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Outside of cover art one other situation arose. In the event of home compilations, vinyl rips or extremely obscure titles where there is no description data for the MPaD software to work with, the program will recognize cuts and durations for the material but not be able to fill in the blanks. Here you will need to download a Tag Editor to create a database by hand and add your own jpeg cover art. Not hard. Just a new experience. Did I encounter hardware issues? A few. I had one evening with occasional audio dropouts which I wasn't able to duplicate any time afterwards. It remained an anomaly that had myself and the fine staff at Wyred scratching our heads. Gremlins? Probably and hopefully fully exorcised. There was a small hum issue peculiar only to the subwoofer low enough in level to be nitpicking and the solution is a current work in progress. Additionally I ran into two circumstances where a CD refused to fully rip and wouldn’t self eject, requiring the use of the manual eject facility. Mutual conclusion reached by the folks at Wyred and myself was that this situation was caused by overzealous copy protection on those discs.


The only other glitch occurred near completion of the review. I powered up and found that the server was no longer recognized on the network. I looked for a connectivity issue and went through the basic setup procedures from step one to try and reestablish communication. No luck. It was time to speak with the personnel at Wyred4Sound. Clint Hartman and EJ. Sarmento were extremely helpful during this long-distance troubleshooting and speculated that the probable cause of my unit’s demise was a simple case of incorrect power down. Wyred uses a computer-based protocol. A brief push activates an internal 15-second soft shutdown. I had been treating the server in the fashion of the Sony PS3 - holding down the power button for several seconds until the machine gave confirmation of the command. Unfortunately that constituted a hard shut down that eventually caused some code inconsistencies which prevented the Wyred from powering up. After some initial gnashing of teeth it turned out that all I needed was the temporary hook-up of a keyboard and monitor and typing in a short command at the start-up prompt. Thanks to expert and extremely patient help from Clint the server was quickly healed and made music once again. My short-lived folly prompted some extra lines in the owner's manual to alert others to treat the power-down procedure properly.


Outside of those minor setbacks life was clear sailing with uninterrupted music. There is of course that burning question - how did it sound? The burner made a small bit of noise when it was ripping but otherwise the fanless design confined background noise to that of a CD player. Reality check. This is a digital transport, not a player. It’s designed to be user friendly and functional, not audible. In fulfilling that objective, the Wyred Music Server did a remarkably faithful job of transferring digital bits in and out to the DAC. That’s where the analog begins. I can describe the superior sound of 24/176.4 master WAV files or the slight losses of lossless formats in detail. The Wyred pair allowed me wonderful insight into that information but the actual sound of the server? More difficult.


Still, let’s talk transport contribution in comparative terms. Any regular computer has to contend with circumventing onboard software and hardware to achieve superior results and then add more and better into the mix. The Wyred server has no onboard hardware or software that require improvement or bypass. The interface software doesn’t touch any sonic parameter. Even the MPaD volume control is not engaged. This gives the Wyred strong theoretical advantages borne out in real life. The Wyred proved superior to my stock laptop which was configured specifically for the Wyred DAC2 via the USB output to be as clean as it could accomplish. While the laptop achieved extremely good results in combination with the DAC2, it showed limitations in both performance and stability that indicated it would have required hefty cash to match the Wyred. A Mac was not on hand for comparison but by reputation its handling of music output is considerably more benign. It should be a closer contest but even a Mac has its own limitations and still puts more in the signal path. Rather than spin conjecture, I’ll let people who can make a hands-on appraisal pass ultimate judgment here.

Redbook standard? The AudioSpace CDP 8-A made for a more interesting challenge because we’re not looking merely at a war of hard drive vs. CD drive but also format wars. With the CD player as transport I was able to alter the delivery of the information by the use of CD mats, emphasising the fact that CD is very much a more malleable mechanical/optical system. The Wyred is a different entity but surprisingly not a fixed one either. In ripping it uses meticulous software to duplicate information and translate it to FLAC. There’s the point of contention. We are no longer evaluating WAV versus WAV. Using photographic analogy, we are now comparing a RAW file to a high-quality JPEG. While an external transfer of a WAV file conversion would have provided a more accurate contest in some respects, it would have introduced just as many variables. Since the vast majority of people will rely on the Wyred's ripping ability, I made the decision to weigh the extent of change introduced by the conversion to FLAC versus the latitude of alteration the CD transport allowed. In this case I would award superior accuracy to the Wyred. A full-fledged top-tier transport could possibly reverse that position but that would remain only applicable to Redbook and at a substantial difference in price. Past that, the Wyred's higher resolution capability would still win out.

If the digits coming out of the Wyred were faithful, what happened when I added a DAC? Superb sound. How high up the audiophile ladder you may wish to go becomes a matter of personal choice and budget. I’ve covered the basic sound of the Wyred DAC-2 as a preliminary exercise. It was designed to be a match and as a result it reached quite far up that ladder especially with the I²S connection. If the pairing had a failing, it favoured a bit more immediacy and vividness over absolute neutrality. This inaccuracy was small in nature and served to add a bit more life to the presentation. If not absolutely right it had the virtue of being exceptionally convincing.

I toyed with the idea of bringing in a higher-tier DAC to give perspective but decided against it. I knew that the Wyred DAC could be outperformed by a small measure and that the exercise would be of the 'straw dog' nature. Instead I felt the opposite financial direction might prove the more intriguing. How much would a lesser DAC benefit? I pulled out my DA&T DAC Pre from computer/headphone duty and put it to work in the big rig. Lopsided match? The DA&T U-2 utilizes a decent DAC that takes the purist route of non-upsampling to translate digits in native resolution up to 24/192. It’s no slouch. Did it perform up to the Wyred DAC 2 standards? No. It showed its limits but it also sang to the upper reaches of those boundaries by achieving greater dynamic nuance and resolution that it had ever been able to deliver in straight PC duty. That was the point. The test proved that better information delivery would be a universally applicable benefit and that makes the Wyred Server a very very attractive piece for those who already own a DAC they‘re happy with.


Conclusion. Is the Wyred4Sound Music Server an everyman product? Pretty close. It’s incredibly convenient to use and highly addictive. The Wyred rides on the technological wave of the iPad and therefore software and network integration simply work. The Wyred handles a broad range of digital audio formats at virtually any resolution level as well as making short work of the legacy CD collection. It has enough outputs to facilitate almost any current DAC including the PS Audio with its HDMI-based I²S connection, making available the potential sound level of the best available digital front ends. Is it alone in the field? No. There are other smart designers willing to compete for your affection. But EJ Sarmento and company have assembled a compelling user-friendly package that combines superior sonics with their trademark versatility. The new breed of component music server looks very promising and Wyred is aiming at best of breed.


Caveats? A few. Your tablet or smartphone are your only operating control not duplicated on the server. Keep you batteries charged if you want to enjoy long listening sessions. The boot-up time of the Wyred will be acceptable by PC standards but seems positively glacial for those used to the instant gratification of the iPad. The power button should be used as prescribed to avoid my error.

When the Wyred is running on all cylinders, it approaches upper-level performance in sound quality with a versatility and price tag tough to beat. Easy recommendation. Is it a bargain though? The price of  the Music Server combined with a good DAC like Wyred’s own DAC2 is less than the cost of the next tier of converters alone. From the opposite perspective, if you start with an upper echelon DAC and add the Wyred Server, you‘ll be hitting close to the limits of  the best digital front ends for relatively minor money. From either direction that constitutes a bargain. Who should be interested? Those looking to next-gen material who held off waiting for the ideal combination of hardware and software. Audiophiles who seek a proper digital file source and want to relegate the computer to secondary position will find it here.  Listeners who see their offspring enjoying the benefits of musical software convenience while they were relegated to antique or hardcore computer geek status will finally be able to talk on equal terms.

Who is immune? Vinyl lovers may finally be tempted but as a secondary choice only. Those who are committed to silver disc playback at premiere levels will already enjoy similar status minus a lot of convenience. Individuals who like the concept of component server but prefer either the simplicity of a single-box player or the further versatility of an outboard interface will look to those alternatives.
Quality of packing: Double box cardboard with oversized polystyrene caps. Power supply separately boxed.
Reusability of packing: Yes.
Condition of components received: Perfect.
Delivery: FedEx.
Website comments: Informative and extensive.
Human interactions: Professional and extremely helpful. Very patient customer support.
Warranty: 3 years.   
Final comments & suggestions: Brings the fun back to serious music listening by offering ergonomic ease the younger generation has long taken for granted. Too addictive for me to resist. I requested purchase of the review pair.

If you haven't already, read Joël Chevassus' review on the same components by clicking 'next' - Ed.
Wyred4Sound website