Wadax Reference Dac and Server arrive

Jonyung reported that.
 
Jonyung reported that.

I am sure after this linked post you two must have exchanged a lot of PMs

 
Haha, if only, I waste my time talking to you instead.
 
i'm told that mine are called 'Black Chrome' ($1295 retail per set, all chrome plated is $1200 retail) and don't have any gold on them. whether they have a chrome ring, or black ring, i'm good. these were the last sets they had on hand.
Hi Mike,

There has been a recent price increase on RevOPods and all finishes in the USA are now $1395 MSRP. You got in at the perfect time.

Finishes available in USA are: All chrome, All black, Black/chrome ring, black blue ring, black with matte gold ring, Chrome/blue ring black foot.

More sets in stock within about 10 days. We now have a dealer network of five dealers:

Feel free to contact Elliot or myself if you would like any advice on the setup process with RevOPods.

Thank you!

Ron Buffington
Liquid HiFi
RevOPod USA distributor
 
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I don't even screw my revopods in. I just place them under my gear. I wonder if that's incorrect?...
It is not incorrect, perfectly fine to simply place them under gear. In some cases the results are superior when screwed into the component, but not all cases.
 
Hi Mike,

There has been a recent price increase on RevOPods and all finishes in the USA are now $1395 MSRP. You got in at the perfect time.

Finishes available in USA are: All chrome, All black, Black/chrome ring, black blue ring, black with matte gold ring, Chrome/blue ring black foot.

More sets in stock within about 10 days. We now have a dealer network of five dealers:

Feel free to contact Elliot or myself if you would like any advice on the setup process with RevOPods.

Thank you!

Ron Buffington
Liquid HiFi
RevOPod USA distributor
thank you Ron.

Elliot did tell me i got in just before the price increase, which did make me feel lucky. i'm looking forward to more time getting to know the RevOpods. nice build quality and packaging.

cheers,

Mike
 
Good on you Mike!

I have been using Centerstage2 0.8 all along ( that's what I have when I acquired the Ref Dac). It gives you all the Immersion effect as we all know, but balancing 8 centerstage is quite a pain initially. It must be much easier with the Revopods given the design differences.

My only hesitation is from users who sold their Revopods, a number of them dislike the "tonal balance" after using Revopods. I guess you gave me the right answer to try them later.

Enjoy
How does the “ Tonal Balance “ change.?......Cooler, Warmer, etc.
Thanks
 
thank you Ron.

Elliot did tell me i got in just before the price increase, which did make me feel lucky. i'm looking forward to more time getting to know the RevOpods. nice build quality and packaging.

cheers,

Mike
Hi Mike, Your not local "drug" dealer LOL will have a new toy for you to play with early next week . I hope this too will bring a visit from the Holly Mother
 
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How does the “ Tonal Balance “ change.?......Cooler, Warmer, etc.
Thanks.
most footers are not adjustable, either for height, or degree of decoupling. the RevOpods are adjustable for both variables, and it's suggested that their tonal character is slightly different in different modes for each variable. in essence they are 'tunable'. which i view as a significant asset.

then you add the concept of 'settling' on top of those variables. we see 'settling' most demonstrated by the Center Stage footers that are ALL about settling. it's all they do (you CAN 'shim' them). i'm hearing the RevOpods 'settle' for sure to a small degree.

i'll also throw in my experience with my suspension of my speaker cables; which i did a few months ago to optimize my active isolation on my amplifiers. when i 'un-weighted' my speaker cables completely by suspending them at both ends so they could freely 'float' the sound become too 'tipped' up in tonality; it became harsh and etched. at first i turned down my tweeters, too much high frequency energy. later experimenting i found i could 'tune' the tonal balance by grounding the speaker cables in the middle on a cable elevator to get the right balance and leave my tweeters wide open.

note that my active isolation devices are extreme cases of just how much detail can be extracted; passive devices work with the same decoupling principles but don't go as far. cable pressure on gear certainly can compromise passive interfaces too.

i mention my speaker cable experience to illustrate the idea that when we are dealing with chassis/rack interface issues we always have to be conscious of the effects on energy and tonal balance. our ears must tell us whether the tonality is natural. my initial reaction to the RevOpods was very positive. then the next day i thought maybe i heard a bit of glare and a slight high frequency tilt. then the next day that was gone and now the balance is spot on. i view that experience as a type of settling. the RevOpods are a mechanical device and it had to reach it's equilibrium state where it was free and easy (my non-techie viewpoint).

my next step is to play around with a few clicks up or down of a greater degree or lessor degree of decoupling to see if that might be a benefit. also play around with a level (which is different than whether each RevOpod has the same degree of weight) and see if i futz with it some if that can't take me further. the BIG DEAL here is that these are 'adjustable.'

other than that second day; i've not heard anything from the RevOpods which indicates it could cause a negative tonal effect when it's properly decoupling; either too hard or too soft. however; i could easily see if it was not working right (or adjusted right) it could cause a 'hardness' which might not be natural. but i'm just speculating there. and maybe with some systems/racks/floors the equation is different?

you can also just follow 'Stereophonic's' advice and do the (1) snug all the way down (2) back off 5 clicks (3) then just adjust the height so they are all the same degree of tightness so each RevOpod is equally weighted and be done with it. or you can keep playing around.

then also there is my variable where my dac and power supply RevOpods are on a Daiza, whereas my server RevOpods are on the granite surface of the Adona shelf (not enough height to play with for a Daiza); at this point i have no idea of whether those things matter, but in my system it likely does.
 
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Very interesting, Mike...have never really had the opportunity to play with the laying out of the signal or power cables because we have purposely all the equipment into custom cabinetry...always on special isolation for each piece but all of it within 'living room cabinetry'. And then put the cables behind the equipment to stay out of the way...and then running under the floor in conduits to get to the equipment. So the only thing you see are the speakers in the room that is obviously audio equipment.

That said, it IS a 'compromise' from a sound-perspective is part of perfecting and honing the sound (which I could believe it is).

I do agree in my own more limited experience that every element of isolation brings its own influence on sound both good and perhaps less than good...and the 'fight' is in keeping the good and eliminating the bad when setting up the new isolation. And how obsessive one is going to be in that fight.

All I can say is if one has well designed equipment...the fight is worth it. Because when you win, its magic.
 
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Mike, interesting that the chat on RevOpods is centering a lot on their "twistable" tuning. I have to say after twice nearly losing the micro ball bearings, I'm super anxious about getting this wrong (again). And with them under my Zus, it's really not at all practical or intuitive to do this, with 4 per spkr, and the spkr being awkward to tilt and adjust RevOpod at same time. So, I think I'm on maximum tightness for all 8 RevOpods.
 
Adjustability is a double-edged sword. In the wrong hands (mine)...you get a mess and its worse than any fixed set up. In the right hands, its magic fine tuned to room, system and ears/personal preference. I am referring to the Wilsons with all of its adjustments.

In the case of isolation, the Stillpoints Ultra 6s with Base...allows quite a height adjustment which helps in using 4 feet on surfaces that are not PERFECTLY flat. And as I have said ad nauseum, I always us an HRS Nimbus Coupler assembling on top of the Ultra 6 and sit the equipment on top of the Nimbus while the Ultra 6 then grounds to the rack surface. That is the finetuning obsession that I referred to above...the fight to keep the good while eliminating/reducing any bad...which is worth it in the end. But (like adjustability), it is a double-edged sword unless you hare prepared for the fight and have the skills to engage.
 
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holy mother of god! the decay now goes on forever (if it's on the recording).

took me about 3 hours to install and adjust the 24 RevOpods (6 sets) under the dac, 2 power supplies and server. had to remove my dart pre so i could remove the 'Tana' Daiza under it to allow for the height for the server to stay in it's spot so i can see the cover art. followed 'Stereophonic's' coaching (thanks! :) ) and bottomed each pod, installed them on the chassis, then reversed 5 clicks. once in place i adjusted each footer by feel to have equal pressure. had to play around some as each footer is relational to all the others, so you are going around adjusting them all little by little until all of them are as equal feeling of pressure as possible. i will give it a week then go back and check and adjust them again. not really that hard other than in behind the middle of my rack it's a bit of a twister game for my 'old' body. handled the weight ok with no mishaps. took my time.

i was able to combine the RevOpods with the Dazia on the dac and power supplies. but have not A/B'd it so cannot speak to the significance. not sure i will bother with that (hearing zero compromises in any case, likely helping).

RevOpods are the real deal! at least in my system under the Wadax Ref dac and server. immediate sense of more holographic and microdynamic presentation. noticeably greater emotive and expressive content, greater harmonic complexity and textures. greater coherence and drive, more feeling of ensemble playing and flow. lots of small differences musically helpful.

just starting to explore more music and discover the nuggets of ROI. looking for some bass heavy tracks.

and we know what 'black chrome' looks like! perfect match for my chassis color scheme.

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Mike, I apologize if you already said this, but would you be so kind to tell me what is the total height on both the power supply boxes, server, & dac after installing the Revopods? Just trying to figure for rack shelf height needed-thank you
 
Mike, I apologize if you already said this, but would you be so kind to tell me what is the total height on both the power supply boxes, server, & dac after installing the Revopods? Just trying to figure for rack shelf height needed-thank you
first off, congrats on the 'apparent' Wadax Ref dac and Server! and the RevOpods too!

11.3 inches, so 11.5 inches to be safe. you are adjusting the gap between the RevOpod surface and the chassis bottom.

the 11.3 is what i measured after my initial gap adjustments. i only measured in the front but the shelf and gear are quite close to 'very' level.
 
first off, congrats on the 'apparent' Wadax Ref dac and Server! and the RevOpods too!

11.3 inches, so 11.5 inches to be safe. you are adjusting the gap between the RevOpod surface and the chassis bottom.

the 11.3 is what i measured after my initial gap adjustments. i only measured in the front but the shelf and gear are quite close to 'very' level.
Mike, Does 11.5 cover every piece safely?
 
Mike, Does 11.5 cover every piece safely?
yes; they vary from 11.3-11.4. since the top is rounded it's hard to get a definite measurement so i can only 'sight' it. i guess if you are having to squeeze it in, then i'd go with 11.6 inches. the tops only get mildly warm so they don't seem to need much air space.

what i did, since i was by myself was to build a platform from unused Dazia's and magazines and an extra Adona shelf equal in height to my shelf so i could slide the Wadax in "level". i had no problem.
 
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here are some interesting RevOpod comments from the Audio Exotic blog that might be helpful.....

 

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