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W and M Interconnects

Rarely do I feel compelled to say anything about products but purchasing these prompted me to let you guys know about W&M based in the U.K. First let me start by saying that you should not feel indifferent to my remarks here because I have no previous feedback. I have no feedback because I used to be a dealer and until recently I never really had a reason to purchase anything outside of the business. I have been a member for several years, logging on whenever I had free time. Now that I am in the market for some things there of course is no place to find better replacement equipment than Audiogon in my opinion. Having said this I must say that these are very fine interconnects. The quality and workmanship is some of the finest I have seen on any cable costing less than $1000 and better than many costing much more. I have not had the chance to hook them up yet but I can't wait to do so. For now, all I can hope for is that they sound as beautiful as they look... I have no worries that this will be the case either! The guys over at W&M know their stuff, always respond to emails in a timely manner (you will be greeted by a lot of “hi mates”, “cheers” and such with a lovely British demeanor that adds a sense of class and enthusiasm to the communications process) and are dedicated to quality and workmanship. Give em a try; I think you will be pleased. I can't wait to hear how they sound but I am currently faced with the dilemma of trying to decide if I should actually hook them up or just display them for all to see :-) If you are one of those people that leaves work early on the day your new cables are to arrive because you can’t stand the suspense any longer; you won’t be disappointed that you upset your boss when you open the extremely well packaged product.
Cheers

P.S. I am going to try and post this as a review under the cables section as well.
bryandaws
herman
2,242 posts
 
I don't search the forums. I only look at the "new today" section where every post comes up.

Of course I've bought things without having heard them, Perhaps my analogies were not perfect but I've never recommended that others buy something unless I've heard it or drove it or worn it or whatever..

Once again, you miss the essential component of my position: a review of an audio component that only tells you how it looks is worthless.
bryandaws OP
7 posts
 
Tubby,
I would have to disagree with the suggestions made by Herman on the USB DAC for your computer. Doing so is no better than recommending you continue to use your current source and upgrade the DAC. Your system is still only going to be as good as your source. Even the worst Wal-Mart Special is better than most computer drives due to interference from other components and feedback from power supplies, fans, computer monitors and the like. If you are using a laptop, completely forget the idea. Most CD-Rom and DVD-Rom drives under most of the major names that make it into a large majority of computers are made by a single company based in China. I would much rather see you purchase a decent source component with its own internal DAC's than follow this suggestion. This is no different than the recommendation you would receive from me on the discussion of using your computer as a music server versus an external one passing through it’s own or external DAC's. You are still limited by the computers hardware at some point in the chain and suffice it to say, even the best computer audio components were never actually designed for or derived from actual audio components.
bryandaws OP
7 posts
 
I suppose Herman; that you can actually make these recommendations to Tubby because you have actually heard these products and that they are not just based on something you have read or a visual interpretation. Otherwise, how can you be comfortable recommending them?
herman
2,242 posts
 
Tubby, most if not all of Bryan's points against USB DACs are completely unfounded. Even though they are not without pitfalls and take some careful research and effort to properly implement, hard drive based server systems are the wave of the future and offer ouststanding performance at a modest price. You seem like a reasonable, rational person rather than one who is on the defensive and just looking for something to attack. Take a look at the links, do some googling, and make your own decisions. I own and use a USB DAC and I am pleased with the results, otherwise I would not have recommended it.

seandtaylor99
1,262 posts
 
"Even the worst Wal-Mart Special is better than most computer drives due to interference from other components and feedback from power supplies, fans, computer monitors and the like."

What complete nonsense. A computer is capable of reading hundreds of megabytes of data from a CD-ROM with not a single bit error, yet it cannot read a music CD ?

Also, since USB is a packetized protocol, a USB DAC must perform buffering and reclocking of the data before presenting it to the DAC, and so if the USB DAC master clock is of sufficient quality jitter is almost entirely removed.

Technically a USB DAC is capable of exactly the same performance as any one or two-box CD player.
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