Mike
Been a long time reader of your excellent posts all the way back long time ago. I also learned a great deal. I went through my own little journey on finding the right DAC, starting from trinity and nearly ending up with the Select II +/- Extreme, but somehow, emotionally, it didn't felt right, though logically, it ticked all the right boxes. I ascribed my failure with the Select to perhaps a difference in personal taste with speakers in the demo rooms...
(In my locality, its practically impossible to have any extended period of loans or home trials, the most I could get is probably one afternoon. Hence, I have to decide on buying gear with very short auditions with CDs/files I am familiar with, and that means live recordings in venues I know well, and sometimes recordings of concerts I was at.)
The Wadax is a totally different paradigm. I realised that if one uses our Hi FI vocabulary to dissect and decipher differences between DACs, the Select/Grandioso P1x/D1x comes out right at the top. "Resolution" and "Darkness' always comes up to your mind. On the other hand, Wadax presents the same level of detail and 'resolution" , but it doesn't flaunt it. All the details are there, but it doesn't catch your attention, same thing in a real live concert. But, if you try to "analyse " the WADAX DAC, you find that all the resolution and darkness is there. It also presents music alot more like an analog rig.
But, the best way to enjoy Wadax is to forget about all the Hi Fi imagery. You let the music flow through you, and before you notice, it suddenly becomes very relaxing and it becomes very easy to teleport yourself back to the live concerts, as though you are sonically back in a time machine.
Due to my own circumstances, perhaps luckily, I started using the Reference Dac with a Blusound Streamer! ( totally crazy in usual Hi End parlance), using only low resolution files via SPDIF. It worked like a charm, and music flows.
Then, recently, I changed to a RoseHiFi 150 and can stream higher resolution files via USB. But, my reason for the Rose is not tidal/Qobuz, but youtube and TV. Listening to streamed concerts, eg Wigmore Hall recitals on Youtube and the Berliner Concerts are so enjoyable.
Would it be better with high resolution files? I'm sure! But, you may also be surprised how the voice comes through the Wadax in normal TV and low resolution files
Look forward to your comparisons using highend gear and high resolution files!