Yes, a member indeed......I got on board just as the ship was to sail. I've had some recent correspondence with 2 people who got to play with the WV prototype this summer. I understand that there will be official news before the holiday season.
Development can't take that long, can it?
Well, I guess with this being a one-man show, in the context of development anyway (other than software development for the volume control), I can see how it takes this long. Clearly the power supply design is first rate, the perfectionist approach to the volume control and line stage, the attention to support various source levels and amplifier input sensitivities AND the ultra quiet phono-stage as reported by the people who got to play with the prototype ..... well, I can not imagine this all happening in less than a couple years. Then if you add up all the time to listen to several passive components (e.g., look at his capacitor writeup), step-up transformers, evaluate wiring harnesses from PS to audio chassis, etc., you can easily understand why it's well into year 3. I much prefer this approach than simply going with a capacitor or any other part that may work well now and then have the view that this can later be replaced when all remaining components are evaluated ... and then cause a "MK II" update that ends up costing the customer $500-1000 more and the hassle and risk of shipping the unit back and forth. No thanks! There will always be improved components but I applaud the designer to make every effort to audition all the components available to him before the product is delivered.
My only uncertainty is how the step-up transformers will perform. One of the two people wrote to me that the phono performance in his setup was a step above his line and phono stages....and he uses the Io Signature as well; this is encouraging information. But I also have a highly modified ARC MCP-33 on the shelf to use as a step-up device to compare with the WV's Sowter-based MC input. Of course the MCP-33 will require another IC pair (Jade Hybrids are not cheap) and another Stealth Dream or Dream State PC which are not cheap. Clearly the MCP-33 solution quickly gets expensive but I can "borrow" these cables from the digital setup to try it all out before I buy more cables.
The cool thing about the WV is that you can get it with 2 MM inputs, two Sowter-based MC inputs or one of each. I will likely do the latter which allows me to compare the Sowters to the MCP-33. I suspect that both will have their pros/cons based on the music type, recording quality, etc. I like the flexibility. And of course I can run the Io Sig into a line input to compare to these two options and also compare vs. the Callisto Sig line stage. Lots of evaluations to do once the WV arrives in a few months. It should be very cool, especially based on the high praise of the two people that got to play with the WV this summer.
I have gone crazy trying so many many tubes in the Aesthetix and CAT gear to a point where JD teases me about this regularly. But it has paid off. I just hope I do not get too obsessed with this on the WV and MCP-33. 8-)
John
