Scott Nixon USBTD vs Wavelength Brick

Morris, Steve knows his stuff...He has alot of experience with Wavelength. Lucky duck has the Crimson!

Guys, I was in the same exact boat as you both, not wanting to spend a mint on this stuff and just simply not knowing how the pricier stuff would sound. I have to say I am glad I went with Wavelength for more than just the sound. Gordon is awesome, his products are simply incredible. It's up to you what you do, and whatever that is it won't be a 'bad' decision. But I can tell you with the utmost of confidence that you will not be disappointed with ANY of Gordon's products set up to proper spec. They are ground-breaking and sound perfect.

They are in two completely different classes of quality and sophistication IMO.

I have a friend who has the Nixon, and I have a Brick (soon to be Cosecant), and I liked the Brick better, much better. But there are alot of variables with systems etc...I can say the Brick is sexier looking..Very nice design, and build quality is awesome.

Good point you make Morris....I don't know I can give the level of detail you want on the sounds, since I didn't own both pieces to A/B them, just Wavelength stuff. But to me I just didn't hear the same amount of detail in the SN. But like you said, that is also very much system contingent.

I did however look at both of the products before purchasing, among others. In the end, I was able to get a few things out of the buying experience with Wavelength that I couldn't with SN. For one, I was able to audition the Brick, which is a wonderful option to have when spending this kind of money on equipment. The build quality on the Brick is better, no contest there. It is a custom desgined product, from the ground up-even the power supply is made from scratch, and the USB controller is custom as well. I am not sure of the internals on the SN, although I think he uses Black Gates. As nauseating as capacitors and circuitry is for some, this is where you would want to start to make an accurate comparison. Most importantly, find out what the USB controller is, who designed it, and if there are any commodity based DAC chips used in the design. There are alot of pieces out there, even at the high end (Bel Canto, Musical Fidelity etc) using a commodity DAC chip from TI (AKA burr brown). These obviously can be made to sound nice I am sure, since layout of the board and power supply is a factor. They just never sounded right to me.

In the end, Gordon's resume, the time he spent personally, and his dealer choices were all very impressive, and the reason I had not problem spending a little more. The once I listened to it (properly set up) I was shocked at how good his entry level DAC sounded.

It does however make sense to push to try and audition ANYTHING you plan to purchase. A good dealer, or manufacturer will recognize this, and if they dont' move on. If you haven't purchased anything yet, start with the cheapest option and work your way up until your satisfied. If you have the SN, then see if you can listen to a Wavelength product, you won't be sorry.

Morris...SACD and DVD-A will die out soon trust me...They have gone virtually nowhere since there introduction...Too few titles etc. Gordon configures his pieces according to the Red Book CD standard. Upsampling sounds silly to me on most systems anyway.

As far as the Crimson goes, I hear it is beyond compare. Only you can make the decision as to how much "better" something sounds. Thats almost impossible to quantify.

I will let you know how it compares...What is the rest of your system like? If you like upsampling, which can sound good, then you should look into something that can play those. I personally think those formats are a waste of time. Not to mention the proper presentation of any music performance is not in surround sound like DVD-A. Most music I have listened to comes from the front, maybe not out of two channels but from the front, and if you have a system dynamic enough to image you will hear what you should.

You might consider the Brick, sounds like a better value for you and it sounds wonderful.

I only went with the Cosecant after owning the Brick, and I didn't do it for sonic reasons, because the Brick sounds great. I did it for systems matching, and quite honestly at this point I should probably consider the Crimson myself since I am investing considerably, and upgrading my system with a Class A Krell amplifier.

Do what makes you happy, but I would suggest working in logical steps and starting with the Brick and then go from there...Mine will be up for sale soon with a dealer and it is perfect, and low hours.