[obzilla]

I can't wait. I got it used with low mileage. 
Previous owner says it has less than 100 hours on it, and used mainly in HT Bypass mode.. so, kind of hard to gauge what's left in terms of burn in.
But I went home at lunch, set it up, listened for an hour instead of actually eating.
 
I've left it to run and will probably be up late tonight with it. Even if we set the clock at 0 hours, I'll be through the burn in period in no time.
I can't wait.
 

 

[mikemalter]

Quote:

Anybody hear a significant difference between variable level 60 vs variable level 70?
Maybe WA, since you've probably spent the most amount of critical listening with the DAC-2.
To my ears, the Lyr benefits from having the full gain of the DAC-2 into the Lyr's unbalanced inputs.  I'm not hearing any distortion at level 70 though it has been claimed that 60 is the cleanest signal. 
I'm really interesting in one day getting use of those balanced outputs of the DAC-2.

I hear a difference in mine with balanced outputs.
 
I have my min volume set at 0 and my max volume set at 70 and have my output volume set to 60.  I came to this conclusion on my own after playing around with various settings.  Then one day when speaking with Clint, he told me that they bench tested the DAC and that was the cleanest signal.

 
 

 

[mikemalter]

Quote:

I can't wait. I got it used with low mileage. 
Previous owner says it has less than 100 hours on it, and used mainly in HT Bypass mode.. so, kind of hard to gauge what's left in terms of burn in.
But I went home at lunch, set it up, listened for an hour instead of actually eating.
 
I've left it to run and will probably be up late tonight with it. Even if we set the clock at 0 hours, I'll be through the burn in period in no time.
I can't wait.
 

This DAC took the longest to burn in out of any DAC I have owned.  You need at least 250 hours on it.
 

 

[obzilla]

Quote:

This DAC took the longest to burn in out of any DAC I have owned.  You need at least 250 hours on it.
 

That's fine by me. I like to observe the change. I'll have some long nights with some tall cans of Ontario's finest ahead of me... and noooo problem with that!

 

[mikemalter]

Quote:

Quote:

This DAC took the longest to burn in out of any DAC I have owned.  You need at least 250 hours on it.
 

That's fine by me. I like to observe the change. I'll have some long nights with some tall cans of Ontario's finest ahead of me... and noooo problem with that!

If you are around 100 hours, the most changes occurr between 100 and 200 hours.  The DAC will start sounding good and then will suck, it will go all over the map to a loss of bass and will then get shrill on top and move all over the map.  Then after 200 it will start to smooth out and at 250 hours will be liveable again.
 
Keep me in the loop, I love to hear burn in impressions.
 
 

 

[WNBC]

That's interesting.  I haven't kept track of the total # of hours so I can't say if I'm at 200 or 400 hours.  But definitely, there were days I didn't feel too impressed but then days I was really impressed.  Nowadays there are more impressive days than anything else.  So, that could also be the dilemma of headphones, one day you love them, the next day you want speakers.  In any case, the DAC-2 is text book example of burn-in.      

 
Quote:

If you are around 100 hours, the most changes occurr between 100 and 200 hours.  The DAC will start sounding good and then will suck, it will go all over the map to a loss of bass and will then get shrill on top and move all over the map.  Then after 200 it will start to smooth out and at 250 hours will be liveable again.
 
Keep me in the loop, I love to hear burn in impressions.

 
 

 

[Icenine2]

Output volume?  Where is that?  In variable USB?  Or is there a volume I've been missing this whole time?
 
Quote:

I hear a difference in mine with balanced outputs.
 
I have my min volume set at 0 and my max volume set at 70 and have my output volume set to 60.  I came to this conclusion on my own after playing around with various settings.  Then one day when speaking with Clint, he told me that they bench tested the DAC and that was the cleanest signal.

 
 

 

 

[obzilla]

 
Quote:

If you are around 100 hours, the most changes occurr between 100 and 200 hours.  The DAC will start sounding good and then will suck, it will go all over the map to a loss of bass and will then get shrill on top and move all over the map.  Then after 200 it will start to smooth out and at 250 hours will be liveable again.
 
Keep me in the loop, I love to hear burn in impressions.
 
 

Okay, so it has been sitting on since I received it. A good 36 hour dent made in what will be an imprecise burn in time measure.
 
Detail rendition seems to be building big time tonight. Not only are more details "that I had never heard before" building in audibility, they are being positioned correctly in audible space, or, in the sound stage.
 
Previously homogenized sound layers are becoming better separated and identifiable. Floating on top of each other, but with distinct distance between them. 
 
I haven't had any bad moments, a 7 hour listening marathon last night with a few beers, and tonight more casual and sober listening is bringing to light what she wants to do. Certainly knocks down my Marantz SA8004.
 
Will report back in another 48 hours or so...

 

[mikemalter]

Quote:

 
Quote:

If you are around 100 hours, the most changes occurr between 100 and 200 hours.  The DAC will start sounding good and then will suck, it will go all over the map to a loss of bass and will then get shrill on top and move all over the map.  Then after 200 it will start to smooth out and at 250 hours will be liveable again.
 
Keep me in the loop, I love to hear burn in impressions.
 
 

Okay, so it has been sitting on since I received it. A good 36 hour dent made in what will be an imprecise burn in time measure.
 
Detail rendition seems to be building big time tonight. Not only are more details "that I had never heard before" building in audibility, they are being positioned correctly in audible space, or, in the sound stage.
 
Previously homogenized sound layers are becoming better separated and identifiable. Floating on top of each other, but with distinct distance between them. 
 
I haven't had any bad moments, a 7 hour listening marathon last night with a few beers, and tonight more casual and sober listening is bringing to light what she wants to do. Certainly knocks down my Marantz SA8004.
 
Will report back in another 48 hours or so...

Nice report, thanks.  You are experiencing just what I did.
 
 

 

[jazzfan]

Greetings!
 
My shiny new W4S DAC-2 has been hooked to my Squeezebox Touch (via S/PDIF coax) and burning in for the past 50+ hours.  I wanted to take the USB connection for a spin to play FLAC from my PC, so I installed the W4S supplied Windows 7 driver, and re-booted the system.  Once Windows came up, the driver was installed. I selected W4S 24/192 USB Interface as my default playback device, started my MediaMonkey player, waited a second for the song to begin, and then... nothing, nada, zilch, except for the sound of silence.  PC's can be "really" frustrating.
 
To make a long story short, if you use MediaMonkey (v3.n and older) as your player and want to connect your PC to the W4S DAC-2 via USB, see the following workaround below.  I was hoping to post this on the Head Gear Wyred4Sound DAC-2 product page.  Unfortunately, the wiki Edit function doesn't seem to be working at the moment, so I'm posting this here for the time being. 
 
BTW... I'm not an expert on this topic.  I'm just sharing what I discovered when I searched for a solution to the problem.
 
 
Using MediaMonkey with the Wyred 4 Sound DAC-2
 
The Wyred 4 Sound Owner's manual provides general instructions for USB configuration.  To support the USB connection, your media player must be configured for kernel or WASAPI support.  Audio will not playback properly, that is no sound will be produced the via USB connection, when using MediaMonkey without WASAPI support.  This mini guide provides additional instructions for configuring MediaMonkey for WASAPI support.
 
Note: For additional background on Windows 7 audio refer to this article.  Although the article was written for configuring the J River Media Center product, the Windows 7 audio background information still applies.
 
 
MediaMonkey WASAPI Support
 
MediaMonkey v3.n, and older, does not include WASAPI support required for USB connections.  This limitation can be avoided by installing the latest v4  "alpha" build which includes native WASAPI support.  See the MediaMonkey Test Build Page for a link to the latest alpha build.  Download and install the latest v4 build.
 
 
MediaMonkey Configurations Settings
 
After the v4 build has been installed, configure the WASAPI settings in MediaMonkey.  The following screen shots and configuration settings are for alpha build v4.0.0.1459.  In MediaMonkey, select Tools, Options, Player Output Plug-Ins, then click the MediaMonkey WASAPI output radio button.  Next, click the Configure button.
 
 

 
 
The MediaMonkey WASAPI Output plug-in window will appear.  Three typical base settings are Default device, Exclusive mode, and Automatic choice of format (per track).  Values for other settings are based on personnel preferences. Click OK to exit the dialog.
 
 

 
 
Remember this is an "alpha" release, so some inconveniences may be encountered.  But having said that, once these settings have been configured, you should be good to go for audio playback via USB at various rates up to 24bit/192kHz.
 
 
 
 

 

[fra107]

Quote:

Wait until you get about 150 hours on it.  You will notice a huge difference!

I noticed a huge difference after about 300 hours of burn-in, the DAC-2 is fantastic! 

 

[fra107]

Quote:

The DAC will start sounding good and then will suck, it will go all over the map to a loss of bass and will then get shrill on top and move all over the map.  Then after 200 it will start to smooth out and at 250 hours will be liveable again.
 
 

x2

 

[mikemalter]

Quote:

Greetings!
 
My shiny new W4S DAC-2 has been hooked to my Squeezebox Touch (via S/PDIF coax) and burning in for the past 50+ hours.  I wanted to take the USB connection for a spin to play FLAC from my PC, so I installed the W4S supplied Windows 7 driver, and re-booted the system.  Once Windows came up, the driver was installed. I selected W4S 24/192 USB Interface as my default playback device, started my MediaMonkey player, waited a second for the song to begin, and then... nothing, nada, zilch, except for the sound of silence.  PC's can be "really" frustrating.
 
To make a long story short, if you use MediaMonkey (v3.n and older) as your player and want to connect your PC to the W4S DAC-2 via USB, see the following workaround below.  I was hoping to post this on the Head Gear Wyred4Sound DAC-2 product page.  Unfortunately, the wiki Edit function doesn't seem to be working at the moment, so I'm posting this here for the time being. 
 
BTW... I'm not an expert on this topic.  I'm just sharing what I discovered when I searched for a solution to the problem.
 
 
Using MediaMonkey with the Wyred 4 Sound DAC-2
 
The Wyred 4 Sound Owner's manual provides general instructions for USB configuration.  To support the USB connection, your media player must be configured for kernel or WASAPI support.  Audio will not playback properly, that is no sound will be produced the via USB connection, when using MediaMonkey without WASAPI support.  This mini guide provides additional instructions for configuring MediaMonkey for WASAPI support.
 
Note: For additional background on Windows 7 audio refer to this article.  Although the article was written for configuring the J River Media Center product, the Windows 7 audio background information still applies.
 
 
MediaMonkey WASAPI Support
 
MediaMonkey v3.n, and older, does not include WASAPI support required for USB connections.  This limitation can be avoided by installing the latest v4  "alpha" build which includes native WASAPI support.  See the MediaMonkey Test Build Page for a link to the latest alpha build.  Download and install the latest v4 build.
 
 
MediaMonkey Configurations Settings
 
After the v4 build has been installed, configure the WASAPI settings in MediaMonkey.  The following screen shots and configuration settings are for alpha build v4.0.0.1459.  In MediaMonkey, select Tools, Options, Player Output Plug-Ins, then click the MediaMonkey WASAPI output radio button.  Next, click the Configure button.
 
 

 
 
The MediaMonkey WASAPI Output plug-in window will appear.  Three typical base settings are Default device, Exclusive mode, and Automatic choice of format (per track).  Values for other settings are based on personnel preferences. Click OK to exit the dialog.
 
 

 
 
Remember this is an "alpha" release, so some inconveniences may be encountered.  But having said that, once these settings have been configured, you should be good to go for audio playback via USB at various rates up to 24bit/192kHz.
 
 
 
 

Jazzfan, this is a really great writeup and I'm certain that it will be of value to othes.  Nice.
 

 

[obzilla]

48 more hours on... just a very refined and precise sound stage and fine detailing from my first day and a half with it.
Anyone who thinks the LCD2 doesn´t have a good soundstage, should put in Eric Clapton's Unplugged through this thing.
 
I think it maybe be settling down and finding it´s groove.
 
It seems to accept the 16 bit 44.1k to 24 bit 176.4k upsample rate from jRiver Media Center quite well.
Not true high resolution, but the upsampled signal and the DAC seem to be playing very nice on well recorded material.
 
Unfortunately it gives me the sinking feeling that it will soon be time for a more serious amplifier.... my wallet is like "Screw you dude...."

 

[Icenine2]

The Cavalli Liquid Fire with this is incredible.
 
Playback some high-res files through the DAC2.  Really great.  I've ripped all my 24/96 King Crimson 40th Anniversary DVD-A's to files.  Playback is just stellar!