As I mentioned elsewhere on WBF with this software update Wadax somehow managed to lower the noisefloor in a quite significant way. A lower noisefloor = less distortion = more music. So our experiences casu quo views on the Wadax reference performance (after the update) converge.i wanted to talk about my own Wadax listening, so i'm returning to my own Wadax thread. recently i had the Akasa optical software update done, which is done remotely by Wadax in a 2 step process. first they do the server with the permanent ethernet connection. then step 2 is connecting two additional ethernet cables to 2 service inputs on the dac and it takes about an hour to complete the upgrade. mine was completed late last week.
i do not know what they did.
over a few days and 4-5 hours of listening i was pretty impressed by the up tic in performance. these were subtle changes that had significant benefits. what i heard immediately was more body and greater tonal density and timbre, along with more micro dynamics. over time my sense was just more realism and rightness. and my Wadax listening this past weekend was awesome.
these last weeks i've also been listening to a new tonearm i got in June, but now am spending a lot of time with, the Primary Control FCL field coil loaded tone arm.
Primary Control FCL 12"----field coil loaded unipivot tone arm.
There is of course the technology, in this case magnetically stabilized uni pivot, yet just like with all audio gear ( especially transducers - carts and drivers ) the results can be hard to attribute to a simple tech or material. It's the craft person / designer balancing everything and...www.whatsbestforum.com
i bring this tonearm experience up because what it's doing compared to other tone arms, reminds me of what the Wadax Ref Dac and Ref Server do compared to other digital. yet the Wadax does this 'thing' to a much more dramatic degree compared to the FCL tone arm advantage. the Wadax combo fix digital artifacts and add many higher degrees of realism. the FCL arm also cleans up arm distortions compared to other arms and makes things more real. or more 'right'. the FCL does not have it's own sound or character, neither does the Wadax.
what has always bothered me about feedback i read about the Wadax is that no one ever brings this lack of digital artifacts up. yes; mostly they like the Wadax that it sounds better, but i don't read about specifics of this aspect of cleaning up distortions i heard so clearly when i compared it to both the MSB Select II and the Taiko Extreme server. why did i hear this so obviously, as did others in my room, yet it's not part of the narrative of feedback?
i can only guess about this. one guess is that the compares that have been done have not been done carefully enough. could be a system context thing, or a warm up thing, and a listening care thing. i don't know. there have not been many direct compares. the other guess is that much of the Wadax demos have been alone, without any other dac to directly compare. or at shows. no way for this lack of distortions to be anything one would notice. yet experientially this lack of distortions is really everything. it's the 800 pound gorilla in the room of musical experience. it's why the Wadax sounds like my vinyl. why i can listen for hours and hours.
with the FCL arm this 'rightness' is a profound separator. and with the Wadax it's the same thing. but you need to hear it and realize what is going on. which might take some work to get the proper opportunity with your mind and ears open.
once you hear digital without those distortions......you can't unhear it.
Wow relax, Sorry to derailed your advertising post.
Mike, completly agree. I think Wadax has a lot of complainers because it is pricy. But when you listen some time to this combination it is soo good and satisfying. Regarding the feedback on shows. I have the experience that it really shines when you power the system up for 4 days. So much longer than a show durationi wanted to talk about my own Wadax listening, so i'm returning to my own Wadax thread. recently i had the Akasa optical software update done, which is done remotely by Wadax in a 2 step process. first they do the server with the permanent ethernet connection. then step 2 is connecting two additional ethernet cables to 2 service inputs on the dac and it takes about an hour to complete the upgrade. mine was completed late last week.
i do not know what they did.
over a few days and 4-5 hours of listening i was pretty impressed by the up tic in performance. these were subtle changes that had significant benefits. what i heard immediately was more body and greater tonal density and timbre, along with more micro dynamics. over time my sense was just more realism and rightness. and my Wadax listening this past weekend was awesome.
these last weeks i've also been listening to a new tonearm i got in June, but now am spending a lot of time with, the Primary Control FCL field coil loaded tone arm.
Primary Control FCL 12"----field coil loaded unipivot tone arm.
There is of course the technology, in this case magnetically stabilized uni pivot, yet just like with all audio gear ( especially transducers - carts and drivers ) the results can be hard to attribute to a simple tech or material. It's the craft person / designer balancing everything and...
i bring this tonearm experience up because what it's doing compared to other tone arms, reminds me of what the Wadax Ref Dac and Ref Server do compared to other digital. yet the Wadax does this 'thing' to a much more dramatic degree compared to the FCL tone arm advantage. the Wadax combo fix digital artifacts and add many higher degrees of realism. the FCL arm also cleans up arm distortions compared to other arms and makes things more real. or more 'right'. the FCL does not have it's own sound or character, neither does the Wadax.
what has always bothered me about feedback i read about the Wadax is that no one ever brings this lack of digital artifacts up. yes; mostly they like the Wadax that it sounds better, but i don't read about specifics of this aspect of cleaning up distortions i heard so clearly when i compared it to both the MSB Select II and the Taiko Extreme server. why did i hear this so obviously, as did others in my room, yet it's not part of the narrative of feedback?
i can only guess about this. one guess is that the compares that have been done have not been done carefully enough. could be a system context thing, or a warm up thing, and a listening care thing. i don't know. there have not been many direct compares. the other guess is that much of the Wadax demos have been alone, without any other dac to directly compare. or at shows. no way for this lack of distortions to be anything one would notice. yet experientially this lack of distortions is really everything. it's the 800 pound gorilla in the room of musical experience. it's why the Wadax sounds like my vinyl. why i can listen for hours and hours.
with the FCL arm this 'rightness' is a profound separator. and with the Wadax it's the same thing. but you need to hear it and realize what is going on. which might take some work to get the proper opportunity with your mind and ears open.
once you hear digital without those distortions......you can't unhear it.
sorry, my choice of words (butchered) was not appropriate. you are correct. i was frustrated since i could not determine what you were saying/asking. i have edited that post to remove that word. you did not derail my post.
was your intent to ask me about tone arms on this thread? i'm still not clear. and happy to answer your question if i can first comprehend it. i will move your question to my FCL thread and answer it there, if that was your intent.
I agree and I wrote about my feelings and experience in the dedicated Wadax area post #186As I mentioned elsewhere on WBF with this software update Wadax somehow managed to lower the noisefloor in a quite significant way. A lower noisefloor = less distortion = more music. So our experiences casu quo views on the Wadax reference performance (after the update) converge.
Agree too. Price does effect buying decision but that is a personal issue and an individual justification. We should be able to still discuss an equipment on sonic aspect alone too as well as its cost/benefit on a separate discussion to be fair. Wadax sounds very satisfying to me every time I had a chance to hear. Everyday from videos and often in real. My ears have problem with tone I hear from all dacs except Wadax. We now have all famous dacs regardless of price to hear in my audio group in Thailand. Never a problem for us talking pricey or not pricey in our group.
it's hard to stay objective in the face of significant prices. but it's more fun (and productive) to be in that head space if you can.
tone density--textures--timbre.....satisfying.....the areas where analog rules.
got to be a fun place to be.
thank you Tang, before i bought the MSB Select II, i tried to buy the full stack CH digital, but it was not fully introduced yet.
gy8.eu
the sound of a file stored in studio is different to the sound of file ripped from CD.
when it comes to 'absolutes' about how the hierarchy of digital playback works, it's important to know exactly where things are sourced.
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