Wavelength Audio Crimson Ver. 2 DSD/PCM USB DAC

The Wavelength Crimson represents the pinnacle of tube DAC performance.  Designed by digital audio genius Gordon Rankin, the unique 71A directly heated triode output stage with a full tube rectified power supply makes the digital audio experience warm and exciting.  The version 2 USB/DAC module allows for 32/384 PCM and DSD64/128 over DoP and is fully upgradable to any future revisions.

Original owner, purchased from authorized dealer.  Less than three years old, in excellent condition.  Pet free, smoke free environment.  Includes four new matched pairs of 71A tubes and four new rectifier tubes (ships separately) . . Asking $4998 plus $100 shipping (two boxes) and 3% PayPal fee.

Audiostream said about the Crimson:

There has been a great resurgence in analog-vinyl reproduction among audiophiles. Some analog aficionados claim that digital reproduction lacks the natural richness and ease that one hears in live music. They feel digital is thin with an over-etched sound. These folks should listen to the Crimson.
The best way to describe the Crimson is a transparency from top to bottom that reproduces the harmonic richness of real acoustic instruments and voices. There is an abundance of detail with great ease and smoothness. Transients are well reproduced without hardness. A finger plucking a nylon guitar string displays the attack and resonance of the guitar. Some DACs get the initial attack, but the natural resonance of the instrument is lost. The percussive properties of the piano sound real with a natural decay of the sound. Acoustic instruments sound real with a liquidity and focus that is a joy to listen to. When the Crimson is pushed hard in great crescendos, it does not overload or become hard sounding. Other DACs will limit the crescendo and essentially compress the dynamics robbing the music of what makes it sound real.

The reproduction of the acoustic space of a recording is another sonic strength of the Crimson HS. The Crimson can reproduce an amazing soundstage that that while being exceptionally wide, is also very deep. Many fine DACs have difficulty reproducing depth adequately. If the recording is good, the Crimson will redefine your definition of soundstage. Fine orchestral recordings will allow you to hear the instruments and voices portrayed with their acoustic space preserved.Studio recordings of vocalists will have great focus and a sense of body to the sound without the thinness that I hear from other DACs. Focus and resolution is uncanny. You will hear little details in recordings that you previously missed with other DACs. Bass is fast and dynamic sounding. I would say that the Crimson plays bass with a sonic realism that emphasizes the richness of the bass with no sense of overhang. The Crimson just sounds more like the real thing.