Wyred upgrade

[tmazz]

It's finally done and after he takes it home and listens over the weekend, will be shipped out.

I hope you have better luck with the shipping this time and are soon happily playing tunes again. (At least this time Memphis is in between the shipper and your house so the package will keep going in the right direction.  )

[shep]

Yeah I've gotten tired of the limitations of the little tripath amp. I cleaned out the male box in honor of the occasion.

[tmazz]

Yeah I've gotten tired of the limitations of the little tripath amp. I cleaned out the male box in honor of the occasion.

Hey Shep, welcome to the Kilopost club! 

[shep]

Kilopost club? What's the membership get me???    The amp is finished and about to be returned...NOT MEMPHIS PLEASE LORD!
I have to tip my hat big time to EJ who really went way over standard customer service for me on this. It took a long time and he virtually got only the price of a beer and a steak for doing this. Plus the man is working flat out. Fortunately for him I wouldn't be sending this back since there's nothing left to done that can be. Wyred is a stellar firm and frankly I don't think there's better service and attention to be found elsewhere at this level (excepting all the other little audio companys that also go out of there way for us nut cases)
Full disclosure on the results of this upgrade will take some time. I fear for my sanity if these Blackgates take as long to burn in as their notorious predacesors spelling!. I don't think these are from the same series anyway.

[bpape]

Good to hear you're having a great experience with Wyred.  Looking forward to your thoughts after gettin the unit back and burning it in a bit.

Bryan

[richidoo]

It gets you 5 bars!  You are now officially an Audio Neurotic!  Congratulations you poor bastard... 

I got John's Wyred DAC last week, it arrived by postal, double boxed and well packed. But no telling how they ship overseas.

Caps take time to burn in, but the first impression will be in the ball park. I think it's gonna be good. 

[shep]

I knew I was a poor bastard but I didn't think it would get me five bars. ain't I lucky. Hey I was an audio neurotic when most of you were in diapers!

[shep]

FINALLY! My amp is back from CA and up and running. This the first time I've had a total refit with Blackgates and I don't have a clue what to expect or even if I'm going to like them. It's what EJ came up with as being the best and both in the budget and fitting the circuit. Also all new Vishay S-foil resistors, about which I have heard absolutely nothing. SO taking a rather big risk. I hope this is not going to be a marathon run-in. I don't think those infamous Blackgates are made anymore anyway but I fully expect 100 hours minimum. Out of the box it's sounding raw in the midrange, which is not unexpected. I'll report back in time. Any one else have any experience with new Vishay's and/or Blackgates?

[Face]

Those Vishays are excellent, very transparent. 

Do you know which series Blackgate?

[shep]

No I don't. Sorry. I could ask but I would feel a bit stupid...I stupidly deleted his mail with the details.

[richidoo]

Vishay S-102 is considered one of the most transparent resistors available, they are very expensive.
http://www.vishaypg.com/docs/63001/63001.pdf

[shep]

He can't have used more than a few given the price! At the moment it all sounds a bit strained so obviously this is going to take a while.   I actually would have preferred Shinkoh but I let him chose. I doubt if I'm hearing the resistors though; more than likely it's the Blackgates that need a lot of forming.

[Face]

Yep, welcome to the world of Blackgate. 

[topround]

The w4s has a very SS sound to my ears, a sort of steely tone, maybe Tantalum or Carbon would have been a good choice for resistor,? give  it a nice color.  Tweaking is about balancing
But to be fair I never used the Vishays so I should not comment, I have heard people who have used them say thay are very transparent. If you need transparency than that is your ticket, but sometimes you need something different than the best or most expensive...just my 2 cents.

Also if you do not need too many resistors buy a few different kinds, they are pretty cheap,(except for the nude Vishays). I bought three different kinds of resistors for my cd player to see what I likebest in my system, if you are handy with a soldering iron, or have a friend who is handy with a soldering iron, then the audio world of tweaks is your oyster!!~!  enjoy!!



And yes the blackgates can be a bitch....give them a year is how I look at  those sort of things

BTW, I am a tube guy, so understand my biases.  I have heard some very bad sounding tube gear, and some very good sounding SS gear.

Mike

[shep]

It isn"t a Wyred amp or their design. It does use the ICE module, but it's the 2X75 watt version which is seldom used because everyone else uses the higher power ones. It started life one way and ended with a Vishay resistor stepped pot that i sourced from Australia, after which it got Wyred's buffer stage and now...
Now I have spent far too much money on it and the buck stops here. I have no bias regarding sand vers tubes. I've had both. It never sounded steely in any incarnation. In fact it hands--down beat a neighbor"s prima luna/ Audible Illusions set up on every count. As I said, I would have preferred a sweeter resistor (SHinkoh was my all time favorite) but I didn't have much choice and figured Vishay/Vishay was at least consistant, sound wise. Soldering it not my cup of tea and the amp is a pig to take apart and the circuitry very cramped so I will keep it closed! I will pretend i didn't hear the bit about a year of run-in  I will just run it into the ground with the Isotek disk until it cries uncle. Like I said, this was a risky proposition? I could have left well enough alone, but my nervosa is...what it is.