What's happening at Wadia.

Roysen

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Does anyone have any insight into whats going on at Wadia. There has been very few new upgrades or products from them for quite a while.
 

MylesBAstor

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Apr 20, 2010
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so is this the 3rd or 4th time they have gone out of business only to re-organize

Refresh my memory. Last I remember, they were acquired by same group that owns ARC and SF and the facilities were being relocated. Something happen that I missed?
 

egidius

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Feb 13, 2011
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not again

Refresh my memory. Last I remember, they were acquired by same group that owns ARC and SF and the facilities were being relocated. Something happen that I missed?

It reminds me of the same question I had in december - then some people answered very positive, we have not yet heard anything to the contrary, except Roysen asking the question - Roy do you know more than you ask?
egidius
 

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
It reminds me of the same question I had in december - then some people answered very positive, we have not yet heard anything to the contrary, except Roysen asking the question - Roy do you know more than you ask?
egidius

Post #2 above seems to answer your question
 

P.C.

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May 30, 2010
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Just to update, I called Wadia's phone number Friday.
They said they where having some tech issues with the emails !?.
But at least they are still contactable.
 

egidius

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No scaremongering

Just to update, I called Wadia's phone number Friday.
They said they where having some tech issues with the emails !?.
But at least they are still contactable.

Maybe we all could restrain ourselfs, I just noticed how my own post comes over as "doom". I wish them really all the best!!
Egidius
 

Roysen

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Aug 6, 2011
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I don't know anything. My question was motivered by the fact that both Sonus Faber and Audio Research have prospered with a lot of activity and new products after ownership changed to the same owners acquiring Wadia.
 

MarinJim

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I have called Wadia several times (regarding the 24/192 update) and have had no problem whatsoever to talk to someone.
 

MarinJim

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Any news about this upgrade you are at libert to share with us?

Thanks,
Roysen

News? Sorry, no news. Wadia is now working on new models for the new boss.
 

MarinJim

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still-one

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Same here, no issues. I spoke to John Schaffer last week when I had some questions about the Series 9. I just called the number on the website.

Jim
 

egidius

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delete the doubts

Same here, no issues. I spoke to John Schaffer last week when I had some questions about the Series 9. I just called the number on the website.

Jim

maybe its time we close this thread, since it was based on a faulty premisse? egidius
 

Roysen

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Maybe we could move the thread into another direction. Having seen what the new owners of Wadia have accomplshed by injecting money into Sonus Faber and Audio Reserch my expectations of what is coming from Wadia is quite high.

They are obviously working on a 24/192 chipset accross their product range. That is great.

I really hope they will make an additional transport in the 9-Series wich is universal (can play SACD/hi-res PCM) and based on a Esoteric VRDS mechanisms again. Owning the 971 I can certainly vouch for its great sound quality but it is a step in the wrong direction compared to the older VRDS mechanisms used in the Wadia products of the past in teterms of mechanical quality and stability. My guess is that the new Esoteric transport mechanisms will also match Wadias new mechanism in sound quality while bringing back that fantastic mechnical quality. I also hope this new transport can work as a platform for ripping discs to hard drive.

I am also hoping for a dedicated 9-Series music server with one or several SSD hard drives (much like the Burmester 111 but without the DAC and preamplifier) which can be clocklinked and conneted the 9-sereis DAC combination (931/922) with its dual fiber interface.

I keep my fingers crossed,
Roysen
 
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MarinJim

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I have owned Esoteric players in the past. IMHO they are no match sonically to the Austrian made S7i transport. As quoted from The Audio Beat:

"Particular attention has been paid to the S7i’s transport. The mechanism was co-designed and co-engineered by Wadia and the Austrian company Stream Unlimited and is purpose built for Wadia players. Great attention has also been paid to the power supply -- or rather supplies. The S7i sports separate power supplies for the transport/servo mechanism, the digital processing system, the ClockLink, the digital-to-analog-conversion system and the analog output stage."

Furthermore, later in the review, I found this spot on:
"Comparing the S7i to the now-superseded Esoteric X-01 D2 ($19,500) was an exercise in parsing subtleties. Putting aside the fact that the X-01 D2 plays SACDs as well as CDs, I found that overall the Wadia slightly surpassed the Japanese unit’s performance, even when that player was used in tandem with its companion G-01X external clock. The detail retrieval of both players was virtuosic, but the Wadia consistently put denser and more fleshed-out images on the soundstage. To paraphrase Gertrude Stein, there was more there there via the S7i."

In short, the Austrian made Stream Unlimited transport mechanism is the best I have heard in my 30 years in this hobby.
 

Roysen

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I have owned Esoteric players in the past. IMHO they are no match sonically to the Austrian made S7i transport. As quoted from The Audio Beat:

"Particular attention has been paid to the S7i’s transport. The mechanism was co-designed and co-engineered by Wadia and the Austrian company Stream Unlimited and is purpose built for Wadia players. Great attention has also been paid to the power supply -- or rather supplies. The S7i sports separate power supplies for the transport/servo mechanism, the digital processing system, the ClockLink, the digital-to-analog-conversion system and the analog output stage."

Furthermore, later in the review, I found this spot on:
"Comparing the S7i to the now-superseded Esoteric X-01 D2 ($19,500) was an exercise in parsing subtleties. Putting aside the fact that the X-01 D2 plays SACDs as well as CDs, I found that overall the Wadia slightly surpassed the Japanese unit’s performance, even when that player was used in tandem with its companion G-01X external clock. The detail retrieval of both players was virtuosic, but the Wadia consistently put denser and more fleshed-out images on the soundstage. To paraphrase Gertrude Stein, there was more there there via the S7i."

In short, the Austrian made Stream Unlimited transport mechanism is the best I have heard in my 30 years in this hobby.

My 971 was damaged during transport, so I had to replace the transport mechanism myself. I can safely say that it's mechanically not in the same class as the current Esoteric VRDS-Neo mechanisms. It seems you have compared an integrated Wadia with an integrated Esoteric and drawn your conclusion based on that. The DAC part of the Wadia player is far superior to the Estoeric DAC part. So the total sonic result will be clearly in the Wadias favour even if the Streams Unlimited mechanism is inferior. The Streams Unlimited mechanism might be better than older Esoteric transports. The Streams Unlimited mechanism is the same as the one used in the now out of production Soulution 740. They released an improved Soulution 745 later which use the Esotierc VRDS-Neo VMK-5.

The mechanism I was sent to replace the damaged mechanism in the 971 was an original transport from Streams Unlimited. It did not contain the modifications Wadia has done to the mechanism. So I had to use parts from the damaged mechanism in order to accomplish the same modifications to the new mechanism I inserted. They are not very different. The modifiction removes a separte grounding cable attatched to the original and use different damping. It might be that the power supply has been designed specificly by Wadia for this transport. Otherwise it is exactly the same as the original from Streams Unlimited which is used among others by Resolution Audio.

The Streams Unlimited transport is also quite slow and unstable even though it sounds good. If you press play or a track number while its loading the contents from the disc, the transport locks up and you have to turn the 971 off and on again to get it to respond.

Thanks,
Roysen
 
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MarinJim

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The mechanism I was sent to replace the damaged mechanism in the 971 was an original transport from Streams Unlimited. It did not contain the modifications Wadia has done to the mechanism. So I had to use parts from the damaged mechanism in order to accomplish the same modifications to the new mechanism I inserted.

The Streams Unlimited transport is also quite slow and unstable even though it sounds good. If you press play or a track number while its loading the contents from the disc, the transport locks up and you have to turn the 971 off and on again to get it to respond.

Thanks,
Roysen

I have no problems with my transport. And if you think it is slow, I will gladly take that and it's superior sound.
 

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