Wadax Reference Dac and Server arrive

[Stereophonic]

let's turn down the rhetoric here please. it serves no one to do this stuff. let's just focus on the positives of Wadax. polarization is not productive.

I was only answering to Steve.
I wrote my message in the right thread...... Anyway, you never have been attacked by these guys when nobody knows Wadax. You have to understand it. Wadax wasn't borned yesterday.
Turning this message to be constructive, it is obvious that Wadax has best OS design to sound so wonderfull by Roon...

 

[2ndLiner]

Hi @Stereophonic = There were no personal attacks on you, it was more the buzz-kill nature of your posts that people objected to. While you want to argue best methods for research those that own Taiko Extreme’s are very happy with sonic results and trust Emile’s approach. Obviously, I don’t speak for all Extreme owners but I assume most are very happy for Mike’s latest acquisitions and the hard won joy and pleasure they bring to him in this all too short life. For Mike to make this move speaks volumes and if I could afford to “investigate” Wadax components no doubt I would, as well.

 

[Stereophonic]

I’m writing in the Taiko thread, so i don’t want to introduce them in this one…
There are affirmations that insults the inteligence much more than acceptable…

 

[sbnx]

Mike, Have you had a chance to play with the three "gain" knobs on the Wadax server? I find these intriguing. I read the Wadax white paper on their function and was hoping to get some sonic feedback on what you think they do to the sound.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Mike, Have you had a chance to play with the three "gain" knobs on the Wadax server? I find these intriguing. I read the Wadax white paper on their function and was hoping to get some sonic feedback on what you think they do to the sound.

not really at all. i too am intrigued by those. maybe be a week or so before i'm settled enough to get into those.

my files are now all loaded so i'm exploring here and there tonight. and then have to do the Akasa/USB compare. i've put that off long enough.

 

[sbnx]

I understand. A lot of things to evaluate on the Wadax. I am expecting the all fiber optic system to completely kill the USB option. But will wait and see if this is indeed the case.

 

[andromedaaudio]

I am expecting the all fiber optic system to completely kill the USB option

Lol.
2 cables fighting it out

 

[nuway]

Subscribed

 

[joaovieira]

Subscribed.

my system uses Roon as the best player too.
it’s located on a Synology NAS and feeds the streamer. Roon is getting better on each update released.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

the last couple of days just been enjoying my files. one thing i had missed without my files was a file of 72 cuts a friend had given me, called "Visitor". all redbook. many i knew and owned, many i had not known. maybe others have this too?

before, with the Extreme, i could only access it with TAS, where i could get into the file structure, i could never find it on Roon. so as my son was loading the files bit by bit i was able to see where it was located by seeing pieces of it. turns out Roon essentially saw each track as a separate Album. so i was able to mostly reconstruct it (found 69 of 72) with a Roon playlist i can now access.

i was always impressed with the music, especially the physicality of this collection. lots of heavy duty but finely rendered music. the whole being much greater than the parts.

i am in awe of how this sounds now. recentcey bias? maybe. but i don't think so. the Wadax combo slays this!

 

[Mike Lavigne]

ok; just did my Akasa Optical<->USB shootout. Wadax Ref dac into the Wadax Ref server comparing the Akasa Optical cable and interface, with a USB cable and interface. which interface sounds better? and how significant is the Akasa Optical in the whole Wadax Ref equation?

went back and forth twice. 5 or 6 cuts. it's a three minute switchover time for power down and up. levels stay fairly matched. my playlists are quickly navigated.

the Akasa Optical is clearly superior in musical terms, but the USB is a solid performer and none of the artifacts which had been exposed by the server shootout were carried over by the USB interface. if you never heard the Akasa this would be the standard for listening to digital.

musical terms? the Akasa has the lively analog 'life', 'expressiveness' and 'nuanced agility of action' that i associate with analog/vinyl. it has greater depth, dimensionality and flow. absolutely non digital in every way shape and form. the USB certainly possessed these atributes, but noticeably less.

the bass, aireyness and scale all were more involving and physical with the Akasa. you felt caressed by the music. performers were more real and full bodied.

many many small differences that add up to a different paradigm. it's in a class by itself.

it's hard to say how the Akasa optical interface would work with other dacs not using the Wadax technology. i'm not in any position to even have an opinion about that. i can only say that the Wadax Ref Dac and Ref server is great using the USB interface, but it's another league using the Akasa optical.

the USB cable i used is the FTA Sinope i've used for 5 months, which i have been very impressed with and in my particular system was a better fit for me than the much respected and 3x as expensive Gobel LaCorde USB. the Sinope is $1500 retail, the Wadax Akasa Optical cable + interface is $17,650. so there is that.

might some king kong USB cable get closer? possibly......but i doubt it. if someone wants to send me one of those, happy to try it.

 

[spiritofmusic]

A question, Mike. Not the usual, is the Wadax as good as vinyl, etc etc etc. More your impulse to choose formats.
So if the Wadax truly is artifact free digital, it kind of is its own format, maybe as different from other digital as tape is from vinyl.
Listening to albums you also have on vinyl, are any shortcomings of LP playback more accentuated now you have this new "format"?
Indeed are there any albums you'd now make the Wadax the Go To, to listen to over LP?
And I don't mean new stuff digitally mastered, I mean Golden Age classical, jazz, rock.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

A question, Mike. Not the usual, is the Wadax as good as vinyl, etc etc etc. More your impulse to choose formats.
So if the Wadax truly is artifact free digital, it kind of is its own format, maybe as different from other digital as tape is from vinyl.
Listening to albums you also have on vinyl, are any shortcomings of LP playback more accentuated now you have this new "format"?
Indeed are there any albums you'd now make the Wadax the Go To, to listen to over LP?
And I don't mean new stuff digitally mastered, I mean Golden Age classical, jazz, rock.

right now the answer is no. the 'solid analog based' vinyl is better. i don't prefer the Wadax on any of those pressings i can think of.

there are a few 352/24 tape transfers i have not directly compared to the vinyl yet. that could be interesting when i get around to that. they have blown me away.

but.......ask me in 3-4 months. i'm in the Wadax glow right now and have not done much vinyl in the last 3-4 weeks. when i pull out my big vinyl guns on the CS Port or Saskia there is a clear step up (although less by degrees than before) in the musical experience. but while listening to the Wadax i'm not feeling the vinyl pull or any sense that i need to do that at all. which is new ground. and after a few weeks i'm not losing that sense of another digital listening level. it's not just sameo sameo now. it's still this higher level. but i've just got my files, so they are fresh to me. that's new.

i'm am working on some vinyl stuff right now too, which i'm excited about. but also still have a few 'more' steps to go, optimizing the Wadax into my system.

 

[Stereophonic]

Hi Mike.
What power cables are you using in Dac and Server?
And what interconnects from Dac to Pre?
Have you need to change speakers position because different sound energy?
Thanks !!!

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Hi Mike.
What power cables are you using in Dac and Server?
And what interconnects from Dac to Pre?
Have you need to change speakers position because different sound energy?
Thanks !!!

i'm using my Absolute Fidelity power cords on the Wadax Ref dac and sever (same that i used for the MSB and Extreme). Absolute Fidelity is made by Gary Koh (WBF member) of Genesis Loudspeakers. i have the Furutech NCF plugs on them. right now i think i have 13 of these power cords in my system. my perspective is that they are synergistic and get out of the way. if you read the website or reviews they explain that there are three types of power cords; for sources, for motors, and for amps. i do use two big Evolution Acoustic TRPC's on my dart monos. otherwise almost all of my power cords are the AF.

Cables & Interfaces | Genesis Advanced Technologies | Seattle

Genesis Cables and Interfaces - enhancing the enjoyment of all Genesis loudspeaker and component systems.

www.genesisloudspeakers.com

right now i'm using an Evolution Acoustics XLR set of interconnects from the dac to my darTZeel preamp. i have a set of XLR's inbound (in fedex hell at the moment) to me to try in that spot. if i end up preferring them i will talk about it.

no changes in my room or speaker set-up. seems like a great fit with the Wadax presentation. in fact, a perfect fit.

 

[wil]

Do you prefer the sonics of the balanced XLR between the DAC and DartZeel pre or is it more for the long cable lengths at which you can use Balanced? I think I remember reading somewhere that Herve (of DartZeel) prefers single ended interconnects?

 

[spiritofmusic]

right now the answer is no. the 'solid analog based' vinyl is better. i don't prefer the Wadax on any of those pressings i can think of.

there are a few 352/24 tape transfers i have not directly compared to the vinyl yet. that could be interesting when i get around to that. they have blown me away.

but.......ask me in 3-4 months. i'm in the Wadax glow right now and have not done much vinyl in the last 3-4 weeks. when i pull out my big vinyl guns on the CS Port or Saskia there is a clear step up (although less by degrees than before) in the musical experience. but while listening to the Wadax i'm not feeling the vinyl pull or any sense that i need to do that at all. which is new ground. and after a few weeks i'm not losing that sense of another digital listening level. it's not just sameo sameo now. it's still this higher level. but i've just got my files, so they are fresh to me. that's new.

i'm am working on some vinyl stuff right now too, which i'm excited about. but also still have a few 'more' steps to go, optimizing the Wadax into my system.

Mike, more ammunition for your theory that at the very peak of playback, it's the mastering provenance that prevails.
My guess is you won't listen to anything AAA other than on vinyl, DDD on the Wadax.
1983 the cut off date.

 

[wil]

Mike, more ammunition for your theory that at the very peak of playback, it's the mastering provenance that prevails.

I think that's roughly true at any high level of playback, and any format.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Do you prefer the sonics of the balanced XLR between the DartZeel pre and monos or is it more for the long cable lengths at which you can use Balanced? I think I remember reading somewhere that Herve (of DartZeel) prefers single ended interconnects?

one big upgrade in the Mk2 version of the dart pre from a few years ago is the XLR implementation. if a source has a proper 50 ohm 'zeel' interface then i would first choose that, but now an XLR output source can also be optimized. and one can order the dart pre with multiple XLR inputs.

my tape decks across the other side of my room (12 meter cables) still get a boost from the 50 ohm 'zeel' interface built into the King Cello repro output. and my dart pre and amps get that same advantage (8m zeel).

it's not practical to compare XLR and the 50 ohm 'zeel' interface unless the source has both choices optimized. there are a few that do, including the CH Precision gear. but not Wadax.

as far as preferring single ended interconnects; yes Herve, i think, does feel that way. but the best sources don't always choose that direction.

 

[spiritofmusic]

I think that's roughly true at any high level of playback, and any format.

Yes, but you know how far Mike likes to stretch the elastic. I'm intrigued at his level whether mastering provenance is absolutely demonstrated thru vinyl versus Wadax.