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Regardless of coax or USB, this DAC offered a very clear pure sound. Clarity and transparency ‘attacked’ me from the very first tune to be later followed by openness and plenty of detail. Although it was difficult to analyse the contribution of the D/A converter in isolation, I was under the impression that it meant to complement the KWI200's sound which is slightly warm. The DAC on the other hand seemed more neutral to result in a more neutral overall sound of the system. While I preferred the TeddyDAC which offered even more air to sound still more open, palpable and dense, that rather was a matter of taste than objective advantage to prove how good Modwright’s DAC was considering the price difference. The ModWright reminded me most of the Hegel HD11 – neutral, clean, transparent, with lots of detail and a quite big nicely layered soundstage.
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This assignment gave me another opportunity to confirm my thesis that in most cases USB bridges offer better performance than connecting a computer directly to a USB DAC. Here things sounded even better with either the Lampizator or Stello U3 USB-to-S/PDIF converter over going direct. The sound was richer, smoother, more organic and palpable and delivered more emotional insights. But these were not huge differences. As I mentioned several times before, a USB converter introduces no fundamental but merely subtle changes/improvements to the sound yet it can be significant enough to make the music more natural and involving. In my opinion ModWright did a very good job of designing a D/A converter that should compete with standalone devices priced similarly which at the same time complements the sound of the KWI200 very well.
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I left the phonostage for dessert. I had a chance to audition the tube version inside the LS-100 and was really impressed by it. I also had a chance to review a SWP 9.0 SE phonostage no longer produced which was very good too. Dan gave up on that when he introduced the LS-100 option board which makes it the de facto successor of the SWP 9.0 SE - a worthy successor at that even if less costly. The version offered for the KWI200 is the first solid-state phono stage from the company and at 1.000 Polish quite inexpensive. There aren’t too many high-quality MM/MC phono preamps on the market. I presently don't own any MM cartridge but so happened to have on hand a Goldring 2100 and 2300 plus an Ortofon VMS 10SE MkII plus the brilliant Manley Chinook phono pre. Obviously I won’t claim that Modwright’s board delivered the same performance as the Manley but with those inexpensive moving-magnet carts differences were not great to suggest that ModWright’s solution was very good. It delivered a vivid, energetic sound with powerful bass, great rhythm and a crisp detailed treble. The Manley added more weight to the midrange which I then slightly missed with the Modwright but one must remember that MM cartridges, especially inexpensive ones, are not the best midrange performers so the integrated phono merely presented what the cartridges actually put out.
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When it came to working with the Koetsu Black, the Modwright proved that it can hang with high-quality MC cartridge by delivering smooth liquid coherent sound. Of course it didn’t reveal all which the Koetsu can offer but this cartridge costs 5-6 time more than the phono option itself. It is rather unlikely that anybody would use this combination. What was important is that the Modwright was able to depict the Koetsu's sonic character as slightly warm, amazingly liquid and smooth. Regardless of which cartridge I used, the upside of each reading was clarity of sound, dynamics and pace & rhythm. Most the records I played sounded at least good and some were very very good. I bet that most people using MM or MC pickups up to 2.000 Polish would be satisfied with the ModWright phono option. Of course you could look for a standalone phonostage but it would probably cost more. And considering the additional cost of cables you might be forced to spend 2-3 times more before you achieve better sound.
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I must admit that Dan Wright surprised me again. I know most of his models, own two of them plus another with his modification yet each time he releases something new, I want to know whether he's done it again - created an extraordinary product delivering wonderful performance for a reasonable price. And yes he has done it once more. The KWI200 has the familiar sonic signature of all Modwright product plus keeps tabs on current market trends. Those demand that manufacturers deliver high-quality all-in-one devices. Here that is an integrated amplifier which can include a high-quality D/A converter and phonostage plus features an HT bypass and is remote controlled. The DAC sports both coaxial S/PDIF and asynchronous 24/192 USB, phono works with both MM and MC cartridges. Last but not least the KWI200 delivers 200 watts into 8Ω loads, more than enough for most loudspeakers on the market. What more could you expect? That it makes a nice cuppa Joe? It already kicks without any caffeine so it's probably healthier as is.
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Design. The KWI200 is the first and for now only integrated amplifier in ModWright Instruments’ portfolio. It's a dual-mono affair working in A/B class delivering up to 200 watts at 8Ω (400w at 4Ω). It's a solid-state design with a Mosfet output stage. There’s a solid aluminum casing in silver or surcharge black that seems to be the same as used for most ModWright gear. The front panel layout is symmetrical and features two large knobs (volume control and input selector), two small push buttons (on/off and HT bypass) and two displays for volume and active input. Right in the middle is the trademark large back-lit logo.
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The back panels sports plenty of sockets. Solid gold-plated speaker bindings are located close to the left and right edges, the power inlet sits right in the middle. Then there are two groups of sockets. On the left are 3 RCA, a pre-in on RCA and one XLR input. On the right side there are 12v trigger outputs, a pre-out, and if the optional DAC and phono cards are installed, inputs for those two (coaxial S/PDIF and 24/192 async XMOS-powered USB for the BB1794-based DAC, a pair of RCA inputs for phono). A clever user-friendly wrinkle are double sets of descriptions – a regular one placed beneath the sockets, the other one written upside down above the sockets so one can make them out whilst bending over the device.
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The top cover is a kind of grill which promotes keeping things relatively cool inside. What surprised me was that the KWI200 seemed to run cooler than my KWA-100SE. Inside we find an impressively massive 1.5kVA toroidal power transformer and two large blue heatsinks with the Mosfet output devices mounted to them. There are 8 large capacitors surrounding the transformer for a total capacity of over 234.000μF. Most of the circuitry is mounted on a large board. The KWI 200 uses a digitally controlled analog volume control with buffered input to the single direct-coupled input stage designed by legendary tube DIYer Alan Kimmel. |
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opinia @ highfidelity.pl
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