WADAX Studio Player Review – an Ultimate Digital Source

WADAX Studio • Player is a unique product in every sense. A digital-to-analog converter built on a proprietary topology and using 620 custom machined parts and a total of 14 different materials and alloys in its design. A top-class network streamer with embedded Spotify, Tidal, Qobuz clients and certified Audirvana and Roon. And also a multi-format disc player supporting CD and SACD. Well, let's hold our breath and move on to testing!

Technology

The design of WADAX Studio • Player includes 40 individual printed circuit boards and is based on a fully discrete signal path with more than discrete parts. The heart of the system is the dual-differential musIC 3 fixed point 128-bit-feed-forward error correction process, which provides an unprecedentedly low jitter level and exceptional accuracy (digital circuitry time aligned to 100ps). The same digital-to-analog circuitry is used in the top-end the acclaimed Atlantis Reference DAC. The approach used is radically different from the solutions adopted in the industry, which correct errors after conversion - in the case of WADAX Studio • Player, the system uses Adaptive Delta Hilbert Mapping, which examines the incoming signal and calculates the induced error (both linear and nonlinear) and corrects errors in real time. This requires tremendous computing power (work is carried out on 128 bits) and a bandwidth of 12.8 GBytes/s.

Addition of an external proprietary master clock Studio • Clock reduces jitter to 20 fs. The device can also be upgraded via an external Studio PSU power supply and an Akasa DC Studio cable.

Design

WADAX Studio • Player uses a fully balanced, dual mono design with complete physical and electrical separation of left and right channels (digital and analog) topology. Ultra sophisticated power supply with distributed regulation topology guarantees operation in the range from 1 to 100,000 Hz with 0.5uV of total rail noise. The model supports CD/SACD discs, decorates MQA and has a built-in network (Ethernet) streamer, ready to work with Spotify, Tidal, Qobuz and is compatible with UPnP. There is also a built-in switchable preamplifier “on board” - but the USB interface is ignored.

WADAX Studio • Player allows easy adjustment of parameters, allowing the player to be easily integrated into almost any system – the input level can be switched to 1.2 and 4 V mode, and the output impedance has multi-stage adjustment from 0.4 to 75 Ohm and the option of switching to 600 Ohm mode. 5” display (touch skin or, if desired, remote control) allows you to perform these operations in just a couple of seconds. The player is housed in a luxurious aluminum case and weighs 32 kg.

Test system

We included WADAX Studio • Player in the already familiar system based on Wilson Audio Sasha DAW acoustic systems and a Gryphon Mephisto stereo amplifier. The device was warmed up for 90 hours before testing.

Listening

From the very first chords of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, WADAX Studio • Player demonstrated a rich and textured sound canvas with a slightly darkish tint. The density of sound images was exceptional, and the full-bodied musical instruments, together with an ideally accurate spatial picture, easily created a 3D effect - the listener moved to the front row of the conservatory and could localize the location of the performers with an accuracy of centimeters. Perhaps the strongest side of the device is precisely this fundamental approach - at first glance, it seems that the performance of WADAX Studio • Player is like would add a little to the overall musical information, but after listening for at least a few minutes, you begin to distinguish more and more details, shades and micro-nuances that were not just previously masked, but completely absent. And you definitely don’t want to return to the character of the sound with “discharged voids”.

Yes, it is the monolithic sound of WADAX Studio • Player, its stunning filling of all and any musical information, that strikingly distinguishes the player from worthy High End devices. In our case, a step up the ladder is already a transition to another league of uncompromising performance. The most shocking thing is switching back from WADAX Studio • Player - it seems as if after a 4K monitor you switch to an old CRT TV.

We tested WADAX Studio • Player on a variety of compositions - from Eric Clapton and Dire Straits albums to Infected Mushroom and Dvorak symphonies. The genre omnivorousness of the device was amazing - and on absolutely all compositions we heard many previously hidden nuances. The musIC 3 engine really works!

Conclusion

WADAX Studio • Player is a truly extraordinary product, a true gem of the Ultra High-End industry.

Stas Ustenko