Wadax Reference Dac and Server arrive

[LL21]

tonight i've done a playlist of Golden Age jazz classics. honestly in the past i've not listened to much of this digitally as it's a focus of my vinyl listening. but....the Wadax combo, even with redbook streaming, is able to take me to a high place where i am not aware it's not vinyl. it just soars and sucks me in like my 45 rpm gems. no; not exactly the same by degrees, but soo close. and i don't have to worry about falling asleep.

the Wadax does horns so completely......tonal density and organic textures. ease, flow and a sense of ambient air.......soundstage depth, holographic reach out and touch it presentation. real and life like.

i get the action and sense of air pressure from the horns......that immediacy and startle factor. life. alive.

Lee Morgan's "Search for a New Land" 192/24-Quboz......just started......sweeeeet!

no compromise digital.

Awesome.

 

[microstrip]

in the land of the blind men, the one eye'd man is King.

agree; A/B never tells the whole story. but we do what we can. and if it's our own system, then it's better than the alternative. as that is your context to use the gear. there are 'tells' that can be relied on.

It depends on the alternative. If the alternative is optimizing the system for each of A and B and listening during a few weeks or months to many types of recordings I prefer the alternative.

you spend your dollars your way.

But I think that, as me, many times you take the decision before carrying the A/B ... At the moment we are able to compare in our systems - I also do it, BTW - we already have created a strong bias towards the component we want to buy.

we can never eliminate bias and desire for pretty things, nor do we want to. this ain't science. not close.

And yes, high-end stereo is not science. As they say, it is an individual experience and as such is too complex to be scientifically analyzed.

 

[nickif]

Mike’s thread always got me curious. So went to Audio Exotic showroom yesterday afternoon and spent 2 hours listening only to the Wadax reference server and DAC. Been there many times before and listened to vinyl 95% of the time.

Streaming from Qobuz, the sound is rich and full, slightly on the warm side of neutral; there’s zero “digital harshness” and most importantly this combo has a special “soft touch” that other digital front end rarely posses. It‘s not softening of the sound, rather it’s the ultra smoothness in the “up and down“ of the music; and the ability to reproduce the numerous “shades“ within the music...

No doubt it’s as good as digital can get, especially for modern recordings I don’t feel the need for vinyl; for classical redbook recording vinyl is still way ahead (mainly due to the file limitation).

Does it sound indistinguishable from vinyl? No I don’t think so, and I’m confident that such blind test is an easy job.

 

[microstrip]

(...) No doubt it’s as good as digital can get, especially for modern recordings I don’t feel the need for vinyl; for classical redbook recording vinyl is still way ahead (mainly due to the file limitation).

Can you tell us what you mean by file limitation?

Does it sound indistinguishable from vinyl? No I don’t think so, and I’m confident that such blind test is an easy job.

Vinyl has an unique sound. Probably rips of vinyl will sound closer to it than digitization of mastertape.

 

[dminches]

Vinyl has an unique sound. Probably rips of vinyl will sound closer to it than digitization of mastertape.

I agree and that’s why I don’t get why people use “sounds like vinyl” as a measure of digital playback sound. Digital will never sound like vinyl (which is not in any way a rip on digital). As long as digital sounds like music and not digital music I am satisfied.

 

[howiebrou]

Mike’s thread always got me curious. So went to Audio Exotic showroom yesterday afternoon and spent 2 hours listening only to the Wadax reference server and DAC. Been there many times before and listened to vinyl 95% of the time.

Streaming from Qobuz, the sound is rich and full, slightly on the warm side of neutral; there’s zero “digital harshness” and most importantly this combo has a special “soft touch” that other digital front end rarely posses. It‘s not softening of the sound, rather it’s the ultra smoothness in the “up and down“ of the music; and the ability to reproduce the numerous “shades“ within the music...

No doubt it’s as good as digital can get, especially for modern recordings I don’t feel the need for vinyl; for classical redbook recording vinyl is still way ahead (mainly due to the file limitation).

Does it sound indistinguishable from vinyl? No I don’t think so, and I’m confident that such blind test is an easy job.

Did you manage to compare the JMF dac with the Wadax?

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Mike’s thread always got me curious. So went to Audio Exotic showroom yesterday afternoon and spent 2 hours listening only to the Wadax reference server and DAC. Been there many times before and listened to vinyl 95% of the time.

thanks Michael for taking the time to do this. it's fortunate that you can.

Streaming from Qobuz, the sound is rich and full, slightly on the warm side of neutral; there’s zero “digital harshness” and most importantly this combo has a special “soft touch” that other digital front end rarely posses. It‘s not softening of the sound, rather it’s the ultra smoothness in the “up and down“ of the music; and the ability to reproduce the numerous “shades“ within the music...

good description.

No doubt it’s as good as digital can get, especially for modern recordings I don’t feel the need for vinyl; for classical redbook recording vinyl is still way ahead (mainly due to the file limitation).

what consistently jumps out for me is that while listening, it is doing everything i desire. and there are those 'suspension of disbelief' moments occurring constantly in the vinyl way. no previous digital attained this anywhere near the Wadax. not as much as better vinyl, or quite as profound maybe, but i'm fulfilled in my listening. never getting the itch to switch.

Does it sound indistinguishable from vinyl? No I don’t think so, and I’m confident that such blind test is an easy job.

no doubt we could hear that upon direct comparison the vinyl goes farther. i agree. my A/B's with my better pressings reveal that clearly.

 

[nickif]

Can you tell us what you mean by file limitation?

Vinyl has an unique sound. Probably rips of vinyl will sound closer to it than digitization of mastertape.

I mean the quality of online classical recording files seem to be limited.

fully agreed on vinyl sounds unique, I’ve heard some recordings on Apple Music seem to be digitized from vinyl and those sounded quite a bit better than pure digital ones.

 

[nickif]

Did you manage to compare the JMF dac with the Wadax?

No, there was no JMF dac in the showroom. However to me JMF is more than enough for digital, maybe I can even settle with something less, like a Linn klimax? Who knows.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

I mean the quality of online classical recording files seem to be limited.

fully agreed on vinyl sounds unique, I’ve heard some recordings on Apple Music seem to be digitized from vinyl and those sounded quite a bit better than pure digital ones.

i think there are a number of high rez classical files which might push past this. especially native dxd (352/24) and dsd256. i need to load my own files on the Wadax server to fully investigate. agree that the better analog sourced classical recordings might be the best sounding digital classical music. but that is mostly how they were performed and recorded, not necessarily that they are analog based.

my listening to digital including streaming, all along is 70% classical, and i run across many modern digital recordings, while not like vinyl, are very fine in the their own way. not most, but many are like that.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Nick, I would love it if you could ever audition the JMF universal disc transport at AE showroom, and compare it to this elite level streaming. Especially via the Wadax Ref gear.

 

[nickif]

i think there are a number of high rez classical files which might push past this. especially native dxd (352/24) and dsd256. i need to load my own files on the Wadax server to fully investigate. agree that the better analog sourced classical recordings might be the best sounding digital classical music. but that is mostly how they were performed and recorded, not necessarily that they are analog based.

my listening to digital including streaming, all along is 70% classical, and i run across many modern digital recordings, while not like vinyl, are very fine in the their own way. not most, but many are like that.

My impression is the same, for online streaming modern classical recordings are better in quality than historical recordings in general.

Recently I listen to Apple lossless a lot on the road and it’s surprisingly enjoyable. While in direct comparison, Qobuz still reigns in terms of sound quality somehow Apple lossless sounds a bit more lively and pleasing. Maybe spatial audio has some magic?

 

[nickif]

Nick, I would love it if you could ever audition the JMF universal disc transport at AE showroom, and compare it to this elite level streaming. Especially via the Wadax Ref gear.

I’m afraid that’s too much hassle, hand carry the dac to the showroom and compare CD to streaming? After all they are not supposed to be compared given the price gap, are they?


Michael

 

[Steve Vu]

Can you tell us what you mean by file limitation?

Vinyl has an unique sound. Probably rips of vinyl will sound closer to it than digitization of mastertape.

It depends on how vinyl records are. If they started from digital, they could not be better than digital.

In digital age, almost vinyl records had the origin from digital.

 

[spiritofmusic]

I’m afraid that’s too much hassle, hand carry the dac to the showroom and compare CD to streaming? After all they are not supposed to be compared given the price gap, are they?


Michael

No, I simply mean use the JMF transport as an alternative source to streaming, into the Wadax Ref DAC. I know there's an Atlantis transport, but I have a sneaky long term love affair w that JMF transport.

 

[nickif]

It depends on how vinyl records are. If they started from digital, they could not be better than digital.

In digital age, almost vinyl records had the origin from digital.

I’ll have to disagree, got quite some DG digital recording classical records both on vinyl and CD, much prefer vinyl to CD/streaming.

 

[Steve Vu]

I’ll have to disagree, got quite some DG digital recording classical records both on vinyl and CD, much prefer vinyl to CD/streaming.

You can hear these clips and come to a conclusion by yourself.

 

[nickif]

No, I simply mean use the JMF transport as an alternative source to streaming, into the Wadax Ref DAC. I know there's an Atlantis transport, but I have a sneaky long term love affair w that JMF transport.

oh I see what you mean now, my apology. From memory, Wadax server sounds better than JMF transport feeding the wadax dac. But that‘s as expected as the wadax combo are made together, and the optical connection are optimized for each other.

I did a direct comparison of wadax trio, CH C1 and JMF DAC all fed by JMF transport, and JMF combo blew everything away. That’s the power of synergy.

 

[spiritofmusic]

oh I see what you mean now, my apology. From memory, Wadax server sounds better than JMF transport feeding the wadax dac. But that‘s as expected as the wadax combo are made together, and the optical connection are optimized for each other.

I did a direct comparison of wadax trio, CH C1 and JMF DAC all fed by JMF transport, and JMF combo blew everything away. That’s the power of synergy.

When you say the JMF duo beat the Wadax trio, you mean the Atlantis range or Reference range w Atlantis X transport?

 

[nickif]

When you say the JMF duo beat the Wadax trio, you mean the Atlantis range or Reference range w Atlantis X transport?

No, Wadax Trio was the previous generation server/dac prior to Atlantis.