Schiit Wyrd USB "Decrappifier"

[firedog]

Link: Schiit Audio, Headphone amps and DACs made in USA.

 

Costs $99.

 

What is it? A little box with a USB in and USB out designed to go between the USB port on your server and your DAC. Powered by a LINEAR (not switching) AC wall wart. According to Schiit:

 

Wyrd does two things: it replaces the noisy USB power from your computer with a low-noise linear power supply (no switchers here!) with precision regulators rated at 2.5uV RMS noise. (Or, as Mike Moffat says, “on the 8th day, God called National Semiconductor and told them how to make the best regulator in the world, the LM723."). This is literally 100,000x better than some of the USB ports we’ve measured, which have up to 500mV of high-frequency noise. It also uses a tightly spec’d crystal oscillator on its own filtered power supply for the USB repeater chip, for best possible stability.

 

Pros: relatively cheap, especially compared to some of it's competitors. Looks good for the money.

 

Cons: it's another little box with a wall wart. Not internal to the PC and not a "stick". It has two indicator lights to show that the connections to the server and the DAC are working properly. They are white LED's and extremely bright. Annoyingly so. I turned the Wyrd so it doesn't face me on account of them. I also wrote Schiit and suggested they change the two lights to be less bright.

 

Sound: Schiit specifically says they make no claims this will improve the sound of your system. In fact, they say it shouldn't. They do say that the PS and stable clocking might improve how some DACs interact with PCs - have less glitches, etc.

 

I used it with my Mytek 192 DSD DAC. My server doesn't have an "upgrade" USB card. Till now I always thought the system/DAC sounded better over FW. The sound over USB was a little more forward (which didn't bother me) and a little less "clean" sounding. That did sound inferior to me, so I always used the FW.

 

The Wyrd made the sound of the two very close. The USB still sounds a bit more forward to me, but it no longer sounds a bit dirtier. I'd judge the two interfaces equal with the Wyrd in place.

 

Conclusion: I recommend it for anyone who wants an inexpensive way to clean up the USB to their DAC. Especially if you don't/can't add a upgrade USB card to your server.

[ericuco]

+1

 

I started using a Wyrd because I needed a USB hub so that my 2012 Mini would recognize my DAC's XMOS USB board ... something to do with incapability between USB 3.0 (Mini) & USB 2.0 (XMOS).

 

My XMOS USB board is powered internally so no need for the 5V power from the USB cable. I tape over the + & - power pins on the USB cable coming out of the Wyrd and everything works just fine.

 

The only negative is that you need two USB cables (i.e. PC to Wyrd, Wyrd to DAC) so if you are into expensive cables, then you have to consider the additional cost.

[gmgraves]

Link: Schiit Audio, Headphone amps and DACs made in USA.

 

Costs $99.

 

What is it? A little box with a USB in and USB out designed to go between the USB port on your server and your DAC. Powered by a LINEAR (not switching) AC wall wart. According to Schiit:

 

 

 

Pros: relatively cheap, especially compared to some of it's competitors. Looks good for the money.

 

Cons: it's another little box with a wall wart. Not internal to the PC and not a "stick". It has two indicator lights to show that the connections to the server and the DAC are working properly. They are white LED's and extremely bright. Annoyingly so. I turned the Wyrd so it doesn't face me on account of them. I also wrote Schiit and suggested they change the two lights to be less bright.

 

Sound: Schiit specifically says they make no claims this will improve the sound of your system. In fact, they say it shouldn't. They do say that the PS and stable clocking might improve how some DACs interact with PCs - have less glitches, etc.

 

I used it with my Mytek 192 DSD DAC. My server doesn't have an "upgrade" USB card. Till now I always thought the system/DAC sounded better over FW. The sound over USB was a little more forward (which didn't bother me) and a little less "clean" sounding. That did sound inferior to me, so I always used the FW.

 

The Wyrd made the sound of the two very close. The USB still sounds a bit more forward to me, but it no longer sounds a bit dirtier. I'd judge the two interfaces equal with the Wyrd in place.

 

Conclusion: I recommend it for anyone who wants an inexpensive way to clean up the USB to their DAC. Especially if you don't/can't add a upgrade USB card to your server.

 

 

I had one on loan in my system for about two months, and I used it between my laptop and my DragonFly DAC. The improvement to the DragonFly was immediately noticeable and profound (but improved over the first week of use - so leave it on all the time). Not only was the DragonFly rendered much quieter than it was when powered by the computer, but the soundstage opened up considerably, with better image specificity and more solid localization of instruments within the ensemble. Add to that a slightly tighter bottom end and an airier top, and the result is like going from a $200 DAC to a $1K DAC in terms of the sophistication of the DragonFly's overall presentation. I also have an IFI iUSB (which does the same thing and is more expensive) and I couldn't tell the difference between them, sound-wise. So the choice between $299 for the IFI iUSB and the Schiit Wyrd at $99 is a no brainer. Highly recommended.

[Jabs1542]

Wow, it's really called the Decrappifier - that's putting it out there. Maybe this should be in the "Can a stereo sound too good" thread.

[speavler]

I have one. My description of the effects are that it gives better focus to the soundstage. Taking it out causes the vocals to sound a little ghost-like in comparison, sort of hovering above the space.

[cjf]

I just ordered one tonight. At the asking price I felt its was worth the gamble to see what benefits, if any, it offers.

 

I'm on the fence about what to do in terms of needing a second USB cable for this thing though. I'm using a Wireworld Platinum Starlight USB cable currently. I can say for sure that there is no way in hell I will be purchasing another WWPS cable just to be able to use the same cable end to end with this piece of Schiit

 

I think I may be able to convince myself that the first USB cable coming out of the media server feeding the Wyrd is of little importance compared to the longer run of cable used to feed the DAC. I think I will plan on using a very short, partially respectable length of generic cable for the first leg of the connection and the WWPS cable for the second leg and see how it goes. This does introduce a bit of indigestion for me though knowing that I have now introduced another 1-1.5ft of cable that was not there previously.

[j dub]

I had one on loan in my system for about two months, and I used it between my laptop and my DragonFly DAC. The improvement to the DragonFly was immediately noticeable and profound (but improved over the first week of use - so leave it on all the time). Not only was the DragonFly rendered much quieter than it was when powered by the computer, but the soundstage opened up considerably, with better image specificity and more solid localization of instruments within the ensemble. Add to that a slightly tighter bottom end and an airier top, and the result is like going from a $200 DAC to a $1K DAC in terms of the sophistication of the DragonFly's overall presentation. I also have an IFI iUSB (which does the same thing and is more expensive) and I couldn't tell the difference between them, sound-wise. So the choice between $299 for the IFI iUSB and the Schiit Wyrd at $99 is a no brainer. Highly recommended.

 

 

I would also have to recommend this little box I immediately notice a quieter noise floor and the bass became tighter and more define with my meridian explorer dac.

[gmgraves]

I would also have to recommend this little box I immediately notice a quieter noise floor and the bass became tighter and more define with my meridian explorer dac.

 

 

That's pretty much what I experienced. However I expect, that due to number of USB DACS and USB to SPDIF converters out there these days, that one's actual results are going to depend on the individual design of the device being used as well as the quality of the computer-supplied USB power. Some will obviously experience more of an improvement than will others, and except for a general lowering of the noise floor, the improvement might actually affect different parts of the presentation for different devices.

[maelob]

I am planning to buy one, but oh boy my desk is getting crowded. USB out to wyrd to ifi purifier to USB/spidif to my old benchmark dac1. My wife looks at me and calls me a dork when she sees my crowded desk. What can I say LOL love it

[cjf]

Posting some initial impressions here of the Decrappifier after listening to it in my system over the last two days. First, for $99 I feel the unit is a well built piece and holding it in your hand gives the impression of something more then just a cheap USB hub. It's got some weight to it considering the fact that the power supply is external to the chassis which that in itself is a big plus in my book.

 

So I ended up picking up a not so ghetto 1ft USB cable (Audioquest Carbon) for the first leg of the connection which was the opposite of my initial plans. This cable is being used between the media server (Voyage Linux/Alix combo) and the Wyrd in my setup. The second leg of the USB connection is being taken care of by my Wire World Platinum Starlight reference cable which feeds the DAC. The power cable for the Wyrd is just plugged into an unfiltered AC socket that was nearby (cringe).

 

Going into this purchase I had my doubts that this piece of Schiit would have much of an effect on my system for many different reasons, one of which was because my media server is already very "Green" in terms of its power requirements and in addition to that it is being fed by a laboratory grade adjustable DC power supply that has a fairly impressive spec sheet in terms of Ripple and Noise ..etc.

 

So upon first listen with the Wyrd hooked up to the system my first impression was positive if only because I didn't hear anything negative right away about its presence in the signal chain. Taking into consideration the fact that I have just placed a brand new gadget (The Wyrd) fresh out of the box it was delivered in into my signal chain and also taking into consideration that I have also added a brand spankin new, additional 1ft length of USB cable that wasn't there before which is of lower quality then my reference cable and I was pretty happy right off the bat with this under $300 experiment.

 

As the evening progressed while listening to some very familiar recordings I didn't notice any major differences between having the Decrappifier in the signal chain so I called it a night and decided to test it a bit more thoroughly the next morning.

 

Fast forward to a few hours ago when I decided to queue up a deliberate playlist of high rez music for the purposes of comparing having and not having the Wyrd in the signal chain. The playlist consisted of a few tracks that are fairly closely mic'd with allot of acoustic guitar and a few other tracks that are decently complex in terms of the number of instruments playing at the same time with lots of cymbal, vocal and drum work all taking place at the same time.

 

I'll mention right up front that until I did these tests back to back I would have called the purchase of the Wyrd a wash as the differences it makes are indeed very subtle as some others have already mentioned. Without doing a back to back test I don't think anyone could reliably tell what it is or isn't doing in their system.

 

The test started with the Wyrd in the signal chain. I listened to 4 songs in a row then afterwards I quickly removed the Wyrd from the signal chain and listed to the same 4 songs again without it. I repeated this same test X 2 times in order to get a good handle on the differences.

 

Summary of my findings are listed below:

 

With Wyrd - Heavy Cymbal work sounded more detailed and less splashy sounding. Cymbals had a longer decay and ultimately sounded more like a real cymbal.

 

With Wyrd - Acoustic Guitars seemed to have slightly more body and reverberation to them and I could hear the plucking of strings more clearly.

 

With Wyrd - Aggressive drum strikes in the midrange frequencies had slightly less energy to them at the leading edges. Oddly enough, low bass in general didn't seem to change and still had the same detail and body.

 

With Wyrd - I didn't notice any difference in the noise floor on my system.

 

With Wyrd - All music formats from standard Red Book up to DSD64 played without issue as expected

 

In summary, I found that the Wyrd didn't do any real harm to the SQ as a whole and in certain circumstances actually bettered some areas slightly then not using it at all so because of this I will be keeping the Decrappifier in my system and declare it a worthwhile purchase.

[gmgraves]

Posting some initial impressions here of the Decrappifier after listening to it in my system over the last two days. First, for $99 I feel the unit is a well built piece and holding it in your hand gives the impression of something more then just a cheap USB hub. It's got some weight to it considering the fact that the power supply is external to the chassis which that in itself is a big plus in my book.

 

So I ended up picking up a not so ghetto 1ft USB cable (Audioquest Carbon) for the first leg of the connection which was the opposite of my initial plans. This cable is being used between the media server (Voyage Linux/Alix combo) and the Wyrd in my setup. The second leg of the USB connection is being taken care of by my Wire World Platinum Starlight reference cable which feeds the DAC. The power cable for the Wyrd is just plugged into an unfiltered AC socket that was nearby (cringe).

 

Going into this purchase I had my doubts that this piece of Schiit would have much of an effect on my system for many different reasons, one of which was because my media server is already very "Green" in terms of its power requirements and in addition to that it is being fed by a laboratory grade adjustable DC power supply that has a fairly impressive spec sheet in terms of Ripple and Noise ..etc.

 

So upon first listen with the Wyrd hooked up to the system my first impression was positive if only because I didn't hear anything negative right away about its presence in the signal chain. Taking into consideration the fact that I have just placed a brand new gadget (The Wyrd) fresh out of the box it was delivered in into my signal chain and also taking into consideration that I have also added a brand spankin new, additional 1ft length of USB cable that wasn't there before which is of lower quality then my reference cable and I was pretty happy right off the bat with this under $300 experiment.

 

As the evening progressed while listening to some very familiar recordings I didn't notice any major differences between having the Decrappifier in the signal chain so I called it a night and decided to test it a bit more thoroughly the next morning.

 

Fast forward to a few hours ago when I decided to queue up a deliberate playlist of high rez music for the purposes of comparing having and not having the Wyrd in the signal chain. The playlist consisted of a few tracks that are fairly closely mic'd with allot of acoustic guitar and a few other tracks that are decently complex in terms of the number of instruments playing at the same time with lots of cymbal, vocal and drum work all taking place at the same time.

 

I'll mention right up front that until I did these tests back to back I would have called the purchase of the Wyrd a wash as the differences it makes are indeed very subtle as some others have already mentioned. Without doing a back to back test I don't think anyone could reliably tell what it is or isn't doing in their system.

 

The test started with the Wyrd in the signal chain. I listened to 4 songs in a row then afterwards I quickly removed the Wyrd from the signal chain and listed to the same 4 songs again without it. I repeated this same test X 2 times in order to get a good handle on the differences.

 

Summary of my findings are listed below:

 

With Wyrd - Heavy Cymbal work sounded more detailed and less splashy sounding. Cymbals had a longer decay and ultimately sounded more like a real cymbal.

 

With Wyrd - Acoustic Guitars seemed to have slightly more body and reverberation to them and I could hear the plucking of strings more clearly.

 

With Wyrd - Aggressive drum strikes in the midrange frequencies had slightly less energy to them at the leading edges. Oddly enough, low bass in general didn't seem to change and still had the same detail and body.

 

With Wyrd - I didn't notice any difference in the noise floor on my system.

 

With Wyrd - All music formats from standard Red Book up to DSD64 played without issue as expected

 

In summary, I found that the Wyrd didn't do any real harm to the SQ as a whole and in certain circumstances actually bettered some areas slightly then not using it at all so because of this I will be keeping the Decrappifier in my system and declare it a worthwhile purchase.

 

 

What DAC are you using the Wyrd with? I didn't see reference to it in your post above. What I found with my three USB powered DACs (the original DragonFly, the v.1.2 DragonFly, and a literally no-name Chinese 24/192 DAC) is that one's results depend a lot on the level of sophistication of ones USB DAC. In my case, the Wyrd (and the iUSB) improved the Chinese DAC most of all, the original DragonFly less and the v.1.2 the least. This is, by no means, meant to be a comprehensive test of anything, but since the better equipment showed the least improvement, I suspect that since that result makes sense, it's probably what's really going on. The difference between the two DragonFly's was most telling as one of the improvements touted for the v.1.2 is an improved on-boardpower supply. I.E. your milage may vary....

[Smitty77_7]

If you have an asynchronous USB connection in the line to the DAC, would the Decrappihier add any value? Or is the purification of clocking from that kind of connection also addressing the 'crap' that may be in the line?

 

Example Musical Fidelity V-Linkii USB connected to the computer. Then coax or toslink connected to the DAC. Would a Decrappihier add any value/help between the compuer and the V-Linkii? (The DAC in this case is built into a Meridian F80 'Boombox' used in RV travels.)

 

It's a low cost item in the scheme of things, but wonder if the V-Linkii inline to the DAC is doing the same and more?

 

Still learning, still having fun,

Smitty

[Glisse]

I bought one, and found Schiit's advertising claim to be completely valid, a rarity today.

 

It did not improve sound at all.

[gmgraves]

If you have an asynchronous USB connection in the line to the DAC, would the Decrappihier add any value? Or is the purification of clocking from that kind of connection also addressing the 'crap' that may be in the line?

 

Example Musical Fidelity V-Linkii USB connected to the computer. Then coax or toslink connected to the DAC. Would a Decrappihier add any value/help between the compuer and the V-Linkii? (The DAC in this case is built into a Meridian F80 'Boombox' used in RV travels.)

 

It's a low cost item in the scheme of things, but wonder if the V-Linkii inline to the DAC is doing the same and more?

 

Still learning, still having fun,

Smitty

 

 

All the de-crappifier does (AFAICS) is to discard the 5V USB power coming from the source computer, and replace it with a squeaky clean 5 V that the Wyrd de-crappifier itself produces from the AC mains. I don't think it does any purification of the clocking. The difference one will hear depends upon how good the regulators are in the USB DAC that one is using (and, of course, the quality of the 5 V produced by the computer). For instance, it might help the sound of one of those "dongle" DACs or any other device (such as a M-F V-Link) a lot, but probably wouldn't help something like the Ayre Acoustic QB-9 at all (it's not POWERED by the computer's USB bus).

[gmgraves]

I bought one, and found Schiit's advertising claim to be completely valid, a rarity today.

 

It did not improve sound at all.

 

 

What DAC are you using it with?

[Glisse]

What DAC are you using it with?

 

MSB Platinum IV Sig. I was just trying different approaches to reduce the ground noise pouring out of a Mac Mini's USB. This wasn't a successful one. It is a good USB hub though

[tranz]

MSB Platinum IV Sig. I was just trying different approaches to reduce the ground noise pouring out of a Mac Mini's USB. This wasn't a successful one. It is a good USB hub though

 

Hi Glisse,

 

On another thread I mentioned MSB's new renderer LAN input module that looks intriguing. Perhaps something to look into. Bypass USB and perhaps SPDIF completely with this thing.

[cjf]

What DAC are you using the Wyrd with? I didn't see reference to it in your post above. What I found with my three USB powered DACs (the original DragonFly, the v.1.2 DragonFly, and a literally no-name Chinese 24/192 DAC) is that one's results depend a lot on the level of sophistication of ones USB DAC. In my case, the Wyrd (and the iUSB) improved the Chinese DAC most of all, the original DragonFly less and the v.1.2 the least. This is, by no means, meant to be a comprehensive test of anything, but since the better equipment showed the least improvement, I suspect that since that result makes sense, it's probably what's really going on. The difference between the two DragonFly's was most telling as one of the improvements touted for the v.1.2 is an improved on-boardpower supply. I.E. your milage may vary....

 

I'm using a Meitner MA-1 as my DAC

[Superdad]

All the de-crappifier does (AFAICS) is to discard the 5V USB power coming from the source computer, and replace it with a squeaky clean 5 V that the Wyrd de-crappifier itself produces from the AC mains. I don't think it does any purification of the clocking.

 

Hi George:

The Schiit Wyrd does have an SMSC USB2412 hub chip and a XO for clocking. The concept of regenerating the USB signal near the DAC is a sound one, but we think if they had gone a little further with the design then it would prove helpful even with better DACs. Properly done, this sort of device will benefit even DACs that don't use USB5V power. And the power supply for the hub device matters a great deal. (Not sure why Schiit puts the rectifier diodes and large PS inside the box: the noise from that probably swamps their nice LM723 regulators.)

 

John Swenson and I have been working on a similar product (since before the Wyrd was announced)--with the same SMSC hub chip even. But we use much better regulators, a better clock, proper impedance matching with a 4-layer board--and especially key is that it is tiny enough to not need a USB cable on the output, it plugs into the DAC with just a male>male A>B adapter.

 

I still applaud them for bringing out the Wyrd. I can't put schiit in a box to sell for $99 and make any money. Those guys have my respect for all of what they do!

 

Oh, here is a pic of our little toy just to prove I'm not blowing smoke:

[Superdad]

Hi Glisse,

 

On another thread I mentioned MSB's new renderer LAN input module that looks intriguing. Perhaps something to look into. Bypass USB and perhaps SPDIF completely with this thing.

 

Yes, no S/PDIF involved with MSB's network renderer module. See details here: Network Product Comparisons

Requires DLNA server/controller/renderer s/w configuration. $2K upgrade for their DACs. Looks like this:

[Superdad]

MSB Platinum IV Sig. I was just trying different approaches to reduce the ground noise pouring out of a Mac Mini's USB. This wasn't a successful one. It is a good USB hub though

 

Glisse: Do you really own all the gear listed in your profile? It looks like almost $1 million worth! Wow. I hope you have many rooms for it all.

 

--Alex C.

[Blake]

Another alternative to the Decrappifier, iFi iUSB and multiple potentially expensive usb cables:

 

Buy a TotalDac D1 usb cable and call it a day.

[gmgraves]

MSB Platinum IV Sig. I was just trying different approaches to reduce the ground noise pouring out of a Mac Mini's USB. This wasn't a successful one. It is a good USB hub though

 

Isn't the MSB self powered (I.E., doesn't it plug into the wall?). If so, the Schiit Wyrd wouldn't do anything because the MSB doesn't use the 5V power from the computer's USB anyway AT ALL. So, not only do devices like that have no function in that application, but they aren't even in the circuit!

[gmgraves]

I'm using a Meitner MA-1 as my DAC

 

Again, if a USB DAC is self powered via it's own internal power supply, it does not

use

the 5V USB power that's present on the USB cable as supplied by the computer. In the self-powered DACs, the 5V power pins in the USB cable aren't even connected. These devices only work on DACs and USB-to-SPDIF converters etc., that are actually POWERED by the computer's USB bus like the DragonFly, V-Link, etc.

George

[Superdad]

These devices only work on DACs and USB-to-SPDIF converters etc., that are actually POWERED by the computer's USB bus like the DragonFly, V-Link, etc.

George

 

George:

That is simply not true. Please reread my post above and take a careful look at the Wyrd's PCB. While it is true that the Wyrd (and my own forthcoming "USB Regen") do give extra benefit to DACs that do use USB power (it is a no brainer since we are already taking in an outside PS line and making clean power for the chip--might as well pass that along on the USB cable), the primary function is as a single-port "audiophile USB hub." The USB signal is completely regenerated with the hub chip and clock.

 

Do feel free to ask any other questions about how these work.

 

Best,

--Alex C.