Good point you make Morris....I don't know I can give the level of detail you want on the sounds, since I didn't own both pieces to A/B them, just Wavelength stuff. But to me I just didn't hear the same amount of detail in the SN. But like you said, that is also very much system contingent.
I did however look at both of the products before purchasing, among others. In the end, I was able to get a few things out of the buying experience with Wavelength that I couldn't with SN. For one, I was able to audition the Brick, which is a wonderful option to have when spending this kind of money on equipment. The build quality on the Brick is better, no contest there. It is a custom desgined product, from the ground up-even the power supply is made from scratch, and the USB controller is custom as well. I am not sure of the internals on the SN, although I think he uses Black Gates. As nauseating as capacitors and circuitry is for some, this is where you would want to start to make an accurate comparison. Most importantly, find out what the USB controller is, who designed it, and if there are any commodity based DAC chips used in the design. There are alot of pieces out there, even at the high end (Bel Canto, Musical Fidelity etc) using a commodity DAC chip from TI (AKA burr brown). These obviously can be made to sound nice I am sure, since layout of the board and power supply is a factor. They just never sounded right to me.
In the end, Gordon's resume, the time he spent personally, and his dealer choices were all very impressive, and the reason I had not problem spending a little more. The once I listened to it (properly set up) I was shocked at how good his entry level DAC sounded.
It does however make sense to push to try and audition ANYTHING you plan to purchase. A good dealer, or manufacturer will recognize this, and if they dont' move on. If you haven't purchased anything yet, start with the cheapest option and work your way up until your satisfied. If you have the SN, then see if you can listen to a Wavelength product, you won't be sorry.
