Wyred4sound Recovery - USB Re-clocker

[Rajeshh]

Having good friends is great, but as an audiophile, having friends who are audiophiles, is pretty amazing.

I recently upgraded from my LS50 Wireless, to a full blown separate set-up consisting of the Kef Reference 1s, Wyred4sound mAMPSs & mPRE. The upgrade in sound quality is not something i can describe easily in words. It is an entirely different beast.
My digital source is the ELAC Discovery music server, which has a built in DAC. This is the longest serving part of my set-up till now, and a favourite.
So far so good, music sounds brilliant.

An issue with a highly resolving set-up is that you can easily differentiate good sound from bad, without any critical listening.
My Video source is a trusty old Mac mini passing sound via its USB out to the DAC in the Wyred4Sound mPre, the sound whether i play Youtube or HQ content is a let down.
Till my friends decide to gift a "Wyred4sound Recovery".

According to the Wyred website, the Recovery is a USB reclocker that does 2 things.
"The Recovery is an affordable, compact audio device that intercepts the USB signal between the DAC and computer to do two critical things:
1. Isolate and provide cleaner power
2. Supply a much more precisely clocked source for the USB encoded data.
This "pre-conditioning" of the USB signal provides the DAC a much cleaner, truer signal resulting in noticeably improved audio fidelity."

I didn't expect to hear much improvement, but the difference i heard was quite substantial.
So much so that a A/B was completely unnecessary.

Everything sounds lit-up, the sound feels like there is more meat to it.
Bass is tighter and more muscular, the highs seem smoother, the biggest difference is in the vocals, they seem to have suddenly developed more body.
This applies to everything, HQ video files, Amazon Prime, Netflix and as a pleasant surprise even for Youtube music videos.
Removing the Recovery from the chain, i felt like audio became leaner & less defined.

All in all, a welcome piece of kit.

 

[panditji]

Lovely kit.. the speakers look fab...How substantial is the difference when playing from your Elac server?

 

[Rajeshh]

@panditji Thanks!
Ive tried running Tidal from the Mac, through the Recovery to mPre VS the ELAC Discovery music server.
In one word the difference is "massive".
The music flows with a pace and rhythm that just makes me sit and listen for hours. Difference in dynamics is extremely substantial.

 

[panditji]

That was not what I was hoping to hear.. Now you have made me curious and I want to try it out.. That means more expenditure...

 

[Rajeshh]

@panditji As a music server the Discovery is excellent, both in sound quality & use of use.
I have tried the Bluesound N2 & a Auralic Aries mini before, and the Discovery trumps both.

I am a fan of the Roon UI & usability, the discovery runs Roon essentials without the additional cost of Roon licensing.
And it is always on, no need to go through a routine to play music, its as simple as firing the Roon Essentials App & playing music.
Try it and you will not be disappointed.

Ofcourse there is better quality sound, but you will have to spend much more, the best ive heard so far is an Ultrarendu feeding a Mytek Brooklyn DAC+ on Conditioned power.

 

[panditji]

Can I run the Roon essentials on my laptop? Do you think there will be a slight upgrade in sound quality over JRiver 20 that I currently run?

 

[Rajeshh]

No, Roon Essentials is a embedded stripped down version of Roon., It has limitations compared to full Roon. My main listening is Tidal HIFI streaming, for that, the limitations don’t matter.
i have not tried Jriver, so cant comment on it, but did try Audivarna +, and the Discovery was clearly better.
Note that i use the RCA out from the Discovery, making it a music server + DaC for all digital audio needs.

 

[rikhav]

Hello Rajesh
Good to know about your experience with ultra rendu and discovery
Have a few queries if you don't mind

1) did you use the aries and the discovery with a linear power supply or with supplied DC adapter ?


2) if you use tidal do you use with inbuilt functionality of discovery to play tidal or via roon as both ways tidal can be played
If you have tried both what works better ?

3) as I understand the ultrarendu is a loaner device so when that's gone how would you connect the discovery to the dac?
Straight to dac or use discovery as roon server and use another laptop/pc as roon core and connect that to dac?

This will help me understand what works best with roon and discovery

Thanks in advance

 

[Rajeshh]

Hello Rajesh
Good to know about your experience with ultra rendu and discovery
Have a few queries if you don't mind

1) did you use the aries and the discovery with a linear power supply or with supplied DC adapter ?
I used it with the supplied DC adapter.

2) if you use tidal do you use with inbuilt functionality of discovery to play tidal or via roon as both ways tidal can be played
If you have tried both what works better ?
There is only one way to run Tidal on the Discovery, which is via the Roon Essential app.

3) as I understand the ultrarendu is a loaner device so when that's gone how would you connect the discovery to the dac?
Straight to dac or use discovery as roon server and use another laptop/pc as roon core and connect that to dac?

The Mytek DAC is a loaner as well, at the moment i dont have a serious DAC, therefore i use the Discovery as a Music server + DAC and use the RCA out to my PreAmp.

Also the discovery is the Roon "Essentials" server/core, you dont need a separate Roon server or Roon core for it.
Roon essentials is different from the full Roon.

This will help me understand what works best with roon and discovery

Thanks in advance

Hope that answers your queries.
Looks like there is more interest in the ELAC Discovery than the Wyred Recovery reclocker
I shall post a separate thread for the Discovery.