ЦАПы — WADAX Studio DAC

The Studio DAC comes from Wadax S.A. of Madrid, Spain, and heads the Studio DAC Collection that the company presented at High End Vienna, held from 4 to 7 June 2026. The collection replaces the earlier Studio Player, which combined streaming, conversion and a disc drive in one box, by splitting those jobs between this converter and a separate Studio Transport. US pricing is USD 42,950 before local taxes and duties, and the UK figure is GBP 41,700. Demonstration units were scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2026, with sales starting in the first quarter of 2027.

Key specs that matter

Digital inputs cover AES, BNC, RCA coaxial and Toslink optical, plus an Akasa Optical link reserved for the Studio Transport and later Studio components. The streaming section carried over from the Studio Player is Roon Ready and works with Qobuz Connect, TIDAL Connect, Spotify Connect, Apple AirPlay, UPnP, Audirvana and JPLAY, so no external streamer is required. Alongside the analogue line outputs, a dedicated headphone stage offers a standard jack and a balanced 4-pin XLR socket, and Wadax says it can drive any headphone on the market. Dimensions, weight and power consumption had not been published at launch.

Engineering and use context

The converter uses new mono DAC modules built on a topology Wadax calls RAXA, which the company developed to lower noise and raise speed compared with its earlier boards. One module per channel gives a dual-mono layout. This is also the first time Wadax has applied its musIC processing to a headphone output, as the brand had never offered headphone amplification before. The unit is planned as the first of ten performance levels. Owners can begin with the converter alone, then add an external Studio PSU, a Studio Clock, the Studio Transport and a second PSU, and finally move through three grades of Akasa DC power cabling labelled Standard, Studio and Reference. Existing Studio Clock, Studio PSU and Akasa DC cables from the Player generation remain compatible, so earlier purchases carry forward into the new system.

Pairing

The intended disc partner is the Studio Transport, a CD and SACD drive priced at USD 39,500 that uses the THORstudio optical pickup with DWC technology derived from the Wadax Reference Transport and connects over the Akasa Optical interface. For clock upgrades, the Studio Clock offers six configurable 75 ohm BNC outputs. Computer and network sources connect through the streaming protocols or through the AES, coaxial and optical inputs.

Alternatives

The Wadax Atlantis Reference DAC is the brand's larger converter, split across three chassis with the two audio channels housed in physically separate enclosures.