Legacy Wavelet as Preamp/DAC/DSP vs just DSP


I am upgrading from a Legacy Focus SE to a Legacy Aeris and Wavelet system. Many folks tend to use the Wavelet as an all in one and end up walking away from thei preamp and DAC separates. I’m skeptical of doing that, as I love my PS Audio Directstream DAC and Modwright LS 36.5 DM preamp. I can’t imagine the Wavelet would beat those.

I’d love to hear others’ journeys with the Wavelet. Did you find it bested your preamp and DAC? Did you end up using it just for your DSP? What preamp, DAC and cables did you use it with, and what did the A/B tests reveal?

Also, has anyone used it only to process the bass section only and used the rest of the output straight from the preamp? Is that even possible?
Thanks for sharing. 

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Showing 4 responses by dies_irae


I did go with an outboard power supply for the wavelet, which seemed to help."
Curious about this. I have a Wavelet now with my Aeris. But I am boxing it up this weekend as part of moving up to the Valor. I assume you mean you replaced the Wavelet’s already-outboard in-line switching PSU with a linear supply? Which one, and where did you source your cable? I’ve been thinking about trying this with a spare Keces I have and a cable I have yet to locate. Any advice appreciated.
FWIW, for anyone else interested in going with an outboard linear PSU for the Wavelet, here are some options I have found:

1. Keces P8 PSU plus custom umbilical made by Ghent Audio. Ghent makes excellent cables, and he is fabbing one for me with a 2.5mm tip on one end for the Keces, and a 5-pin Neutrik XLR on the other for the Wavelet. We’ll see how that works; I like Keces, and have good success with them powering a number of devices.

2. Plixir Power Elite BDC, with custom umbilical cord. James Soh there is very helpful. I’ve been looking forward to trying a Plixir product, and while it’s not the balanced power supply I thought I would first try, this is a good start. Their products have received some very nice reviews. James features several use-case-specific versions of the BDC on his website, and I have suggested he list one for the Wavelet as well. Given our hobby’s obsession with improving every last detail of a system, I would not be surprised to find other Wavelet owners interested. And being able to source this option from one vendor, as opposed to two, might be advantageous.

3. HDPlex 300W PSU plus a custom umbilical made by Revelation Audio Labs. This is the combo in zephyr24069’s system. Brad Vojtech of Revelation is superb to work with. Some—though probably no one here—might find his cable is a tad pricey at $349 for 1.5m. Unfortunately, I have never been able to purchase an HDPlex PSU, though I have tried at least 5 times over the past couple of years. They have always been out of stock, and when they have become available, I have already found other solutions.
Anyway, I hope this helps.

I've been in touch with Legacy re power supplies and they report one of their Wavelet owners is using this:

https://ferrum.audio/hypsos/

Interesting. Ferrum does not list the Wavelet or any iteration of a Legacy or Bohmer  product on their compatibility list. I've written them to see if perhaps they do offer an umbilical compatible with the Wavelet. I remain very happy with the Plixir LPS I have, but, well, obsession.

Checking in on this thread to see how folks' experience is. I continue to prefer my system with the Wavelet II and the Vivaldi stack, together, even though that involves an extra ADA round trip. When I run the Wavelet as my DAC, the system is still excellent, but seems a bit less organic. Yeah, I know, audiophile buzzword. but it's the best I've got.

Bill Duddleson offered to build me a 'box' that will use the speaker outputs and convert them to XLR inputs bypassing the Wavelet saving the purity of the DAC to the mids and tweets. 

I'm not clear on what this means. Bill's a super-smart guy, so maybe this is obvious to him, but wouldn't this mean bypassing room correction in the Wavelet as well? I would love a way for my Vivaldi DAC to "replace" the DAC segment of the Bohmer, if everything could stay in a single digital domain, but I doubt that's a real possibility. My Valors require the preamp/crossover function of the Wavelet for now [short of a custom xover], so I can't get away from the Wavelet entirely [and don't really want to anyway].

Another reason I would love to have this option, is that I want to try some Trinnov gear ahead of the Vivaldi to see how that compares to the Bohmer.