Wadax Munich 2022

[Stereophonic]

Hi everybody.
Nice pictures of Wadax’s systems from Munich…
To delight of all Wadax fans !!!

 

[Stereophonic]

Ref Server, Ref DAC, TLA amplifiers, Kronos, Göbel Marquis and Sovereign Subs.

 

[Stereophonic]

Ref Server, Ref DAC, Gryphon Apex, Gryphon Commander and Kroma Turandot.

 

[Stereophonic]

Main Wadax room with Reference Server, DAC, new Ref. PSU, Atlantis X Transport, Audio Research and Wilson Benesch Eminence.

 

[LL21]

Fantastic.

 

[Stereophonic]

Arya Audio Labs launching Airblade Signature with Atlantis Dac….

 

[Mike Lavigne]

wow! awesome! a gaggle of Wadax.

 

[shakti]

some more of Wadax

 

[LL21]

some more of Wadax

View attachment 93161

Great electronics...how did this system sound to you?

 

[morricab]

Ref Server, Ref DAC, TLA amplifiers, Kronos, Göbel Marquis and Sovereign Subs.

View attachment 93120 View attachment 93121 View attachment 93122

Yes, but this room really only shone when the Kronos TT/phono was used…

 

[morricab]

some more of Wadax

View attachment 93161

This room was a disaster…not sure why…it just was …

 

[LL21]

This room was a disaster…not sure why…it just was …

What did it sound like? What were the deficiencies you heard that made it so bad?

 

[morricab]

What did it sound like? What were the deficiencies you heard that made it so bad?

No dynamics, relatively flat images and soundstage, sharp aggressive highs relatively little bass power despite size and drivers…

 

[LL21]

No dynamics, relatively flat images and soundstage, sharp aggressive highs relatively little bass power despite size and drivers…

Interesting...as much as I prefer the Robert Kodas over our prior Mephisto...my instinct tells me that the Kharmas need raw grunt power which the Mephisto has. I have noticed in our system, we really fine tuned the system when the Robert Kodas came in whereby today the bass propulsion power is [finally] stunning and far more articulate and natural than with the Mephisto...but it took some doing. It is definitely not a drop in replacement.

Speaker placement, sub adjustment really needed to be more precisely executed. Additionally, grounding with Tripoint and particularly the Entreq Plutons/Tungsten has also made a tremendous difference in regard to depth, density of tonal color and bass propulsion/drive. Tremendous...and I would say 'required reading' for any owners of the Robert Koda electronics. They are a magic combination.

I could imagine from the little experience over the last 9 months of the Robert Koda that dropping it into a hotel room would be a challenge. The RK is a sublime amplifier with extreme refinement in my experience...Robert K clearly designed it never to overpower any other components but rather to deliver its special magic by effortlessly revealing, unraveling and uncovering...and thus it can be deceptively easy to get it set up where the sound goes wrong (flat) because it will not push or drive the sound forward of its own but only send as much of the original signal forward unblemished, untouched as it receives. Its very, very, VERY rewarding when you get it right...but I think it can take real dedication to get a system there. Particularly in sending forward the bass.

I have dropped multiple Gryphons into multiple different systems, and I always enjoyed it when I did...but you could also sense the Gryphon signature at work -- for me a good thing (actually a GREAT thing). But if you're looking for signature-less, you can detect it once you get to know it.
For me, it has been much harder to detect a signature (for me at least yet) with the Robert Koda.

 

[shakti]

Great electronics...how did this system sound to you?

I was not happy with the sound at all,
specially when seeing the gear in use.
No idea, what was reason for not performing accordingly to the effort taken

 

[morricab]

Interesting...as much as I prefer the Robert Kodas over our prior Mephisto...my instinct tells me that the Kharmas need raw grunt power which the Mephisto has. I have noticed in our system, we really fine tuned the system when the Robert Kodas came in whereby today the bass propulsion power is [finally] stunning and far more articulate and natural than with the Mephisto...but it took some doing. It is definitely not a drop in replacement.

Speaker placement, sub adjustment really needed to be more precisely executed. Additionally, grounding with Tripoint and particularly the Entreq Plutons/Tungsten has also made a tremendous difference in regard to depth, density of tonal color and bass propulsion/drive. Tremendous...and I would say 'required reading' for any owners of the Robert Koda electronics. They are a magic combination.

I could imagine from the little experience over the last 9 months of the Robert Koda that dropping it into a hotel room would be a challenge. The RK is a sublime amplifier with extreme refinement in my experience...Robert K clearly designed it never to overpower any other components but rather to deliver its special magic by effortlessly revealing, unraveling and uncovering...and thus it can be deceptively easy to get it set up where the sound goes wrong (flat) because it will not push or drive the sound forward of its own but only send as much of the original signal forward unblemished, untouched as it receives. Its very, very, VERY rewarding when you get it right...but I think it can take real dedication to get a system there. Particularly in sending forward the bass.

I have dropped multiple Gryphons into multiple different systems, and I always enjoyed it when I did...but you could also sense the Gryphon signature at work -- for me a good thing (actually a GREAT thing). But if you're looking for signature-less, you can detect it once you get to know it.
For me, it has been much harder to detect a signature (for me at least yet) with the Robert Koda.

I don’t think the RK electronics were necessarily to blame because the same speaker in the Kharma room also sound blah. I actually got excited when I walked in and saw RK amp/pre but 10 seconds later I was disturbed and disappointed with what I heard. I am not saying anything really about the components just what i heard about systems.

What I can say though is that not one mega buck system that was all solid state sounded very good…darTZeel with Stenheim was ok and Wilson D’Agostino/DCS was ok too and that was about it. The CH room with 10 series stuf and Rockport speakers was dull and lifeless…no other way to put it. Wilson/Nagra was “ok” but not for that kind of money.

 

[Stereophonic]

 

[LL21]

I don’t think the RK electronics were necessarily to blame because the same speaker in the Kharma room also sound blah. I actually got excited when I walked in and saw RK amp/pre but 10 seconds later I was disturbed and disappointed with what I heard. I am not saying anything really about the components just what i heard about systems.

What I can say though is that not one mega buck system that was all solid state sounded very good…darTZeel with Stenheim was ok and Wilson D’Agostino/DCS was ok too and that was about it. The CH room with 10 series stuf and Rockport speakers was dull and lifeless…no other way to put it. Wilson/Nagra was “ok” but not for that kind of money.

Interesting...thanks for the listening notes!

 

[LL21]

I was not happy with the sound at all,
specially when seeing the gear in use.
No idea, what was reason for not performing accordingly to the effort taken

Sounds like you're not alone on that score. Thanks for the commentary.

 

[morricab]

Sounds like you're not alone on that score. Thanks for the commentary.

Would love to hear the Koda gear in a different context… although I would probably prefer the older hybrid amps