Wyred 4 Sound W4S DAC-2 DSD


Hi there,

I am running a music server off of a headless PC. (No monitor.)

It is running Daphile, a Linux-based single purpose music server based on Logitech Media Server.

My Wyred4Sound DAC-2 DSD is connected to one of the PC USB ports via USB cable. Other than the power cable, there is nothing else plugged into the PC. No other USB devices, cables, etc.

My question is how does the USB input of the DSD-2 DSD compare to the coax input?

I have heard that previous W4S DACs (non DSD) may have benefited from the Audiophilleo or other similar USB to S/PDIF devices. However, the USB on the DAC-2 is upgraded, has galvanic isolation, supports integer / direct modes, requires no drivers on Mac / Linux, etc.

Would I benefit from getting an Audiophilleo, connecting that to the USB of the PC, and connecting to the DAC via coax? Obviously, I would lose DSD capabilities this way.

Is the USB on the W4S DAC-2 DSD elevated to the point that a USB to S/PDIF convertor would not provide improved sound?

Thanks,

Mark
margolism
Hi Mark,
The review of the W4S DAC-2 DSDse in the latest TAS Spring 2015 Buyer's Guide issue by Steven Stone who states that the W4S usb implementation is so good that he can forgo having the EA Off-Ramp 5 usb-spdif converter in the chain.
Hope this helps.
Jon.
I had the SE version of the wyred DAC for sometime and used both the coax and the USB. I found the USB to be the better of the two. Superb results. Highly recommended.
I know the DSDse and DSD are different in many ways, but the USB input is exactly the same on both, correct?
Post removed 
But just wanted to confirm that the SE and non-SE models have the exact same USB implementation.