Following on my previous post, I did my experiment with two Reference LAN isolators, one in front of the VDAC and the other in front of the WBridge. Given that having one Reference in front of the DAC sounded a little better than one in front of the Bridge, I wasn’t surprised that I heard only a bit of additional benefit from this new configuration. Perhaps with the one Reference right before the DAC essentially isolating the DAC from all the upstream unwanted influences, whatever they are, adding another Reference in front of the Bridge could help only to a more modest degree.
I also decided to try daisy-chaining the two References. I don’t have room around my DAC to place two Reference isolators, and I didn’t want to go from the very short cable to something longer; so, I connected the two References to each other before the Bridge, with the cable from the basement into one and the short Waversa cable out of the other into the Bridge. That produced significant improvement, more of everything provided by a single Reference in that location. Too bad I can’t try it in front of the DAC, but given the results I’ve had, I would expect only a modest improvement again.
General conclusions: a single original isolator is a very nice enhancement; a single Reference builds significantly on that, providing more detail, air, separation, stage, and articulate bass. A daisy-chained pair of References significantly enhances the effects. I can’t say doubles them; to my ears, they just make “more” of the same effects provided by a single and I can’t quantify it. I also think that the greatest benefit is to have the LAN isolator(s) at the very end of all the ethernet cables, right before the last device connected with them, I guess in most cases a streamer or streaming DAC, like the VDAC.
With such impressive results with the References, I had to try the new Reference Plus. I contacted John K. at Kevalin Audio (North America’s Waversa distributor), and he kindly agreed to let me try it out. The Plus is the same size and shape as the WRouter, Bridge and DAC3C. It looks and feels like a solid block of aluminum and is very heavy. Like the other LAN isolators, it has two ethernet inputs only. The Plus is too big and the wrong shape to place with my DAC; however, it’s a perfect fit under the Bridge, so that’s where it went, again with the short Waversa cable. And...?
The Plus is significantly better than the daisy-chained References. In fact, I was quite shocked. How to describe it... everything a pair of References do but more "drive" (maybe partly what I’ve heard called PRAT, but that’s not a sufficient description. I’m referring to a greater sense of live music), more "leading edge attack", enhanced "richness" of tonality and harmonic structure of every instrument, greater separation of instruments and voices but keeping "musicality", tighter and more articulate and detailed bass - I've never had such a sense of musicians, stage, alive in front of me and the recorded space around me with digital – “like in the studio”, says my drummer friend. And without the fake sounding “air” (haze) that so many digital systems have and their “layering” of “flat” images, like phyllo pastry layers rather than three dimensional objects. With the Plus there is no haze – there is a sense of empty but live spaciousness and the air in the room alive with that, not so much heard as felt. I’ve had this, to a lesser degree with the Waversa gear since I got it; it’s a defining characteristic of the Waversa sound, I think, extremely detailed but “warm”, tonally “rich”, like analog. However, now when the music starts, the air also resonates with the tiniest vibrations of instruments' wood, wire, brass - with the breath and “head noise” of vocalists and woodwind players. All instruments and voices have what I can only call “presence”; they are not at all two dimensional and simply “heard” but also “felt”. Absolutely lovely. I found the single and daisy-chained References to be kind of magic; to me, the Plus is rather transformative.
This is hard to put into words, but I’ll try. I’ve done most of my testing with acoustic music, so that’s where the description above is mainly coming from. Instruments don’t just sound “real”; they “feel” real. I guess one way to explain it is to say that even listening at an average of about 20dB, the low “punch” from a kick drum has physical impact, and all other instruments have this same physical presence in the room – a guitar string plucked hard is still felt; the fundamentals’ attack and reverb from vibes and cymbals hit and “shimmer” the air. It’s as if you’re sitting at the back of a performance space rather than having the sound in the room become “flat”, insubstantial, without giving a sense that the instruments and vocalists occupy three-dimensional space, that their “bodies” interact with all the air around them; detail and physicality are still there. As the volume is increased, all this likewise increases – so... lifelike. The speakers have never coupled to the air in the room like this with digital.
Now I had two Reference isolators sitting there… damn. I decided, based on the previous experiments, to hook one up to the VDAC (as I’ve mentioned before, I have ethernet right into the DAC and use its internal streamer board). There is added benefit with this addition, just “more”, again not huge but it’s there, though I could easily live with just the Plus under the Bridge. Still, greedy for what I’m getting, unless I can figure out how to get the Plus hooked up to the DAC, I guess I’m keeping at least one of the References. John Ketcham tells me Waversa says that the three lengths of ethernet cable they make all perform to the same level, so maybe that’s the answer.
One other thing about my experience with these devices is that there doesn’t appear to be a point where they become a detriment to sound quality as they are added to the system, i.e., that they become “too much of a good thing”. On the other hand, it makes sense to me that there will be a point where adding additional isolators has no positive effect, but I didn’t reach it with what I did.
Something to watch out for, though, is the finish on these products. It’s a “soft” apparently brushed aluminum surface and easily picks up oil from one’s fingers. It seems a bit delicate, too, especially along its sharper edges. You don’t want even to lightly bump it into anything. “Kid gloves” are advised. The WBridge has the same finish. The WCore, WRouter and DAC3C do not. I wonder if the feet on the Bridge will make marks on the top of the Plus with time, too, and, if so, what can safely be put between them to prevent it. Advice from the manufacturer on this and on cleaning (mild soapy water and a soft, lint free cloth?) would be very appropriate.
For those also using the Waversa VDAC with its WE 408A tubes in the output stage, the Plus seems to give the system so much more resolution and life that I'm loving the VDAC running with WAP-X enabled, on its default setting. I didn't try this with one or two References, but using the Plus with WAP-X on there is more spaciousness and 3D “solidity” presence, as one would expect, with all the transparency, detail and dynamics of the push-pull KT150 monoblocks I’m running. Before the Plus, I found adding WAP-X made things “too rich for my blood” with most music, trading greater body and sense of space for somewhat diminished detail, softer attacks. Not now.
After all this, I’m a poorer but happier listening room denizen. Happy to relay my experience with the LAN isolators in my system, and so as not to be judged hopelessly solipsistic, as always, YMMV.
(Photo with Reference Plus under WBridge at top and VDAC with one Reference behind at bottom)