… something I have noticed about both of my Wyred components. They generally sound better “cold”, when you first turn them on for a listening session than most every other component I’ve ever owned. They sound pretty good right off the bat – not as much “warm up” time required. But after about 30 minutes, even though I have never seen them getting any warmer than slightly above room temperature, they really start to bloom and come “on song”. As opposed to my Torii, which just sounds “wrong” when first fired up. Takes about 30 minutes… really 45-60 before my Torii really starts to sound delicious and deliver all its luscious, sonic goodness. No detriment to the Torii at all, just the nature of the technology I think.
I think the Wyred is definitely worth your time and trouble to give it a listen if you can - even if you ultimately find its not your sonic cup of tea. I really can't think of anything else that will give you its SQ and functionality for anywhere near its price. I'm sure there's something out there, but like I said, I haven't heard everything - nobody has. And the choices these days are staggering.
But I also believe that the advances in DAC technology in the last 3 years or so have made it a lot easier to get "world class" digital sound for less than "world class" $$$. Just my opin and experience.
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