Wadax Studio

[Elliot G.]

What I heard through the grapevine is the SP stack is just fantastic. I expect this to be a complete reshuffling of the digital playback deck.
WORD!

 

[Gary Lee]

As a very loyal customer of Wadax's distributor in HK, I managed to get hold of the first demo set of Wadax Studio Player Collection for trial audition at my own place, will share further feedback in a few days.

 

[Elliot G.]

As a very loyal customer of Wadax's distributor in HK, I managed to get hold of the first demo set of Wadax Studio Player Collection for trial audition at my own place, will share further feedback in a few days.

View attachment 156119

Gary, you have all three pieces? and the Akasa Blue cables?

 

[Gary Lee]

Gary, you have all three pieces? and the Akasa Blue cables?

I have already had the Player and now get the demo set of PSU / Clock, plus the Standard and the Akasa Blue DC cable for comparison !

 

[Elliot G.]

I have already had the Player and now get the demo set of PSU / Clock, plus the Standard and the Akasa Blue DC cable for comparison !

very cool
should be fun
Enjoy

 

[Gary Lee]

The Wadax Studio PSU is very well built and solid, 31kg. With the PSU, the soundstage enlarges by a good factor and sounds more analogue / organic.

The clock refines the sound to a good extent in pitch accuracy and note separation, and with “darker’ background, these SQ improvements are especially easy to note in jazz / orchestral works.

As the Wadax Studio Clock I have is a demo unit. It has not yet got the ‘phase noise optimisation’ user function, which should be very helpful and is quite unique for audio clock in the market.

I have recorded a few video clips of my trial audition of the Wadax Studio Collection as below:

 

[Richard449]

The Wadax Studio PSU is very well built and solid, 31kg. With the PSU, the soundstage enlarges by a good factor and sounds more analogue / organic.

The clock refines the sound to a good extent in pitch accuracy and note separation, and with “darker’ background, these SQ improvements are especially easy to note in jazz / orchestral works.

As the Wadax Studio Clock I have is a demo unit. It has not yet got the ‘phase noise optimisation’ user function, which should be very helpful and is quite unique for audio clock in the market.

I have recorded a few video clips of my trial audition of the Wadax Studio Collection as below:

Thanks very much for the post Gary. As both the PSU and the clock can be mains powered I was wondering if you tried them independently or only in combination. Lovely to have both I'm sure, but what's the best upgrade path? Thanks, Richard

 

[Gary Lee]

Thanks very much for the post Gary. As both the PSU and the clock can be mains powered I was wondering if you tried them independently or only in combination. Lovely to have both I'm sure, but what's the best upgrade path? Thanks, Richard

Thanks Richard

I did ask Wadax about the upgrade path if one may not wish to get both in one go. The response was PSU first for sure. With my personal audition of the demo set, I agreed with WADAX's recommendation. Having said that, I would say the PSU and Clock are complementary and multiply each other when combined.

 

[Elliot G.]

I did an installation tonight of a Studio Player in a clients Wilson Alexia V with CH 10 series and his dCS Rossini Apex .
His first comment right out of the box was he was amazed at how much less hash and noise came from the SP.
I think this lack of noise and glare is a major difference between Wadax and its competition
He asked about the clock and PS and I advised him PS first this winter

 

[Gary Lee]

I did an installation tonight of a Studio Player in a clients Wilson Alexia V with CH 10 series and his dCS Rossini Apex .
His first comment right out of the box was he was amazed at how much less hash and noise came from the SP.
I think this lack of noise and glare is a major difference between Wadax and its competition
He asked about the clock and PS and I advised him PS first this winter

Agreed. Deliberately, I personally maintain both Wadax and CH '"ACTIVE" in my listening room. In relative terms, to me, Wadax is more analogue, organic and musical; whereas CH is more natural, transparent, full of details, and very very accurate. Wadax puts me to a pub with music or at a mid row in a concert hall, with very good musical atmosphere whereas CH puts me to a world class recording studio or a front row in a concert hall, in which I can listen to all the instruments and harmonics clearly. In conjunction with my a Goldmund Reference Preamp, both camps sound very good to me with different approaches to sound.

 

[Elliot G.]

Agreed. Deliberately, I personally maintain both Wadax and CH '"ACTIVE" in my listening room. In relative terms, to me, Wadax is more analogue, organic and musical; whereas CH is more natural, transparent, full of details, and very very accurate. Wadax puts me to a pub with music or at a mid row in a concert hall, with very good musical atmosphere whereas CH puts me to a world class recording studio or a front row in a concert hall, in which I can listen to all the instruments and harmonics clearly. In conjunction with my a Goldmund Reference Preamp, both camps sound very good to me with different approaches to sound.

I am not as politically correct as you Gary. If you have a CH 1.2 I do not agree at all if you have a ten series DAC that I have not had the chance to seriously listen too. I have taken in trade towards a SP various CH, MSB and dCS products some of which my clients have written testamonials about.
I only care personally that when I play say something like a solo Cello, violin, piano for example that it sounds correct. If I can get that to "fool" me then I am willing to live with the rest. I also try the small and work to the large. Small Jazz groups are also excellent since the recordings are in general excellent. I also try to use live recordings when I can

 

[Kingrex]

The Wadax SP seems like an amazing piece for the price. A server and DAC together is a big benefit.
How much is the SP affected by the ethernet signal fed to it. Does it need an expensive switch? Or does it play the same with a standard Best Buy grade switch.

 

[Gary Lee]

I am not as politically correct as you Gary. If you have a CH 1.2 I do not agree at all if you have a ten series DAC that I have not had the chance to seriously listen too. I have taken in trade towards a SP various CH, MSB and dCS products some of which my clients have written testamonials about.
I only care personally that when I play say something like a solo Cello, violin, piano for example that it sounds correct. If I can get that to "fool" me then I am willing to live with the rest. I also try the small and work to the large. Small Jazz groups are also excellent since the recordings are in general excellent. I also try to use live recordings when I can

Fair enough Elliot

Though I was not trying to be politically correct and in fact don't need to be as I am not a distributor, it is simply my current perception given my exposures, though I have listened to both Wadax Reference and CH 10 Series lines. Music is a matter of personal choice and taste.

 

[Gary Lee]

The Wadax SP seems like an amazing piece for the price. A server and DAC together is a big benefit.
How much is the SP affected by the ethernet signal fed to it. Does it need an expensive switch? Or does it play the same with a standard Best Buy grade switch.

To my experience, one may not need a lot of 'wash' / 'pre-processing' to make streaming sounds good with WSP, partly thanks to the use of CONNECT protocols among other WSP designs and technologies I guess.

 

[Richard449]

So does a Studio Server come after the DAC, c.f. the Reference Server?

 

[Elliot G.]

To my experience, one may not need a lot of 'wash' / 'pre-processing' to make streaming sounds good with WSP, partly thanks to the use of CONNECT protocols among other WSP designs and technologies I guess.

I agree that digital does require taking care of the input signal. I found that the quality of the switch and the cables in and out make a difference as well as the electrical environment and grounding. This for me was discovering what I did not know that i needed too.
Thanks to Nigel at REiki and Grant Samuelson at Shunyata for all their knowledge and help

 

[Elliot G.]

So does a Studio Server come after the DAC, c.f. the Reference Server?

are you asking Richard will there be a server in the Studio line? at this point that has not to my knowledge ever been discussed. I have heard that there will be a studio series stand alone dac and that might have streamer but nothing more I have heard

 

[Alrainbow]

I think audio products can benefit from power , networks and the environment over all
but
Products that must have products not made by the company putting aside interconnects and use of pre amp is not a completed product.
after hearing the wadax rooms at various shows and given the far better environments in homes its a product ready for all users.

 

[mxk116]

The Wadax SP seems like an amazing piece for the price. A server and DAC together is a big benefit.
How much is the SP affected by the ethernet signal fed to it. Does it need an expensive switch? Or does it play the same with a standard Best Buy grade switch.

In my system, with the WADAX Studio Player, I continue to use the same ethernet "front end" I have used for the last couple of years.

Ethernet (copper cable) from the wall to a TrendNet TEG-SS1 SFP (off the shelf switch available on Amazon for ~$50.00 USD) with output from the TrendNet via a Finisar SFP. Due to the location of the Ethernet port there is a 12 meter single mode fiber optic cable break to the Finisar SFP on the "A" side of an UpTone Audio EtherREGEN powered by their JS-4 LPS. Copper ethernet cable from the EtherREGEN's isolated "B" side RJ45 output to the ethernet input on the Studio Player.

I've used this configuration with 4 different DAC/streamer combinations during my evaluation process before settling on the Studio Player. It (the ethernet front end) has provided a stable baseline for sound quality that was essential to the process. In combination with the Studio Player, I have stopped listening to the equipment and spend my time enjoying the music.

 

[Richard449]

are you asking Richard will there be a server in the Studio line? at this point that has not to my knowledge ever been discussed. I have heard that there will be a studio series stand alone dac and that might have streamer but nothing more I have heard

Yes Elliot. I don't suppose that there are many owners of the Reference DAC that don't pair it with the Reference Server so I was wondering if there was any news of a Studio Server.