Стримеры — Wattson Audio Madison Streamer

The Madison Streamer is a compact network player with an on-board DAC and headphone output from Wattson Audio, a company in Préverenges, Switzerland, that was founded in 2019 and bought by CH Precision in 2024. It replaced both the earlier Classic and Lounge Edition versions of the Madison with one design that keeps the Lounge Edition internals and changes the cosmetics, and the design, manufacturing and assembly are all carried out in Switzerland.

Key specs that matter

Over Ethernet the player accepts PCM up to 32-bit/384 kHz and DSD up to 256x (11.2896 MHz), with WAV, FLAC, AIFF, ALAC, MP3, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, WMA, DSF and DFF files supported. The coaxial RCA and TOSLINK optical S/PDIF inputs take PCM to 24-bit/192 kHz, with DSD64 over DoP. There is no USB input, no Wi-Fi and no display. Analogue outputs deliver 4.0 V RMS on XLR and 2.0 V RMS on RCA, each with its own buffer so both can run at once. Wattson quotes an A-weighted signal-to-noise ratio above 120 dB and THD below 0.001%. The headphone jack supplies 150 mW into 32 ohm, 50 mW into 150 ohm and 10 mW into 600 ohm. The case measures 174 x 185 x 52 mm and weighs 1,075 g, in dark gray or light gray.

Engineering and use context

A pair of WM8742 converters is used, one chip per channel in dual differential mode, feeding full-symmetric analogue output stages. Upsampling uses the Wattson Spline filter, a proprietary very short filter based on cubic splines and optimised for the time domain, derived from principles used in CH Precision designs. Separate ultra-low phase noise oscillators serve the 44.1 kHz and 48 kHz families. Level is set by a 64-bit digital volume control developed with CH Precision, running from -80.0 to 0 dB in 0.5 dB steps verified to within 0.1 dB, and Lounge Edition owners receive it through a firmware update in place of the former LEEDH implementation. A yellow LED crescent around the large knob shows the level, and a fixed volume mode is available. Its body is CNC-cut from one solid aluminium block. Power comes from an external medical-grade 5 V DC supply rated at 18 W, which can be upgraded later, and consumption is 50 mW at idle and 3.5 W during playback.

Pairing

Because volume is handled in the digital domain inside the unit, either analogue output may feed power amps or active monitors without a separate preamplifier, and Wattson offers its own Madison power amplifier in the same casework. Streaming runs through UPnP/DLNA, AirPlay, TIDAL Connect, Qobuz Connect, Audirvana and Roon Ready certification, with the Wattson Music app for control.

Alternatives

The Wattson Audio Emerson ANALOG is the brand's other network player with a built-in DAC, sending its output over a pair of RCA sockets.