But I was also interested in how the variable output option compared to the other alternatives and, in the absence of a disc replay option on either the Grimm or C1.2, it was back to file replay (hence the choice of material). Whilst the Grimm exhibited similar losses to the Wadax, the C1.2 faired far better, its variable output sacrificing control at bandwidth extremes and temporal security, but managing to maintain a fair degree of musical focus and organisation. It wasn’t as good as the L1, but neither as it embarrassed to the same extent as the Grimm or the Studio Player. That accords with previous experience that suggests that the C1.2 is amongst the better options if you really do want to go the variable output route, but it again proves just how critical the line-stage is, especially in better systems with wider bandwidth. In this, CH Precision are absolutely correct: variable output DACs have no place controlling high-end, high-performance systems.
Where does that leave the Studio Player as Digital Controller? Well, just because you can, it doesn’t mean you should. Maybe, if space is really limited: maybe, as a stop-gap measure while your bank account recovers: maybe, if the variable output delivers all of the performance you want or need. But otherwise, you’ll be selling the Player, your system and yourself, seriously short. It’s not so much that the Studio Player needs a line-stage – it deserves one.
One box to bind them…
The Studio Player is so clearly the class of the field and sets the bar so high, that it’s also clearly beyond the immediate reach of the competition. If you are shopping for a digital solution in this price range, you’d actually need a pretty compelling reason NOT to choose the Wadax. It does disc replay as well or better than equivalently priced, dedicated players. It plays locally stored files with considerable musical aplomb and streaming services better than anything I’ve heard anywhere near this price.
Which only leaves one question: how much of the Reference rig has Wadax managed to build into the Studio Player?
The Studio Player has all of the fundamental hallmarks that have separated the Wadax equipment from the digital field since the brand first appeared. It’s a performance built on temporal integrity, musical balance and rhythmic articulation. It brings shape and intelligibility to performances. It’s not about overt detail and information – although that information is all there: What it’s about is what you do with that information – making the recording make sense. It’s a quality that has, until recently, been utterly unique – and remains so at or near this price. It’s about expressive range, musical fluidity, progress and purpose. The Studio Player delivers on all counts. But compare it to the Reference components and although the structure is all there, the big rig delivers it with greater clarity, sophistication and less apparent effort. The Studio Player never sounds like it’s working, until you compare it to the Reference components. They deliver intra-instrumental space, dimensionality, dynamic discrimination and the space between notes with such natural and effortless poise that the Player starts to sound congested and muddy in comparison: remarkable given how musically graceful, lucid and literate it sounds compared to the competition. But the thing to remember is that the basics are all there. The music is the right shape and happens at the right time. You just hear that, that much more clearly on the Reference system. Which should come as no surprise given the effort that has been expended on reducing the reference components’ noise floor and ensuring accurate clocking of data and data transfer. So it is as well to remember that the Studio Player is upgradable, begging the question, just how much of that ‘filler’ can be stripped away with an external power supply (which will presumably deliver a lower noise floor) and a Master Clock (that will improve the clocking accuracy of the data and reduce the amount of work demanded of the MusIC process). The Studio Player is already great. The Reference products point the way to it being better still.
