Wyred 4 Sound Recovery Review
 

by J. Dan Daniell

WYRED 4 SOUND RECOVERY USB RECLOCKER


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It has been a month and half since I offered to review the Wyred 4 Sound Recovery USB reclocker. After their busy introductory rush to fill the many Recovery pre-orders, I now have a Recovery USB reclocker in house. I feel obligated to disclose my initial skepticism about the Recovery USB reclocker. Previously I expressed reservation about the Recovery’s ability to deliver improved sonic performance via USB to a first class DAC. Since my initial comments, I have researched the Wyred 4 Sound Recovery and read much of what Wyred 4 Sound CEO and chief designer EJ Sarmento has said about the design and function of the Recovery. I now have a clearer understanding of how it performs its tasks and why its presence in the USB signal path ahead of the DAC is beneficial.

It is easy to think digital audio is simple. There are plenty of good intentioned individuals who think a laptop or Mac Mini, some software, a USB printer cable, and a DAC puts you in business. True, this will get a person up and running but this simplistic approach leaves a fair measure of performance undelivered. To begin with, computer power supplies are notoriously noisy and can impact a DAC’s input timing. Timing errors mean jitter. In addition there are multiple background functions a computer continuously performs while transmitting music files via USB to a DAC. These constant background functions often play havoc on a consistent and uninterrupted flow of data. Of course there are specialized music servers developed for the sole purpose of delivering music files via USB to a DAC, and there are a wide variety of high-end USB cables that attempt with various wire schemes to improve data flow and voltage isolation along the cable length. When combined, these dedicated music servers and premium USB cables make good strides toward improving the reproduction of high-end audio but there is still much to be gained as emphasized by Wyred 4 Sound’s latest contributions.

Enter the Wyred 4 Sound Recovery USB reclocker. To briefly reiterate EJ Sarmento’s comments on what is taking place inside Recovery, it intercepts the signal between the computer and DAC to supply a more precisely clocked data flow using a Femto grade clock for the USB signal while at the same time providing isolated clean power. This results in pre-conditioning the signal before the DAC. It makes sense that reducing timing errors and jitter before the DAC, while at the same time delivering ultra-quiet power, allows the DAC to perform its tasks more accurately. In addition to Recovery’s unique circuit design, only premium level parts are used to build it. This ensures the Recovery remains on high ground when compared to competitor’s similar USB offerings.

The Recovery is an attractive and diminutive device. Its aluminum case is 2.6" x 1.7" x 0.9" (L x W x H). Included in the shipping box is a switch mode power supply that plugs into a wall receptacle to produce an isolated 9 volts output. Also supplied is a short six inch USB A to B cable for connecting Recovery to the DAC. The Recovery is quite light in weight and seems perfectly capable of being supported by the USB cables without issue. The A and B USB connections are firm and secure. Connecting it is as simple as plugging your laptop USB cable into the Recovery, plugging the provided USB cable into the Recovery and DAC, and connecting the 9 volt isolated power supply plug. It doesn’t get much easier than that. Recovery is USB 2.0 compliant so no drivers are necessary. I ask Wyred 4 Sound’s Tony Holt about break-in and he suggested 50 hours minimum but said 100 hours would be better.

Once the Recovery was unpacked I immediately installed it in my office headphone rig between the HP desktop computer and my Wyred 4 Sound DAC2 that feeds the analog signal to my Sennheiser HDVA 600 headphone amplifier and HD800 headphone. This was as good a place as any to get the break-in hours behind me. When I plugged the 9 volt power supply into the Recovery two small green LED’s on the input side lit, one to inform me there is signal lock and the other letting me know that my USB is type 2.0. If your USB is type 1.0 then this LED remains unlit.


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Time for some music. I opened JRiver Media Center 21 on my desktop computer, clicked on Charlie Haden Quartet West – Sophisticated Ladies, selecting one of my favorite tracks “Ill Wind” with Norah Jones. Her voice and piano instantly filled my Sennheiser headphone with wonderfully rich sound. Having played this particular song at least 30 times between the studio system, living room system and my headphone rig, I am intimately familiar with the sound of this recording. My attention was quickly captured by the sensation of greater space around Norah’s voice and piano, with plenty of breathing space for the vibrant wood tones of the acoustic double bass. Brushes slowly swirling across the drum skins were consistently true sounding with fine texture. The entire presentation flowed more relaxed. This was impressive, especially considering there was less than 10 minutes on the Recovery at that moment. The plan was to follow Tony’s break-in recommendation and allow the Recovery to reach at least 100 hours before critically evaluating its performance. Naturally, I made plenty of time to eavesdrop on the break-in process as the hours accumulated.

Using the Repeat feature in JRivers Media Center I allowed the Wyred 4 Sound Recovery to play continuously through my office headphone rig from Saturday at 12:00 noon until 6:00 PM Wednesday evening for a total break-in time of 102 hours. During the first day I listened to the Recovery with my headphone for nearly 6 hours. I just could not seem to take them off my head. I played rock, jazz, female vocals, a violin concerto, and more, all without any hint of listener fatigue. In the days that followed I spent a couple hours listening each morning and the same in the evenings. From the first minutes until the Recovery had approximately 30 hours I heard very little if any sonic change. It’s presence in the USB signal path continued to render a very smooth presentation. By Tuesday morning, with 70 hours of break-in logged, I noticed a new found richness that more easily captured my attention. I felt myself being pulled deeper into each song. The break-in was progressing nicely.

Wednesday evening I relocated the Recovery from my office headphone rig to the studio sound system, installing it between my Sony Vaio laptop and the Esoteric K-03 DAC’s USB input. I used a 3 meter Wireworld Platinum USB cable from the laptop to the Recovery. I used the short USB cable supplied with Recovery to connect it to the DAC. The sound system for this review included a McIntosh C1000C/P preamplifier, a pair of McIntosh MC2301 power amplifiers, an Esoteric K-03 SACD/CD/DAC player, a Sony Vaio laptop computer with JRiver Media Center 21, and the Sonus faber Amati Anniversario speakers. The system is connected entirely with balanced Wireworld Silver Eclipse interconnects, Wireworld Silver Eclipse speaker cables, Wireworld Silver Electra power cables and the Wireworld Platinum USB cable. The short USB cable provided with the Recovery proved itself to be quite transparent. It must also be mentioned that all recordings used for this review were 24Bit/88.2KHz, 24Bit/96KHz, or 24Bit/192KHz FLAC music files. All recordings were downloaded from HDTracks. No Redbook CD files are on my hard drive so the audition was performed in total with high resolution music files.


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With the Recovery installed in the studio sound system and 102 hours of break-in completed, I began my listening session. First up, Bonnie Raitt – Slipstream, “Million Miles”. This slow soulful blues tune begins with Bonnie’s guitar, electric bass, and some strong foot peddle strikes on a bass drum. My ears instantly sensed greater definition in the guitar riffs, a more resonant tone to bass, and Bonnie’s earthy voice had a more pronounced existence in the center of the soundstage. When she began to work her guitar chops with her slide on the Fender’s neck I felt goosebumps popping up on my arms and neck, always a good sign. The last piano notes during the final moments of the tune hung and diminished in the air like I have not heard before on this recording. Another positive clue, I could not stop the recording after just one song. I let it play right into “You Can’t Fail Me Now”. What I sensed with the Recovery was a more holographic soundstage, an alluring human essence to voice, and generously developed instrument sounds that were engaging, hypnotic, and utterly believable. There was a fresh effervescence to the sound that elevated my excitement causing my foot to tapped a bit quicker and my head to bob and weave more readily. Did I mention my big smile?

I moved to a second recording, Curtis Stigers – Hooray For Love, “You Make Me Feel So Young”. The opening notes on the acoustic double bass and muffled trumpet literally leapt into the room as though the musicians were standing right in front of me. The duet between Curtis Stigers and Cyrille Aimee felt truly lifelike and earthy. Closing my eyes, it was effortless to imagine myself sitting at a small table in a dimly lit jazz club with the artists on stage less than 12 feet in front of me. I really wanted to catch that waiter’s eye and order another Tanqueray and Tonic with lime. Seriously, I have listened to this fine recording many times and never experienced quite the same “you are there” feeling. The Wyred 4 Sound Recovery was certainly working its magic.

Selecting another recording I clicked on Yellowjackets – A Rise In The Road, “When The Lady Dances”. This Grammy award winning jazz group knows how to groove. As the first volley of drum beats and piano splashed from the Amati Anniversario speakers into the room I was nearly motivated to jump up and dance. That’s never a pretty sight so I forced myself to remain seated, perfectly content to be rocking my head side to side, tapping my foot and grinning. The twin horns, piano, and drums in this recording were presented in a wide and deep soundstage without any encroachment on each other’s space. The Recovery contributed remarkable definition to the horns, piano, bass, drums, and cymbals. The drums’ dynamics had convincing attacks, while the cymbals shimmered faithfully, their metallic sustain hung and diminished unchallenged by smearing or other distractions. I bumped the volume up and played this track twice.

I played Louise Roger – Black Coffee, “Alright Okay You Win” from a 24Bit/192KHz download. Louise’s voice is enticing and her trio of jazz musicians are talented. This tune is upbeat with the acoustic double bass behind Louise at center stage, the hollow body electric guitar to the left and the drums to the right. Listening to this recording without the Recovery reveled an extremely well mastered performance. Straight from the Sony Vaio to the Esoteric K0-03 produced a fine presentation that seemed to want for nothing. Installing the Recovery into the K-03 end of the USB cable raised the bar. The rich acoustic double bass sounded more resonant, while the soundstage grew more three dimensional. The whole performance was improved with a fresh sense of being present at the original recording.


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What I am hearing with the Recovery is an enhancement to the system’s performance without any sense of timing errors managing to degrade the sonic integrity of the recordings. In fact, the intrinsic quality of a live performance seems to radiate unimpeded with the Recovery in the USB signal path. After playing these four recordings and allowing a number of additional tracks to play, I stopped the music, removed the Recovery from the USB cable and plugged the Wireworld Platinum USB cable directly into the Esoteric K-03 again. I rebooted the laptop, started JRivers Media Center, and played all four songs noted above once again. The most apparent difference I noticed was feeling as though I had been relocated a few rows back from where I was previously seated. I also noted that the piano in Curtis Stigers recording and the Yellowjackets recording did not seem to have quite the same crystal clarity in the upper octaves. The bass in all four recordings seemed to lose a pinch of firmness that had been apparent through the Recovery. I am confident that when I listen to more recordings I know like the back of my hand, I will discover additional hidden gems of sonic improvements the Recovery has on tap. I read that EJ said 200 hours was his idea of a full break-in period for Recovery. With only 108 hours now on this Recovery, I have already become enamored with its ability to deliver improved bass tautness, greater soundstage dimensionality, and finer definition of micro details. My initial unsubstantiated skepticism about the Recovery has vaporized into thin air. Our old cliché of another veil being lifted is shopworn to say the least but somehow seems appropriately accurate here. The Recovery’s ability to reduce jitter using the Femto clock to reclock the USB signal before it is presented to the DAC, plus the delivery of ultra-quiet power, free from the grunge a computer‘s power supply routinely transmits down the USB cable, makes the Recovery a serious enhancement to digital audio playback. Who would have thought such a tiny little black box at this remarkable price point ($250.00) could elevate high-resolution playback so conveniently with such astonishing success. In less than five days my attitude concerning the Wyred 4 Sound Recovery was transformed from assuming it to be just one more USB toy to understanding and thoroughly appreciating the Recovery’s positive and valuable strengths for elevating USB playback to new levels. Wyred 4 Sound continues to deliver unique audio products that improve our audio experiences without destroying the bank account. The Recovery hits that bullseye dead center. Needless to say, this little jewel has found a new home.

Excellent review Dan. You have heard exactly what I was hearing in my somewhat lower end system than yours. It proves that the Recovery will give appreciable benefits to most any system, no matter what level of equipment is being used!

I am continually amazed at how much of an improvement can be achieved for a relatively low amount with these amazing add in products from EJ and crew!

Dan, great review as always! You missed your calling as a professional writer. :thumbsup: :yes:

I have one issue with the reclocker; why would they use a noisy switching power supply when the whole goal is to minimize noise that ultimately affects timing? :scratch2:

Well done as always Dan! You have me wondering.

Mike.......I have been told most of the noise filtering happens predominately inside the Recovery. It has been discussed in other threads that there may be some advantage to using a linear power supply or the iFi iPower 9 volt power supply. Quite frankly, the audible improvements I experience wouldn't cause me to jump up and change anything at this point.

I also asked the question about USB cable length between the Recovery and the DAC, especially since the provided cable is only six inches long. Tony Holt told me that a USB cable up to one meter will be fine. I read another comment where EJ said the shorter the cable the better because part of the performance improvement comes from correct impedance matching between the Recovery and DAC.

I will most likely order a short Wireworld Platinum USB cable to replace the one provided by Wyred 4 Sound. I want my USB output cable to match the quality level of my USB input cable. Wireworld offers the Platinum USB cable in 0.3 meter (1 ft.) and 0.5 meter (20 in.) lengths and longer.

Randy.......Thanks. I read your comments about the Recovery when you first installed it. I now appreciate what you were saying.

Dan... what can I possibly say, perhaps thank you! I just placed an order with W4S for enough Recovery units to fill my personal system needs. :ok:

Thank you Dan. I did replace the power supply because a very good one, the iPower is only $50. I also got a 1 foot Wireworld cable to match the one coming into the Recovery. Obviously I have a much lower WW cable than you :)... I can't remember which version.... hmmm the purple one :).. both made subtle differences, a little, not as much as the Recovery did.... but for a little bit it was worth it to get those improvements.

You will appreciate the improvements!

Ivan.......The Wyred 4 Sound Recovery is the real deal. I am confident your sound systems will benefit from what I described in the review. It is worth every cent.

Our sincere thanks to Dan for taking the time to write a thoughtful and thorough review of our Recovery. We're so glad he found it to be a positive experience and that his initial skepticism was replaced with delight. Thanks, Dan. Enjoy the Recovery!

Nice review Dan. I purchased a Recovery when they first came out and am still impressed at the improvement in sonics it delivers. Since then I have replaced the stock power supply with an ifi iPower and replaced the stock USB cable with a Curious cables Regen link which both provided further improvements.

It was my pleasure to review the Recovery. My experience with Wyred 4 Sound products has always been positive. The Recovery did not let me down. Thank you for your comments.

Hot diggity dog. :banana:

I just placed my order for a 0.3 meter Wireworld Platinum Starlight USB cable to replace the Recovery's supplied USB cable. I want my input and output USB cables to be identical. Once received and installed I will report my findings.

Very curious to hear from those that have tried both the Uptone Audio Regen and the Recovery. I have the Regen now...after reading Dan's review I'd like to try the Recover.

Steve.......You may find this article by John Darko an interesting read.

Fighting Fit USB Audio From The Wyred4Sound Recovery | DAR__KO

Well Dan...this is quite an interesting review (excellent in its presentation, as per usual) and a very interesting product. Your comments on the inherent inferiority of and the noise produced by computer power supplies make lots of sense. At some point I plan to grab one, and possibly two of these. Thanks! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

In this thread Charles and I detail our experiences jumping into the Recovery. Maybe it will give a little insight in how we both feel that the Recovery improves more modest system as well as more elaborate systems such as Dan's :)

http://www.audioaficionado.org/wyred...discounts.html

As a representative of the technology impaired, I have to ask: wouldn't an asynchronous DAC obviate the need (or usefulness) of this device?

Hey Dan,

Charles and I both picked up an iPower power supply also. Again what W4S provides works, and works well but for a few bucks a slight improvement can be had.

Randy

Randy, since you are using the iFi product, did you look at and consider their iPurifier? It is designed to do the same, is super discreet, and costs even less.
They now have a second follow up model that's supposed to be even better, the iPurifier2.
I am using the original iPurifier, and was thinking of upgrading to the iPurifier2, but you guys have made me consider the Recovery.
Like I said somewhere in this forum, these devices will not break the bank and it is not impossible to try them all, but it is also true you keep adding $5 here and $10 there and, well you know...

Actually no I did not. The iPower is my first iFi product. I only purchased this because it looked like an improved power supply, although the one that W4S provides works just fine.

The Recovery was my first and only choice because I am very familiar with Wyred 4 Sound and the quality of their products. I live near their factory and know their staff personally. I consider EJ a genius in the audio design world.

I also prefer to buy American made when possible over products made in China. Another thing I prefer is a full 5 year warranty versus a 1 year warranty.

Just read through the Darko article. He is certainly a fan of both the Regen and Recovery, and it is so close that I believe I'm probably good where I am with the Regen. I do have the Curious USB cable that he referenced in his article and I can attest to the quality of that cable. I bought the small Regen Link add'l cable to go from the DAC to Regen, then a longer cable for the run to the server.

I'm currently running without the Regen to a Bryston BDA-3. I may put it back in the mix soon for a comparison, and I'm also guessing Darko is correct in that some DAC's benefit more than others from these devices.

Steve.......I thought you would come to that conclusion. I also believe the end results will be tailored by the system and DAC in use. At this point I can only speak of my personal experience with the Recovery in the office headphone rig with the Wyred 4 Sound DAC, and the Recovery in the studio system with the Esoteric K-03 DAC. In both instances I heard improvements that I liked. The Recovery remains in the studio system.

Randy.......That's a good question. Asynchronous is the most advanced USB data transmission method for music playback. It employs a feedback loop so that the amount of data in the frame can be controlled. Asynchronous USB uses a clock near the DAC that allows it to drive the DAC directly, effectively ignoring the typically unstable clock in a computer. Despite an asynchronous connection, timing errors remain present at the DAC's clock and even though the data in the frame rate is better controlled it is still not perfect. By more accurately timing the data before it arrives at a DAC's clock, pre-conditioning the USB signal is how W4S refers to it, even with the asynchronous transmission the DAC and it's clock have a simpler task of converting the digital voltage variations to a clean analog signal. At least that is my understanding. I am not a computer science engineer so there may be plenty of room for improvement to my explanation. Anyone who wishes, please feel free to grab the baton and carry it to the finish line.

Dan... If I recall correctly, you need two more Recovery units. :D

I'm not usually one for system tweaks that you have to pay for, typically because a lot of them are hyped up snake oil, people attempting to justify their spent money.

Reading so much good stuff about the Regen and the Recovery, not knowing UpTown Audio at all and knowing Wyred 4 Sound very well, I decided to give the Recovery a try. I was immediately amazed at the instant improvement within minutes of installing it in my system. Upgrading the stock 6" USB was a no-brainer for me. For the same reason Dan wanted to upgrade this cable, to match the USB going into the Recovery. Makes sense to me.

To me, in my system, upgrading that USB cable did the same thing for the sound as the Recovery itself did, just on a much smaller scale. Upgrading the stock power supply to the iFi iPower again did the same, but on a smaller scale. Both a worthy upgrade for the Recovery, and went added together, make a nice improvement over the base Recovery.

Since my system is constantly running 24/7, I estimate I have well over 700 hours on this little device. If there's any improvements to be had up to the 200 hour point, then I already have them. Same goes for the short WW USB cable and iPower for that matter.

The Wyred 4 Sound Recovery USB Reclocker is a great buy, even at the full retail price of $250. Upgrading the cable and PS for a few more bucks still makes it a great buy, especially considering the amount of improvement those two extra pieces make. And now, Dan is living proof that this little guy works wonders even on a $22k DAC! Hyped up snake oil?... I think not. :thumbsup:

Charles.......I knew it was just a matter of time before someone pointed out I was two short on the Recovery's. :rolleyes:

Your comment about the Recovery delivering immediately out of the box was my exact discovery. I didn't have it between my desktop computer and the W4S DAC2 even five minutes before I was saying to myself this is something special. I even PM'd Ivan that first day and told him he needed to look into the Recovery.

I am waiting now on the delivery of my 0.3 meter Wireworld Platinum Starlight USB cable to replace the provided cable that comes with the Recovery. After I spend some time with that arrangement I will order the iFi iPower 9 volt power supply on yours and Randy's recommendation. Might as well go all the way.

Dan... I'm an iFi dealer also, maybe I'll order a few dozen of those 9 volt power supplies too.

Sounds like there will probably be a few people lining up for Recovery units.... having some iPower on hand would probably be a good idea.

Hehe... I was thinking that also but didn't want to be too pushy since we just got you on board with one :D....:music:

Sort of funny it takes a review from Dan to finally get the ball rolling on the Recovery on this forum even though Randy and I have been going on and on about this thing for over a month now.

Well it sounds like I'll need to add this item (actually three items) to my "scroll". :sigh: :D

Dan: It would be nice if W4S would let you test a DAC-2 DSDSe, to also answer the question from an independent source reviewer like you, if W4S DAC2 DSDse re-clocker which from W4S website "lowers phase jitter by 80%", in series with the Recovery or other W4S re-clocker add-ons, does actually add to the sound and music quality. (To make a detergent analogy, would 2 re-clockers in series clean whiter than white?)
My apologies for reaterating this question but I never read any independent source test or response on the subject.
AJ

Ivan.......I didn't know that. Might as well mark me down for a iFi iPower 9 volt power supply. :yes:

Well I have pretty much answered that. I do have a DAC-1 LE, their new upgraded DAC which is very close to the DAC-2 DSDse without the pre-amp functions. They upgraded the unit adding DSD, adding the same USB circuit and upgrade many internal parts to close the gap. I also got the Femto clock upgrade. I also am the first customer to have a Recovery unit in my system (EJ had the crew build one for me to pick up on the day they started shipping), 2/1/2016.

I also spoke with EJ about adding the two together, Recovery and Femto in the DAC. He said they do two different things. One cleans the signal going into the DAC, reclocking jitter added by USB port and cabling making the internal USB processor work less and therefore not adding noise, the other reclocks the signal being feed into the DAC chip. Now I admit to not completely understanding the tech, but can only attest to that it works. Also EJ is a genius so I may not have relayed this correctly...

Also, I believe Dan actually has the DAC-2 and that was the DAC he did his initial tests on.

I have tried the W4S DAC with and without the Recovery. The Recovery does improve the music even more, even with the Femto clock in the DAC.

Also from their website:
"I already own a Wyred 4 Sound DAC with Femto clock. Will the Recovery still benefit me?
Absolutely! The two devices do separate things. The clocking in the DAC has no control over when or how it receives its signal from the sources.The Recovery works to greatly improve the incoming signal before the DAC receives it, so perfecting that allows the DAC to shine even more. The internal clock accuracy and jitter elimination of the DAC can mitigate some of the input jitter, but is no replacement for correcting it beforehand."

AJ.......If it turns out that Pete (Vintage Pete) buys a Recovery, I am positive he will report on the experience of using it with his two DAC's, one being the McIntosh MDA1000, and the other being the Wyred 4 Sound DSD SE.

Dan: Great! Look forward to Pete's unaquivical independant opinion. Would certainly add W4S Recovery to both my audio setups if it adds to my audio quality and experience.
Pete: No rush, I'm already very happy with my current audio sound quality :)
AJ

Today I brought the Sony Vaio laptop with the high-res files up to the living room system along with the Wyred 4 Sound Recovery. I have a second Esoteric K-03 in this system and felt confident I would hear similar improvements with the Recovery in the USB signal path as I did with it in the studio system. I wasn't disappointed.

Playing Eliane Elias - I Thought About You, "Blue Room" without the Recovery was excellent, the acoustic double bass sounded authentic, Elian's voice was engaging, the piano sounded full. I inserted the Recovery into the USB cable just ahead of the DAC and played the tune again. The opening acoustic bass immediately revealed a richer wood tone vibration when the thick strings were plucked. Eliane's voice gained an essence that created the illusion I could practically feel her body heat. The felt covered piano hammers striking the strings delivered ultra clear tones that gripped my attention. I was so mesmerized I let the next two tracks play, "Just Friends" and "Girl Talk". The Recovery really does leave you wondering how this tiny black box inserted in the USB signal path can effortlessly open the window to a clearer performance from an already excellent sound system. I was only going to listen to it for a couple of songs just to hear how it impacted the living room system, then wound up sitting on the couch for over two hours listening to Herbie Hancock, Melody Gardot, Lee Ritenour, among others. I have now had the Recovery in three different sound systems and each one has had the USB digital playback elevated with it's presence in the system. The Wyred 4 Sound Recovery truly raises the bar on my high-res digital music enjoyment.

Very cool...

Okay. Fine, fine, fine. I'll order one and compare. I already have a good LPS and the Curious Cables.