I'm demoing it. You get a lot of the $ |
If that last one posts, I meant you get a lot FOR the $. Very well built, nice passive |
Conclusion is that this pre is worth a lot more then selling price. |
LOL Tholt
I have their ST500 amp and I am very impressed by it. The preamp got an excellent review and a blue moon award from Sixmoons. Not that I usually put too much faith in reviews, but Srajan seems to feel it is in the same performance range as the $10,000 Esoteric pre
http://sixmoons.com/audioreviews/wyred2/preamp.html |
Don't know if he meant it was the same performance range, more that the technologies were similar (passive/active). He also mentioned the McCormack VRE. Still, for about 1/5 the price, the performance is significantly different, and loads more transparent, then any active pre I've heard, including a Shindo Aurieges. This is a groundbreaking unit IMO. |
I purchased the SE version of this wonderful preamp based on circuit description and photos only. I am glad I did. The controls work as described, almost totally silent mechanically and dead quiet sonically. Balance control on remote allows one to tweak the presentation and compensate for room acoustic loading and variation in recording balance. Perfect focus. Transparent yes, detailed yes, bass speed and slam yes, stage size extreme.. yet varies from recording to recording, still breaking in yes. Extreme value yes. Tom |
Dead quiet for sure. First time I've ever experienced NOTHING coming out of the speakers. The thing is overbuilt and bullet proof. Moreover the parts and thought behind it is much more then what the selling price is. I've owned 5 active preamps and demo'd more. I've also compared it to a passive Promitheus TVC Ref 4. It's better then all of them. Throw in remote control, 5 inputs (two fully balanced), 4 outputs (two fully balanced) and HT bypass...did someone say value? Without the direct to consumer angle this would be a $4000 preamp. |
I have taken note of my normal numeric listening setting as indicated on the front panel of this preamp...between 32 and 47. With 2 resistors at each setting and others on the output board I would only need to swap the supplied Dales which are very good for 32 Z foil Vishays at $10 each for what I believe would be a major upgrade in transparency and air flow. This would be for the single ended in/outs only the balanced side user would require many more. Tom |
Two owners reporting, this is a start. Can either of you contribute any additional comments, comparing and contrasting, defining your other components what you have run before, likes and dislikes of other preamps and target listening types. There is very little info. on this interesting preamp and the 6Moons review is basically useless other than as a regurgitation of the website addressing build and concept - but little to no actual reviewing of the performance of the piece.
Fortunately or not, I think that others may be interested in this preamp, but due to lack of credible and detailed additional information on performance, few are making the leap.
Additional comments from other owners/auditioners and you two would be greatly appreciated. |
I'm still breaking mine in, will report soon. |
I had a chance to hear the SE version in my system against a Plinius M8 and Parasound JC 2, as well as a non-SE version in a different system compared to a Modwright 2 box, Audio Valve Eclipse, and Esoteric C-03.
In both scenarios, the STP preamp did a great job and in no way was outclassed by the other preamps (even though the other preamps cost between $4-10k each).
As others have noted, the STP's strengths include a very dark and quiet background, very good dynamics, deep bass, good transparency, and a nice set of inputs/outputs.
That being said, in my system, I found the STP not to be as engaging as the JC 2 or Plinius M8. It simply didn't pull me into the music in the same manner that the other two preamps did. It also didn't extract any more information from the music than the other two preamps.
Great value, but not quite the dragon slayer in my system.
George |
Zybar, your feedback on this is greatly appreciated, this is exactly what I have been seeking.
Madfloyd, I am very much looking forward to your feedback and results with this preamp. |
The Wyred is a very good SS preamp My buddy has one and we compared it to my Joule Electra 150, the Wyred is a touch more quiet
and the bass is a slightly quicker with a drier bass.
The Joule being tube throws a more realistic soundstage-a little deeper as well as a more full bass, inner detail is close , the Joule is more than 2x the price overall it is a little better overall ,for $2k the only competition which is just over $2k with discounts would be the New Lector Zoe- Vacuum tube pre if I had less than $3k and wanted tubes that is the ticket for a SS preamp you don't ever have to change tubes the Wyred for sound is a great choice ,
whatever floats your boat SS or Vacuum tubes . |
5 channel surround sound effect with only 2 speakers and 2 wave launched subs. Underwater, totally immersed. Floor to ceiling stage that extends wall to wall. Bass that now excites the room in ways that I never heard before. Center channel stabilty that can be tweaked side to side with remote balance. Ability to unravel phase information that sometimes startles me..making me look over my shoulder as if some unknown intruder has entered the room. Still growing still improving. Only change I have made yet has been to swap the supplied fuse for a neodymium magnet. Tom |
Today, I was delivered my order of Vishay Z foil resistors. 2 of these resistors are intended to replace the 100 ohm Dales that are always in the signal path regardless of the resistor setting selected with the volume control. I have in the past replaced other quality resistors with Vishay nude resistors as well as with the new Z foils..Always heard an improvement in transparency! Hope to have the new Z foils installed by next mid week and will post what I hear as the result. Tom |
This is a little late, but here it is.
I found the preamp to be incredibly quiet and a good very good performer over all. I really liked how any input could be designated as a home theater bypass, that I could name the inputs etc.
I ended up not keeping mine because in my system it sounded a little too lean in the midrange, and a little too dry for my taste. |
Floyd,
In my system the Wyred preamp offers as much flesh as my previous Melos or Belles preamps yet with better definition lower noise floor and greater flexiblity. I think neither the Melos or Belles are your traditional thick in the middle tube preamp, they are both very simple in design and layout. System dependent and user preference of color rendition as always.
Tom |
I have had my STP SE running for a while now, and it is so nice to have the HT bypass feature. What some may note as dry or harsh sound I believe is the amazing transparency of this unit. I drive a Wyred 250 watt amp with it, and the first thing I noticed was the incredible bass extension, even over and above the amps' native ability. Midrange and highs sound more tubelike to me in my system than before, and I didn't want the hassle (for me) of tubes. Whatever you put in will come out magnified. Bad recordings sound worse, good sound better. I only use CD's, not vinyl, but I can hear differences between my Arcam DV139 and my modded Oppo BD83. This is an astounding preamp for the money, compact, quiet, and it runs cool. Of course, there is always room for improvement, and they are considering a reference model soon. Listen to one for yourself and decide. I personally am very pleased. The soundstage is huge, ouside the walls of my room on some recordings, and that surround effect mentioned earlier is real. I too was looking behind me. I could honestly use this a a 3 channel HT rig and be happy. |
I'm glad I am not going crazy. The ability of this pre to immerse you in a sort of surround sound effect is amazing. If you want to hear how well this thing uncovers phase information just grab Michael Jackson's Dangerous CD and play track one, its freaking amazing.
Soundstage is limited only by your source equipment. I have used a DECWARE ZCD, Monarchy DAC, Havana DAC and Stello DA220 DAC all as sources and I was easily able to hear differences in soundstage depth, width and height.
It sounds exactly like what you feed it which imo is exactly what you want from a pre.
In terms of sound quality, I wholeheartedly agree with chipperman's assessment. I absolutely love this thing. |
Chipperman, you mentioned in your post that bad recordings sound worse. Why would that be a good thing? I mean, none of us have just high quality recordings only. What about the not so good recordings? What I look for in components is the ability to breath some life into them. I have ran into some components and systems that make dull, compressed and lifeless recordings improve and become enjoyable. So, does this preamp really magnify bad recordings and make it worse? |
I think his point was that in the context of a preamp (or any other component) transparency usually is a good thing. Bad stereo equipment homogenizes sound and makes different recordings sound similar.
If a recording is bad, the better audio equipment will let you know that. If it doesn't then by default it also means that good recordings sound less good then they would through a more transparent piece of equipment. |
Audioman58,
Regarding your comparison between Wyred STP vs Joule-Electra 150 - I am trying to decide between these two - could you elaborate a bit more on the differences?
For example:
1) how does the Wyred STP sound over extended listening sessions - does it ever get fatiguing?
2) are they both equally warm and musical?
The Wyred has a lot of conveniences, but I want to make sure its enjoyable music-wise.
Also, out of curiousity have you ever had a chance to compare these to some of the zero-feedback preamps such as Ayre or Simaudio? |
Hello The Joule electra is more romantic and on the warm side the Wyred is more snap and detail but the layering of instruments is not as pronounced with the wyred for sound .
but has a quicker more defined presentation
It all comes down to what type of ampliifer you have ,and speakers ,and cables I used to build systems and I take all factors into this,also you did not mention your budget.
Yu can email me the details if you would like. |
