New arrivals: Wyred4Sound STP SE, Triode Wire Labs

The FedEx Fairy (not something I’d say to his face) came bringing gifts today! My favorite kind of day.

First up is a Wyred4Sound STP SE preamp. This guy is an “activated passive”, to borrow a phrase, and a couple of years ago, was the hottest thing coming out of the EJ Sarmento hot little lab. Since then, they’ve had a string of hits, including DACs, some teeny integrateds, and this fall, a whole new line of mini desktop stuff. I’m impressed. But, for the record, it was this preamp that Srajan Ebaen went nuts over at 6moons that caught my imagination. I’ve been lusting after it ever since — and today was the day.

I’ll be running it in the main rig until I can afford to fill that system out again, and pairing it with amps from First Watt, Odyssey and Plinius.

The unit is a demo, direct from Wyred, so break-in is going to be pretty much non-existent, but give me a few days to get familiar with it before holding my feet to the fire.

Also in today’s mail came a small box stuff with some fat power cords from Triode Pete over at Triode Wire Labs!

I’m pretty excited by these. Pete uses a “special alloy” to get his sonic signature, and still manages to keep his prices from flying off the deep end. Here’s to hoping the formula works — for me, and for Pete. I mixed up some metaphors there, so hopefully that made sense. You know. I wish Pete well, ‘cuz he’s a super nice dude, and I hope the cords are great for my rig — oh, never mind.

I have two of his Seven Plus American PCs and one Ten Plus. These are some heavy-duty wires, and you can feel the mass of the wire right through the Techflex. They’re also flexible — like, yoga instructor flexible, like, it shouldn’t be able to do that flexible. But it does. Ahem.

Anyway, this is gonna be fun!