I have had the recent pleasure of demoing the Wywires for a the past couple of weeks. The demo box consisted of 1 pair of xlr interconnects, which I could not use in my current setup, 2 pairs of RCA interconnects, 1 pair of speaker cables and 3 power cables. One of the power cables was long (maybe 3 meters?) such that I could use it on my sub.
My system consists of a Mac Mini (with ss HD, 8G ram) feeding a dbaudio labs Tranquility Signature DAC, a Modwright LS100 preamp, feeding the direct (or amp) input of my Mastersound Compact 845 SET amp. Speakers are Daedalus Audio DA-RMa’s, augmented slightly by a REL Stata III sub. My room is roughly 18’x21’, with high (16’) cathedral ceiling. I listen a little of everything except classical, with a particular fondness for good female vocals, jazz, pop, blues, country, rock. Lots of Melody Gardot, Stacey Kent, Toni Braxton, Maysia, Allison Krause, etc. Some favorite demo tracks I use include: Eva Cassidy—Ain’t No Sunshine, Maysia-Ain’t No Sunshine, Mauve O’Boyle All My Sins (24/96), All That I Need is Love-Melody Gardot, Argyle Bridge-Steve Strauss, Believe-Brooks & Dunn, Constantly—Cross Canadian Ragweed, I Was Wrong-Keb Mo, Spanish Guitar-Toni Braxton, Brighton Beach-Allan Taylor…..
My current cables consist of (1) KCI Silkworm + from my dac to pre, Cardas Golden Presence from pre to amp, and custom speaker cables from gold, silver & copper content wire which were designed for SET amps and high efficiency speakers. I have a dedicated AC line to the music room, then a Robusto pwr cord from the wall to a PI Audio Uber Buss. Power cords that the Wywires cords replaced consisted of TG Audio SLVR and 688 (designed for tube gear), and a Harmonic Tech AC-11. I also have JP Labs digi pwr cables and a Black Sands cord, but these have been relegated to lesser used digital equipment. My Mac Mini and DAC are both fed by Dave Elledge’s great pwr cords that I have raved about before.
First I swapped in 1 Wywires IC from DAC to pre. To me this was the biggest change in my system throughout the entire demo period. The Wywires IC is a detail champ, presenting everything in Technicolor, vivid is the descriptor I kept coming back to. Vibrant fits well too. The presentation was definitely more forward than the Silkworms, yet still very smooth and musical. The Silkworm + is warmer, a bit sweeter, both are extremely musical. I could live with either one, and preferences between the two could easily be not only system dependent, but also change with different sources and with different music selections. I will admit to having a ‘sweet tooth’, I like my sound a bit on the warm , sweet side—you could guess that by my system choices. I sometime ago realized that whether my sound was completely accurate was not nearly as important to as whether I enjoyed listening to it! I won’t be giving up my Silkworm + cables, but as noted later, the match of the Silkworm + and a Wywire cable was very good. In a nutshell, the Wywires IC’s were my favorite cable of the demo cables Alex provided.
Next I replaced my Cardas Golden Presence from pre to amp with the 2nd set of Wywires IC’s. The changes I heard with this move were smaller, and frankly I couldn’t decide if I liked it better with or without both sets of IC’s being Wywires. After some hours of listening, I replaced the 2nd set of IC’s with the Silkworm + cables, so that I was now running Wywires from DAC to pre and Silkworm + from pre to amp. Synergy! This combo was outstanding for my tastes. All the detail you could ask for, but always very musical and smooth. Bass was tight and controlled, and the mids and high end to die for. This was the combo I used for the remainder of the tests described below.
I next hooked up the Wywires spkr cables. I ran these for 3-4 days, probably a minimum of 2 hrs each evening and then for an extended weekend listening session. Nice cables and certainly musical. For whatever reason, though, these didn’t excite me as much as the IC had. It seemed that the bass and lower mids were still there, but lacking something that my usual spkr cables bring to the picture. Here I should add that prior to putting the Wywire spkr cables in, my soundstage with the preferred IC combo listed above was outstanding—wide and deep, with great separation and imaging. The Wywire spkr cables seemed to shrink the stage a tiny (and I mean very tiny) bit width wise---still outstanding, but for whatever reason my system synergies did better with the IC’s than the speaker cables.
Next I tried the pwr cables—first on the sub, because that replaced a stock cable. The Wywires pwr cables are outstanding, and considering the price Alex has them at, a virtual steal. My sub really sang with the Wywire cable on it!
I next replaced the TG Audio cables used on my amp and pre (one at a time) with the Wywires pwr cables. IMHO, the TG Audio pwr cables replaced are very good in their own right—the Wywire pwr cables were just as good, if not better than my TG Audio cables—very musical, nice tight bass and very black backgrounds. Not nearly the wow factor that the Wywire IC had for me, but very nice and outstanding performers. For a bit I replaced my Robusto cord from wall to Uber Buss with a Wywire cable—the Robusto retails at over twice the price of the Wywire. While I prefer what the Robusto does for my sound (I believe the company admits these cables are deliberately voiced on the warm side), I can see where others might prefer the Wywires, and given the cost difference anyone auditioning pwr cords should definitely give Alex’s cables a try.
Late in the test period Alex sent me the new version of his pwr cord, which is now included in the demo box—this new cable was a leap forward still—I felt like I got some of the benefits/things I loved about the Wywires IC’s with just having this new Wywires PC on my preamp!! It is outstanding IMHO—detail seemed to shine thru, but still very musical and smooth.
I’ll stop rambling now and as those of you still with us can attest, I’m no professional reviewer! But again, great cables, to me the IC’s and pwr cords are simply outstanding. I will end by using the word again that I think best sums up the Wywires sound, especially the IC’s: VIVID!!
Well done Alex and thanks for the great opportunity.
Randy
