An introduction and my system

[LHH]

Luc, by chance did you get a chance to try a Naim amp like the Nait 5i?

Unfortunately not. No one in town stocks Naim. (Actually the HiFi stores here are a complete disaster - I had a strong urge to offer my services for a week and sort them out. Seriously.)

[Squid]

Nice wee system you've got the LHH. Looks very tidy.
BTW - I guess you've read the Weiss DAC review in issue #72 of HiFi+?

[LHH]

Time for a new photo as I'm in a new room (even smaller than the last - yes that's the edge of my bed you can see at the bottom of the photo), and have some new toys (which I will provide an update on when they've run in a bit - even now though, things are sounding fantastic).

The Wyred 4 Sound SX-1000 monoblocks replace my Rega Mira 3 (which I'll create a sale thread for at some point), and the new Cambridge Audio iD100 digital iPod dock joins the system. I've also added a pair of Wyred 4 Sound C1 Ultra XLR interconnects.

Amps: http://www.wyred4sound.com/webapps/s..._groupid=18046

Dock: http://www.cambridgeaudio.com/summar...Pad+%26+iPhone

Interconnects: http://www.wyred4sound.com/webapps/s..._groupid=47096

Please ignore the hideous entertainment unit, after the upgrades and additions it was all I could afford...

[Ernie]

How do you find the ID100 against say a computer as source?

(Nice rack of kit BTW).

[LHH]

How do you find the ID100 against say a computer as source?

It's a little hard to do a fair comparison. Ultimately (in my system) the computer sounds better, but there are a couple of factors that could be involved here, the most important of these being that the computer is connected via Firewire and the Cambridge is connected via a cheap QED optical cable. Perhaps with a better cable (say a Nordost Silver Shadow coax) the dock would sound better. Having said that, I have read that the Weiss sounds best on it's Firewire input. To do a fair comparison I would need a computer with a good coax or optical out (but unfortunately I don't have one).

I see the dock as being a (very good) convenience product, but not the ideal digital source (I can't play hi def material through it for instance).

[Ernie]

Hmmm, the Weiss would show up those differences. I guess for 16/44 it gets pretty good, and well, that's pretty good for fast food. For everything else, the computer is on your plate...

[whale]

Monoblocks always look hot and this is no exception! *drool*

[too_tall]

From all accounts you will not be disappointed in those W4S monos.

[LHH]

Well, it's early days yet and by all accounts I've still got a lot of running in to do, but these amps are a real delight.

[TonyD]

By chance I was yesterday reading a Barry Willis column in the HFN-RR 2010 Yearbook mag titled 'New Adventures in Sound' ...; he commented '... at the extremely affordable end of the marketplace spectrum, Wyred4Sound amplifiers offer dynamics and bottom-end slam that simply shame traditional designs ... both BelCanto and Wyred should be applauded not merely for their energy-saving efforts but for continuing to work at the forefront of electro-acoustical science, making reproduced music more lifelike'.

[LHH]

Hi All,

I have posted some thoughts on the Wyred 4 Sound SX-1000 monoblock amplifiers here: http://www.audioenz.co.nz/forums/sho...319#post149319


And have put my Rega Mira 3 up for sale here: http://www.audioenz.co.nz/forums/sho...315#post149315

[LHH]

Hi All,

Well, I'm still loving my Wyred 4 Sound mono-blocks... but they've been replaced as the newest members of the team. That honour goes to my new SurgeX 1210RLi surge eliminator and power conditioner.

More info here: http://www.surgexinternational.com/p...sx1210RLi.html

The main deal here is the surge elimination, by all accounts some of the best in the world, but the filtration is nice too, and it doesn't limit current.

Do things sound better? Sure do. Better leading edges, more detail, more space, tighter bass, less midrange congestion, and a (small) improvement in soundstaging. Very pleased. Also, this thing is seriously solidly built, and backed by a 10 year international warranty.

Downsides? Yes, there is one: it hums, slightly. This is a mechanical hum - vibration in the unit itself - not the sort of hum that propagates through the system and comes out the speakers. It's annoying, but you can't hear it when the music is playing.

There are a lot of electrical storms here in Aus, and apparently the local power isn't too clean either, I'm very happy to have the SurgeX in the system.

(A Question for the Ed.: Why can we not add images inline that are on our local drives? And why is my image re-compressed when I upload it? It was within the requirements of the forum and looked a lot better before being squished. )

[Owen Young]

Hi LHH,
Testing, testing....
The image in line: I used the Manage Attachments file uploader below the text box in 'Go Advanced' mode.

Testing, testing...complete.

[LHH]

Thanks Owen. One query down, one to go.

[LHH]

Right, it's been a while, time for an update.

I'm now passively bi-amping with two sets of Wyred 4 Sound mono blocks. One pair of Sx-1000s (LF) and one pair of SX-500s (HF). It's massive overkill for the current speakers (though it sounds wonderful), but the long term goal is to build my own speakers and actively bi-amp. The addition of the second set of mono blocks is a step in that direction.

The Weiss DAC2 is gone and in it's place is the Wyred 4 Sound DAC2. The W4S DAC2 is a killer DAC for the money, and works better than the Weiss with the W4S amps.

The Cambridge Audio dock is gone. I had trouble getting it to consistently lock with both the Weiss and the W4S so I traded it for a Nordost Blue Heaven USB cable (which is better than the generic cable I had before, but not massively better - money would have been better spent elsewhere I suspect).

The Pro-Ject Headbox II is gone (it was rubbish), and it has been replaced with a Musical Fidelity M1 HPA, which is significantly better than the Pro-Ject (and any other MF headphone amp I have heard). More importantly, since I don't listen to headphones that much, it works exceptionally well as a simple preamp. It has great clarity and a lovely class A warmth. Sensational value for anyone (like me) who has a single source digital system and doesn't like digital volume controls. Its only downside is that it's a bit noisy, but it makes up for that by sounding otherwise fantastic.

Also new are some W4S power cables (good but not excellent), and a few interconnects (QED Reference Evolution - selected for their extensive shielding).

Finally, I have a SOtM DX-USB HD digital audio interface on its way to me. The W4S DAC already has an Async USB input, but the drivers limit it to being used with Windows and Mac. I'm a Linux person, so I'm looking forward to having a Linux only system again (which the SOtM will allow).

Here's a photo of the system as it stands right now (still on the hideous entertainment unit - yuck).