The Studio Player belongs to the Wadax Studio Collection and takes its converter design from the Atlantis Reference DAC, built in simplified form. Processing runs on the dual-differential musIC 3 fixed-point engine with 128-bit feed-forward error correction, which maps time and phase errors of the converter and corrects them before conversion. The circuit is balanced and dual-mono, fed by five initial regulation stages and 30 local regulators. For a valve amplifier the useful part is the output stage. The analogue output is balanced XLR, fixed or variable, with RCA as an option, output level can be set to 1, 2 or 4 V and output impedance to one of 16 steps from 0.4 to 600 ohm. That lets the player match the input sensitivity and impedance of a tube line stage, or drive a power amplifier directly with the internal volume. Streaming covers Spotify, TIDAL, Qobuz Connect and UPnP, with DSD64 to DSD256, and two BNC clock inputs accept the optional Studio Clock. The chassis measures 48 x 35 x 20.4 cm and weighs 32 kg.
How it sounds
The source keeps the digital side quiet and stable, which lets the valve amplification carry the tonal colour of the room. Voices and acoustic instruments came across with body and natural decay, and wide-range recordings kept their scale without turning hard in the treble.
1 component
- CD / SACD players and transports
Studio • Player
by WADAX
Built upon the same digital-to-analog circuitry as the top-line Atlantis Reference DAC, Studio • Player offers great performance within a streamlined design and disc playback.