boring Sunday morning? looking for some action?If guys were honest about the trade-offs and downsides of gear, instead of hyping things up and misleading people, I would be nicer also.
have a nice day.
What SPECIFICALLY is better or different about the Wadax Design? How do these design choices manifest in better sound?
- Thread starter caesar
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have a nice day.
I don't know the third guy, but the other guys strike me as just hype artists that ramble on and mislead people
I don't really know him, so I can 't broker that for you. But I would suggest you do that. Audio shows get pretty boring... same rooms with same partnering gear. RMAF had whole floors of the same stuff for years, and people stopped coming
just catching up on my audio reading and getting some belly laughs. good luck proselytizing wadax
If you are coming to the Seattle audio show this week you are welcome to visit my room for a listen.
Thanks. Seattle is the best this time of year through mid-September, but not in the cards this year. Maybe one day. Would be fun
P.S. As long as you promise not to play any DSD
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Seriously, though, guys... marketing and uber enthusiasm aside, when someone walks into a room and tape is playing, everyone know... ditto with vinyl...
If someone were to walk into a room with digital, would they be able to tell it's Wadax? or only guys who have spent many, many, many hours with Wadax?
If someone were to walk into a room with digital, would they be able to tell it's Wadax? or only guys who have spent many, many, many hours with Wadax?
too bad, hope it happens.
you can be DJ, and i have plenty of choices.P.S. As long as you promise not to play any DSD
in my system, it's not quite exactly like that. there are pressings and tapes that are like that. and some still good but not super that are not quite like that. i can blow your brains out with analog, sure. but the better digital with the Wadax sets the bar pretty high.....so the question of vinyl or digital would be a question.
and that has not been that way before to near that degree. i think the MSB entered that territory sometimes. i never felt let down with the MSB moving from vinyl to digital, but i had more of a realization it was not quite there.
in some ways yes; but it's not that simple. i would describe the Wadax as about both great reproduction, but also the absence of artifacts. so the "Wadax-ness" is more about great sounding music rather than some sort of character. which is why it resembles vinyl. and why it's performance contribution is not easily recognized in a show system.
Mike and Caesar, I come to the Wadax experience from the bottom up having been able to purchase one of the very few Arcadia DACs in existence. (Does anyone even know how many were produced? My serial number is 12).
It uses the same MusIC 2 feed -forward correction chip as the Atlantis series. Keep in mind this was a DAC which was discontinued because it apparently cost more to produce than was economically feasible for sales in the marketplace. (as told to me by a Wadax dealer).
In my system, I re-clock the USB signal with a Mutec MC-3+USB and a REF10 SE120 which Christian Peters hand picked for me, having the lowest possible sound floor of all of the clocks he had availble to him. I was lucky enough to purchase of this wonderful DAC which sat on Audiogon for a month (unbeknownst to me) before it was pulled, and then re-emerged on US Audio Mart, when I first saw it and purchased it immediately. Also, too, I was fortunate with Christian, having been one of his early customers of both the MC-3+USB and REF-10 which he so graciously upgraded to the SE 120 with the best OCXO rated clock he had from a batch of hundreds. So by the time the signal is fed into the MusIC2 chip, the noise and jitter are very much mitigated, so the chip has a much cleaner signal to work with.
I didn’t spend tens of thousands of dollars (Atlantis) nor six figures (Atlantis Reference), but instead a mere $14,500.
What did I get for my money? Everything Mike, Roy Gregory and others have been speaking about over the past years, going back to Roy’s Audio Beat review of the Pre 1 MK 2 in 2014.
What is the sound? It is music, instruments and voices as they are in life. (Please note the period at the end of the sentence, I wish I could have made it bigger). Also, more than any other DAC I’ve experienced, everything is focused, and as it should be and where it should be.
I sought out a well known member here who owned and Arcadia DAC, whom I asked what his experience was. He said a few things which impressed me and compelled me to purchase.
One was, “Forget HiFi”, “You will need to rethink and rearrange your set up”. “You are immersed in the event”, “it shows you the sound in a very real way”. ” Resolution is top notch in the whole spectrum and for strong symphonic pieces it is able to present full orchestra in it’s real dimension. You are immersed in the event, soundstage expands, depth makes you feel the reverberation of the hall recording…it makes you feel you are watching more than listening.”
He said too he was lucky enough to to purchase an Atlantis after, but, “Could have been perfectly happy having continued owning the Arcadia“.
It was with this advice that I purchased my Arcadia and am very grateful to him for his observations and review. You see, this is what makes this forum an excellent place for audio adept people to share their experience and knowledge with others. (Why does it have to be a haven of the pejorative?)
Caesar, I am not hyping with this post, because I don’t have that much skin in my Wadax investment, but I can say the “Wadax” house sound is present in my system and it is very special.
Is there a downside as you wish someone might point out? Some might call it slightly darker than most DACs, but in the age of hyper-detailed sound and that often present sheen, the Wadax with it’s focus and fidelity to music presentation, it is a breath of fresh air as far as DACs are concerned. Javier at Wadax has created something very unique in the audio world and hopefully will revisit a somewhat more affordable DAC in which case there may be, less envy and less criticism over price by those who don’t own one.
It uses the same MusIC 2 feed -forward correction chip as the Atlantis series. Keep in mind this was a DAC which was discontinued because it apparently cost more to produce than was economically feasible for sales in the marketplace. (as told to me by a Wadax dealer).
In my system, I re-clock the USB signal with a Mutec MC-3+USB and a REF10 SE120 which Christian Peters hand picked for me, having the lowest possible sound floor of all of the clocks he had availble to him. I was lucky enough to purchase of this wonderful DAC which sat on Audiogon for a month (unbeknownst to me) before it was pulled, and then re-emerged on US Audio Mart, when I first saw it and purchased it immediately. Also, too, I was fortunate with Christian, having been one of his early customers of both the MC-3+USB and REF-10 which he so graciously upgraded to the SE 120 with the best OCXO rated clock he had from a batch of hundreds. So by the time the signal is fed into the MusIC2 chip, the noise and jitter are very much mitigated, so the chip has a much cleaner signal to work with.
I didn’t spend tens of thousands of dollars (Atlantis) nor six figures (Atlantis Reference), but instead a mere $14,500.
What did I get for my money? Everything Mike, Roy Gregory and others have been speaking about over the past years, going back to Roy’s Audio Beat review of the Pre 1 MK 2 in 2014.
What is the sound? It is music, instruments and voices as they are in life. (Please note the period at the end of the sentence, I wish I could have made it bigger). Also, more than any other DAC I’ve experienced, everything is focused, and as it should be and where it should be.
I sought out a well known member here who owned and Arcadia DAC, whom I asked what his experience was. He said a few things which impressed me and compelled me to purchase.
One was, “Forget HiFi”, “You will need to rethink and rearrange your set up”. “You are immersed in the event”, “it shows you the sound in a very real way”. ” Resolution is top notch in the whole spectrum and for strong symphonic pieces it is able to present full orchestra in it’s real dimension. You are immersed in the event, soundstage expands, depth makes you feel the reverberation of the hall recording…it makes you feel you are watching more than listening.”
He said too he was lucky enough to to purchase an Atlantis after, but, “Could have been perfectly happy having continued owning the Arcadia“.
It was with this advice that I purchased my Arcadia and am very grateful to him for his observations and review. You see, this is what makes this forum an excellent place for audio adept people to share their experience and knowledge with others. (Why does it have to be a haven of the pejorative?)
Caesar, I am not hyping with this post, because I don’t have that much skin in my Wadax investment, but I can say the “Wadax” house sound is present in my system and it is very special.
Is there a downside as you wish someone might point out? Some might call it slightly darker than most DACs, but in the age of hyper-detailed sound and that often present sheen, the Wadax with it’s focus and fidelity to music presentation, it is a breath of fresh air as far as DACs are concerned. Javier at Wadax has created something very unique in the audio world and hopefully will revisit a somewhat more affordable DAC in which case there may be, less envy and less criticism over price by those who don’t own one.
The frequency response of magnetic tape is between 30 Hz and 15 kHz and the dynamic range of magnetic tape is 55 dB. I wonder if this is how Javier tuned or “voiced” the Wadax dac’s sound. Smart man if he did, as the sound of tape is very euphonic. Need the measurements from John Atkinson to really know what is going on and what makes the Wadax dacs as you say “something very unique in the audio world”.
As is being discussed in the Mobile Fidelity (Mofi) thread, the customers deserve transparency and to know what their buying and if this turns out to be DSP, Digital Signal Processing, then by no means are these like any other dacs, which are just doing “straight” digital to analog conversions.
Less envy? I am perfectly happy with my DAC that is so good that a friend has sold his > 10 x more expensive DAC for this model. I don't even think about a Wadax (not that I could afford one).
I guess a problem arises only for those who always want to have "the best", and who cannot stand that their expensive toy has been "dethroned".
Of course, once the Wadax in turn appears to be dethroned by a competitor, then the Wadax owners will be the ones on the defensive (just kidding).
In any case, congrats on your DAC!
I read that the Exogal Comet DAC "uses a six core DSP chip." I have no idea if this is unusual of not...
In the case of MSB, it was not fully vetted. When I plugged into MBL system, macro and micro dynamics were muted. It sounded dead.
Guys are always willing to buy the "dream"
specify 'it'. not a general brand, but the model and server/transport too. and......compared to what specifically? was there another model dac on hand to A/B?In the case of MSB, it was not fully vetted. When I plugged into MBL system, macro and micro dynamics were muted. It sounded dead.
Guys are always willing to buy the "dream"
on mbl 101; compared to mbl reference dac.... similar results when comparing msb to other dacs in too many scenarios to list - msb is dynamically feeble
sorry that your feelings are hurt, msb fanboys... additionally , the dealer with an online forum had similar results with msb on mbl ... he ended up going with esoteric instead of msb, despite hyping up msb as the BEST.. you can find it online in his esoteric forum.. (if the guy had good taste, he would have stuck with MBL, but he's selling esoteric gear
)
which MSB dac? which server? which server interface? actual model.on mbl 101; compared to mbl reference dac.... similar results when comparing msb to other dacs in too many scenarios to list - msb is dynamically feeble
sorry that your feelings are hurt, msb fanboys... additionally , the dealer with an online forum had similar results with msb on mbl ... he ended up going with esoteric instead of msb, despite hyping up msb as the BEST.. you can find it online in his esoteric forum.. (if the guy had good taste, he would have stuck with MBL, but he's selling esoteric gear
generalizations do not help us, or just dissing a brand blindly. they reduce credibility.
The MBLDAC had a plain streaming card that was updated on their dac... surely "worse" than the stuff msb sells.... msb should have killed this 15 year old dac
is this so hard....which....MSB....dac?The MBLDAC had a plain streaming card that was updated on their dac... surely "worse" than the stuff msb sells.... msb should have killed this 15 year old dac
which....server?
USB or ethernet?
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