[wywires]

To add to Nick77's comment, the balanced cable you have is different from the one he has. Breakin will be a little longer, more like 100 hours. Have fun!

[Phil A]

To add to Nick77's comment, the balanced cable you have is different from the one he has. Breakin will be a little longer, more like 100 hours. Have fun!

I listened a drop yesterday.  I was watching the NBA finals and kept signal going through them.  I'll do some more tonight.  I didn't plan on doing really serious listening until over the weekend after I've had a bunch of hours on them.  I figured it would be better after some time on them.

[werd]

hello


Out of curiosity. What happens if you change out gear? I don't get this. Does this drop the performance of your cable if you insert it else where?

[Phil A]

Phil you will find these cables settle down quite a bit in 4-5 hrs but i didnt get great bass till they hit the reccomended 50 hrs burn-in. Give it some time and cant wait to hear your comments given your background. They have taken the windex to my system like nothing ever, i am getting such clarity and resolution its mind blowing. 

It should be interesting when I start to critically listen and compare.  The cables I make that my friend ended up using were like that compared to the $1,100 cable he bought and every piece of the national store bought brand he took out and replaced with mine were literally like cleaning another layer of grime.  It wouldn't surprise me if the Wywires cable might take it to yet another level.  From the limited listening it sounds really good.  Before I sit down and really start to listen carefully, I won't some hours on them.  Right now I have Eilen Jewell's "Sea of Tears" playing.  Great music and a very good recording too.  I caught her live at a small local club (a couple of mos. back) I got to that is really cool.  It is called the Iota Club (in Arlington), VA (google it).  It's been there about 16 years and I believe that four people currently in the Rock 'N Roll Hall of fame have played there.  It probably doesn't hold a couple of hundred people.  There's another great club in my area too - The Jammin' Java. 

So I am not just another neurotic audiophile.  I do listen to music too.  I can't tell you how many deliveries I did to people with so much money tied up in their systems and so little software and an obsession to compare the same stuff over and over for insignificant differences (not to mention in many cases not a dime in room treatments).  I remember delivering a pair of Thiel 2.3s (which I owned many moons ago) to a house in Maryland with 2 complete glass walls, another wall largely consisting of a stone fireplace and hardwood floors.  The components were on a coffee table stuck semi-sideways in a corner of solid wall between the two glass walls.  It sounded really awful.  I was in another house where the guy had bought a pair of slightly used $85k list Dynaudios (I think the model was the Evidence) and the room was way too small (perhaps 9x16) with metal Boltz racks with LPs and a metal expensive audio rack (and you could really hear them ring).  We took out a pair of $12k B&W retro looking speakers that sounded worlds better in that room.

[wywires]

Werd,

Are you referring to the idea of cables designed for source components versus preamp to amp interface? Or are you asking if one upgrades or replaces a CD player or DAC, the cable needs to be broken in all over? I would like to think that cables retain at least 90% of their fully burned in character upon a component change.

[werd]

Werd,

Are you referring to the idea of cables designed for source components versus preamp to amp interface? Or are you asking if one upgrades or replaces a CD player or DAC, the cable needs to be broken in all over? I would like to think that cables retain at least 90% of their fully burned in character upon a component change.

Hello

I was referring to component change. Like a new dac or a new preamp.

[wywires]

werd, the answer is not much but this is true with any cable, i.e., cables need to resettle in their new environment. So with the new setup, things will for sure sound different and the imponderable is how much of the change is due to the new component versus cable-component synergy.

[wywires]

Werd, one more thought. I just got my new preamp (EAR 868) on Sunday. The sound still has all the basic characteristics of my cable but some things have changed, mostly due to the EAR vs the AA Modulus 3B.

[werd]

Werd, one more thought. I just got my new preamp (EAR 868) on Sunday. The sound still has all the basic characteristics of my cable but some things have changed, mostly due to the EAR vs the AA Modulus 3B.

Hello

So are you suggesting that your pre amp excites the cables and imprints a sonic/electrical characteristic after continuous use in the cable lead? I am not trying knock the cables, it just sounds like what you are trying to imply.

[wywires]

Hello,

No that is not what I am saying at all. What I am saying is that WyWires behave exactly like other cables in that they require break in and they need to settle in to a new set of components even after break in. This secondary settling in accounts for at most 10% change in cable character. Not sure why this is.

[werd]

Hello,

No that is not what I am saying at all. What I am saying is that WyWires behave exactly like other cables in that they require break in and they need to settle in to a new set of components even after break in. This secondary settling in accounts for at most 10% change in cable character. Not sure why this is.

Ok, i get it. You configure the cable to its components at which point there will be a settling in. But if you change the components out. This cable will no longer be optimized, since they don't fit the original component configurement?

[wywires]

No, not exactly. Line level source components behave differently than active preamps. I design my cables to account for those differences. That's why I have different cables for different applications. If you change one DAC for another DAC using the exact same cable the character of the cable will not change significantly. What will change is the sound in your system primarily due to the new component. After a while the cable will change slightly to account for the differences in the signal output of the new component. This change will be minimal however and it may not even be audible. Cables, components, etc. represent a synergy that is personal to the listener. Is that not the fun part of this hobby?

[Gopher]

Finally got around to doing some experimenting with the Wywire line level (hot sauce) in a different position.  I'm listening to my analog front end with a second wywire in place between my phono preamp (Nighthawk) and preamp (Eastern Electric) and it is definitely a step forward, though not as big a step as putting the first one in place between the turntable and phono (Wywire Phono Lo Honey).

From what I'm hearing so far the sound might be slightly more resolved, but the general character is the same.  What I'm definitely getting is an even more textured sound from the midrange down.  Voices are sounding a bit more palpable and bass has real definition to it.  The presentation is also coming off as even more effortless.     

I will post more thoughts as I log more hours but for right now, the Wywire continues to impress.

Edit:  I'm actually going to upgrade my enthusiasm on second wywire on phono experience.  I swapped back to my MAC cable between my Nighthawk and EE Pre and I lost more presence/atmosphere than I realized I'd gained.  While the presentation was still relaxed it lost its effortless quality.  The low end lost a bit of texture and impact and my placement of sounds within the stage took a step back--overall its a definite downgrade in musicality. 

Funny how it works evaluating things.  Sometimes the improvements are presented more leaving than coming. 

[Gopher]

Phil,

Have you had a chance to form some thoughts on those Wywires yet?  I'm curious as to what someone with your background thinks.

I just got word from Alex that I have a pair of his preamp to amplifier RCAs coming so I'll be updating this thread with my thoughts on them.  The fun continues! 

Alex also mentioned the possibility of a cable tour on the horizon, which I think would be great.  I'll be curious to see if the masses are as blown away as the beta testers have been thus far.

[eclein]

The mailman just dropped off some new speaker cables to me from Alex..will post after suggested settling in period.

[Phil A]

Phil,

Have you had a chance to form some thoughts on those Wywires yet?  I'm curious as to what someone with your background thinks.

I just got word from Alex that I have a pair of his preamp to amplifier RCAs coming so I'll be updating this thread with my thoughts on them.  The fun continues! 

Alex also mentioned the possibility of a cable tour on the horizon, which I think would be great.  I'll be curious to see if the masses are as blown away as the beta testers have been thus far.

I hope to get in some serious listening perhaps tomorrow (trying to do stuff around the house today).  I was going to get it it last weekend but unfortunately a friend of mine died unexpectedly and I have not had the time I want.  I have played some stuff and it's probably broken in enough.  I really want to compare it vs. my balanced cables.  As I've noted mine were considerably better than some fairly pricey stuff and from what I've hard it would not surprise me it the WyWires were better.

[Nick77]

I just recieved a second set of beta cables from Alex. These are pre-out set of interconnects that go from the preamp to the amplifier. Alex asked me for the voltage of the preamp before building this set for me. Right off the bat i have another level of refinement, i will let them burn-in the 50 hrs reccomended and report back. Another big thanks to Alex for the demo! 

[arthurs]

I have the pre to amp beta's also and the "Honey" flavor from cdp to pre...I'll write some more in a few days, but these are the real deal...nicely done Alex.

[Napalm]

The changes over time of an electric component's characteristics is called *degradation*. It goes on until the component ultimately fails.

Nap.

[Phil A]

Well, I finally got around to do some listening tonight.  I forgot how much hard work it is comparing cables (I have not done it in I’d guess about a 7-8 years, after I spent about 3 years going through lots of things in my quest for an analog interconnect).  I guess was younger too 7-8 years ago☺  All things I played via the main system and played through the following components:

Oppo BDP-83 Modded by Modwright as a transport
Bryston BDA-1 DAC set to upsample
Bryston SP1.7 as a preamp
Bryston 14BSST amplifier
Thiel 3.7s
2 Rel Storm III subs (crossed over at 22 Hz)
Torus RM-20 Power Conditioner

I had the Wywires balanced interconnect between the amp and preamp and the rest of the cables were mine.  I swapped back and forth with my balanced interconnects


The music auditioned:
I started off with a couple of cuts from Rosanne Cash;s “10 Song Demo,” “The Price of Temptation” and “Bells and Roses.”  I’ve probably made a couple of dozen cable designs listening to these cuts.  I like the vocals and the tonality of the piano and the way the bass cuts in on the first cut.  For the second, I like listening to the way you can hear the fingers moving on the guitar frets doing the middle of the song.  I’ve auditioned CD players and have found sometimes it sounds nice and smooth initially and then I quickly realize it is cutting out some of the music too.  I originally had the Bryston BCD-1 player and when I auditioned that, the owner of the store hid  the BCD-1 player from view along with a slightly more expensive player and would play “Bells and Roses” (cut no. 5) and put a CD in the other player on cut no. 5 as well so I could not visually tell what was player.  I realized the other player while smooth sounding was actually cutting out the music too.

Next up was “I’m an Errand Girl for Rhythm” from Diana Krall’s “All for You.”  I then tried a DVD-A (the Oppo passes the full bandwidth over the coax digital out).  It was the title cut from Mark Knopfler’s “Sailing to Philadelphia” (a duet with James Taylor).  The audio is 24/88.2 so the Bryston DAC was upsampling to 176.4.  Next up was song from Jamie Cullum’s”The Pursuit” album, “Just One of Those Things.”  After that it was a cut from the John Cocuzzi Quintet’s album “Swingin’ and Burnin’,” “Benny’s Bugle.”  The album is on Wildchild! Records (Mapleshade) and is an excellent recording with vintage instruments.  I finished up with the first cut (“Annie”) from Jonatha Brooke’s “Live: album.

I had to swap cables back and forth a couple of times I just about every cut.  The imaging I was getting from both cables was pretty close to identical.  After many plays my observations are that the Wywires cables were a bit more refined and sweeter.  The Wywires cables seemed to make things a little less PCM like.  It made things seem a bit less edgy.  The timbre of the instruments seemed a little more realistic.  I had to go back and forth as sometimes upon initial listening I was not quite sure which one I like better.  I would say that the slight very slight lack or refinement in my cables sometimes would be like an initial wow factor.  After going back and forth I was able to discern that the Wywires was more smoother and bit coherent in its presentation of the musical timbres.

Definitely excellent cables.  When my friend was working at the high end shop and I had access to listen to things on many systems after store hours vs. many different cables, I can honestly say that what I have made in balanced cables sounds better than everything I had the opportunity to compare them to and those things were sometimes multiples of what the Wywires cost.  The fact that I think the Wywires even goes a step further is quite an accomplishment.

I’ve seen some comments in this thread about the cost of Wywires (I did not look at the prices when Alex offered to send me a cable.  I opted for the balanced interconnect vs. speaker cable only for the fact I thought it would be easier to swap and compare vs. taking off my speaker cables – I have banana plugs on one end as the Rels get hooked to the amp too via spade lugs and I have spade lugs a the speakers).  I think that sometimes people unfairly bash the cost of interconnects under the assumption that it is just wire.  I had to go through many spools of wire to get where I got and my cables do take time to assemble.  I used to be able to buy 100 foot spools of what I use (for RCAs or balanced) and when I looked a few months ago only 1000 foot spools were available on special order at a cost of around $3.2k with shipping.  To get to the point I had to buy many thousands of dollars of other raw cables and invest many hours of assembling and listening to various prototypes.  Good connectors are not cheap and as noted it takes time to assemble them as well.  I did contemplate at one point going the route of selling them and decided it was a lot of work and expense to properly do that and take me years to recoup.  I’d say before you start bashing that kind of work and effort you take a look at something like the last few Lexicon universal players (and I’m not picking on the brand).  The current one has been found to be an Oppo BDP-83 with a custom case for many times the money.  The same can be said of many other companies.  The McIntosh MLD-7020 LD player was in fact a Pioneer CLD-97 with and AC-3 output (to output to a demodulator for Dolby Digital sound) and a different faceplate for a lot more money.

I do understand that there are other audio priorities.  I’d personally certainly opt for a new and better sounding pre/pro vs. cables but once I get to that point I don’t see why I wouldn’t consider upgrades for cables.  These are not entry level audiophile cables.  As with anything in audio, the further you move up the chain the more diminishing the returns generally are.  One should not expect if you buy a pair of cable that are ten times what yours currently cost that you will obtain something ten times better in terms of sound quality.