Wyred 4 Sound and the New New SE – AXPONA 2017

Wyred 4 Sound is hot in the midst of releasing a new crop of digital products for the masses. The new v2’s of their DAC line just recently hit the streets and offer a solid cost ladder based on features and upgrade parts. The lowest barrier to entry starts with the DAC-1v2 ($1,3k) and sports the new ESS Sabre 9026PRO chipset. Subsequent moves up the ladder land you at the DAC-2v2 ($2,3k, 9028PRO) and then the 2v2 SE ($3.8k) with a femto clock and current flagship Sabre chip 9038PRO.

But what Wyred 4 Sound’s marketing head Tony Holt was showing off at AXPONA was another animal altogether. The 10th Anniversary Limited Edition DAC 2v2SE ($4.5k) packs in a new list of one-time features and parts sure to tickle the fancy of any spec junky. From the company website:

• ESS Sabre 9038PRO DAC chip
• Redesigned 10th Anniversary digital board
• 10th Anniversary “champagne silver” colored chassis with commemorative silkscreened graphics
• Custom 10th Anniversary red LED display
• Custom 10th Anniversary lathed aluminum footers
• Hand-matched custom Vishay Z-Foil resistors
• Ultra-low noise discrete regulators
• Ultra-fast recovery Schottkey diodes
• Premium-grade inductors
• Oversized toroidal transformer for solid and noise-free power
• 88,000uF of filtering with W4S low ESR “super-cap” (same as used in the STP-SE)
• Upgraded fuse
• Fully balanced design with balanced and unbalanced outputs
• Coaxial, Toslink, AES/EBU and I²S inputs
• Galvanically isolated, asynchronous USB input
• Up to 384kHz PCM and DSD 256 file support via USB or I²S
• Automatic oversampling for precise output filtering
• Remote control
• Defeatable 32-bit volume control
• HT Bypass inputs
• Limited production run
• 5 year limited transferrable warranty”

Acting as a source, the 2v2 Anniversary Edition was paired with the W4S’s own SX-1000R Monos ($1,799/each) into the Acoustic Zen Crescendo Mk II ($22k/pair). The combination was equal parts musicality, strength and grace in the 5th floor room of the Rosemont Westin. The digital circuit board has been completely redesigned for the 10 Anniversary and claims to be “the finest DAC we’ve ever produced” by the company. It certainly seems that is the direction the Wyred 4 Sound is going. The relatively small half-size footprint left by their product’s external design has always been a favorite of mine and the class-D dual monos that fit-on-a-shelf just make good sense, much like the rest of the manufacturer’s digital-forward products. The new DAC will be a limited-run product with and expected ship date of May. Pre orders can be made direct at the W4S site:

https://wyred4sound.com/