Wavelength Audio Brick USB DAC

The Wavelength Brick turns your computer into a high-end music server that delivers high-end audio the way it should.

Not Another Brick in the Wall…

There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.

—    Ken Olson, president of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977

I hope he bought into the stock plan.

When I was seven years old, my Father brought home Atari’s “Pong”, the brainchild of video game inventor, Ralph Baer. Two weeks later, an introverted and forward-looking kid from Modesto would begin his ascent to the throne of a moviemaking empire whose pursuit of innovation would change filmmaking forever. The release of Star Wars changed everything for any kid born in the 70s. I refused to get a haircut for an entire year so that I could have Han Solo’s scruffy looking cut. Video games and cutouts of Carrie Fisher littered my room. I envisioned a world where my stereo would be replaced (minus my turntable, of course) by a little black box.

How prophetic.

Innovation is a scary word.

Innovation requires taking a chance even if you know other people think you are barking up the wrong tree. It takes guts to go first and put your ideas out there risking ridicule and disapproval from your peers, let alone your financial security.

More than two years ago at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Wavelength Audio’s Gordon Rankin unveiled a tiny box whose importance was overlooked by the “old guard”, but would have enormous impact on those forward-thinking types who saw the writing on the wall in regard to the traditional CD player. Rankin foresaw the significance of the iPod and the challenge it would present to the world of High Fidelity CD players, so rather than run up a hill carrying a sumo wrestler on his back, he pressed on with his ideas for computer-based audio products that would have mass appeal to music lovers who had begun to embrace the idea of using their computer as their home media center.

Rankin’s theory behind all of this is rather simple. Computers have become such an integrated part of people’s homes that it would make little or no sense not to investigate their use as your entertainment hub (for audio and video).  Taking it one step further, Rankin believes that the platform is stable enough, especially with the strong support for programs such as iTunes and Foobar, that when coupled with one of his USB-based digital-to-analog converters, it is possible to turn even a $999 laptop into a High Fidelity playback device.

It was also essential that his components fall into the category of “Plug ‘n’ Play” with minimal fuss for the end user.  While there are technical reasons for using the USB connection (which we will discuss in a moment – patience folks, sheesh) between your computer and DAC, there is some marketing genius behind it as well – something which has never been the hallmark of the High Fidelity world.

Almost every computer sold in the world today (and for the past five years at least) has a USB connection.  The computer you are reading this on is most likely connected to a printer, iPod docking station, scanner via USB 1.0 or 2.0 connections. USB hubs are sold in almost every store that carries computer products. You could probably even find one in a gas station if you looked hard enough.

USB cables (we would not advise going longer than 12 feet – a shielded 6-foot USB cable would be our recommendation) are inexpensive.

High quality digital cables (Cardas, Kimber, Stereovox) are not inexpensive, even if they do improve the sound quality of your system and are necessary purchases depending on your hardware mix.

Enter Sandman

At 6” x 6” x 4.25”, the Brick looks rather comfortable placed next to one of Apple’s Mac Mini desktop computers. The similar dimensions are not a coincidence, as Wavelength openly recommends the Mac Mini as an excellent partner for the Brick. A clever design choice to say the least.

The outside of the Brick (which is manufactured out of heavy-cast aluminum) has a rather expensive looking and custom-made badge, USB input, RCA analog outputs, and the receptacle for the wall-wart power supply. A blue LED lights up when a connection is made between your computer and the Brick. Internally, the Brick is a multi-bit DAC with zero up/oversampling and zero filters. As it has no gain after the multi-bit DAC, it is possible (depending on the output of your current digital gear) that the Brick might sound quieter in your system. The USB controller is a custom-unit designed by Wavelength which has no issues in terms of co-operating with OSX, Windows98se or higher, and the Linux 2.4.22 operating system. 

As long as your computer is set-up to work with a USB 1.1 or higher connection, you ready to roll.

Why use a USB?

Primarily, to help reduce or eliminate a nasty digital problem called “jitter” which has a measurable effect on the sound quality of your digital playback device.  Think of jitter, if you want to use a turntable as an example in the analog realm, as the “wow and flutter” that leads to shifts in pitch.  You can hear these shifts when you play a record if the table is really off. In the digital world, the shift is a deviation in the pulses of a digital signal. In layman’s terms – the information is not in sync when it leaves (a digital transport, as an example) via the SPDIF output.

But why use a computer instead of a good transport?

One good reason is that the SPDIF interface was never designed to do what it is used for, something that the Phillips engineers involved with the development of the CD struggled with and designers still do. Another issue in regard to SPDIF is that the interface not only has to pass the data correctly, but also reform the clock.

Another benefit of a computer is its ability to read a CD and save it in an error free state. Transports, even the best of the best, cannot go back and re-read a track when they have a read error. Computers also have vast amounts of memory and because they are not constrained by time can re-read a track until it writes an error-free version to the hard drive.

Does it work?

Must say that it does.

Back in Black

Okay, so you’ve taken your first big step into a new world and purchased this $1,750 device.

How does one connect it?

Run the supplied 6-foot USB 2.0 cable from the USB input on the Brick (fat end goes into the Brick) into a USB input on your computer.

If using a Mac, go into “System Preferences” and click the “Sound” icon.

Click the “output” tab and click on “Wavelength” which should be an option in the menu.

Exit out of “System Preferences”Open iTunes (if using that program) and go into the “Preferences” menu.

Go into “Playback” and disable “Sound Enhancer” and “Sound Check”.

Go into “Advanced” and set the buffer size on “Large”.

Disable “Look for remote speaker”.

Go into “Importing” and set “Apple Lossless Encoder” as the import format.

Click on “Error Correction” and never turn it off.

Run a set of interconnects between the Brick and your pre-amplifier/integrated amplifier/receiver, and make sure that you didn’t forget to plug it in. The entire process should take you no more than a few minutes. Piece of cake.

You want me to do what with those CDs?

One of the major issues involved with turning your computer (desktop or laptop) into a High Fidelity party machine is that somebody has to rip all of those CDs to begin with. If you have only 50 and a few hundred MP3s, it really isn’t a big deal. On the other hand, if you have closer to 1,800 as we do in Chez White, it becomes a bonding experience with your spouse, girlfriend, or significant whatever. One bit of advice – resist the urge to burn more than 50 on any given day. Rip #51 made some weird grinding noises that were not present earlier in the day. Another bit of advice – clean your CDs before you rip them onto your drive.

My last bit of advice? Back-up your collection on a regular basis just to be safe.

Hey honey…want to rip the entire CD collection again?

I didn’t think so.

I was born to love you. I was born to lick your face.

I must confess that prior to my experience with the Brick, I was unwavering in my desire to keep MP3s (even Apple’s 128K AACs) off of my computer. Very much like the pastrami at my local deli, I find them to be very inconsistent. Dry…is the word that I am looking for.

So it was with great skepticism that I purchased a number of songs from iTunes and let them rip through the Brick.

Kayne West’s “Gold Digger” was getting on my nerves thanks to only a few hundred plays on NYC radio each day, but it didn’t sound half-bad (128K AAC) through the Brick with actual bass below 80Hz. My system has a somewhat ‘lively” tonal balance and I thought it was positive that the Brick tamed its presentation without killing its immediacy

At CES 2006, I had an opportunity to listen to the LP of Cat Power’s The Covers Record, which has an interesting version of the Rolling Stone’s “Satisfaction”. The AAC version doesn’t have the beautiful tone and detail of the vinyl, but it still had far more richness and depth than I would have expected from such a compressed file.

Hmmm…

If I had to focus on the Brick’s greatest strength in regard to how it handled the lower-resolution AAC files, it would most certainly be the amount of detail and depth that one hears. Kelly Joe Phelps’ “Hard Time Killin’ Floor Blues” got my foot tapping from the first note and I discovered thanks to the Brick that there is a lot more music on some of these lower-resolution formats than I had given them credit for.

If you enjoy classical music, particularly material such as Ensemble Explorations’ stirring rendition of Mendelssohn’s Octuor op. 20, then the Brick is certainly worth exploring as it reproduces their exquisite recording with both a delicate touch and fiery immediacy.

Sticking with lossless rips for a moment, I had to give Otis Taylor’s Below the Fold the chance to at least frighten the children with its brutally honest lyrics and growling guitars. The Brick got it right from start to finish with its clear, direct, and detailed presentation. Taylor’s guitar growls at you with furious anger and you get it all with the Brick because it doesn’t roll-off at the extremes.

Connected to the CEC HD53R headphone amplifier, the Brick made both the Sennheiser HD650 and AKG K 701s really sing. The HD650s in particular, really opened up with Black Sabbath, making my office the place to work all afternoon for the hard rock crowd in the office. It was rather clear to everyone that the Brick was capable of making any headphone/headphone amplifier combination kick ass.

Who is this really for?

The bottom line on the Brick is that it should be considered one of the best solutions for anyone looking to assemble a High Fidelity music server in their home with the least amount of effort and fuss. There are a lot of USB-based products coming down the pike right now, but they are going to have to be very special to best this little guy. Spend the $1,750 now and be done with it. You won’t be sorry.