This Wyred 4 Sound system pleasantly surprised me. It was solid on rock, yet capable of conveying the delicacy and detail of Antonio Lysy’s wonderful recording of Ginastera’s Triste (Yarlung Records).

Doing the honors were Wyred 4 Sound’s new W4S MS-2 music server ($1999) sending music via I²S over HDMI to the W4S DAC-2 DAC/preamp ($1499), then balanced to the W4S SX-1000 monoblock amplifiers ($2398/pair). Speakers were Clearwave Symphonia 72R ($7200/pair). Cables also from W4S: 0.5m HDMI (I²S) from music server to DAC ($199), 1m C2 XLR from DAC to amps ($225), and P1 power cables (price not specified).