We’ve waited a long time for the Studio Player. Thankfully, it has arrived fully formed, working flawlessly and only just ahead of its associated components. As a digital source there is nothing close to its quality and versatility at or near its cost, with performance as good as or better than dedicated units at the same price point. Its disc replay is superb, its superiority serving as a timely reminder that streaming and file replay still have a way to go. It’s large but it’s also refreshingly understated and much more attractive in the flesh than it is in pictures. There’s work that remains to be done: further experiments with supports beckon and, as yet, we’ve only heard the balanced output version (there’s good reason to think that single-ended connection might well prove a better match for the Player’s sonic and musical attributes). Then of course there are the upgrades and other Studio Line components to consider…
It’s been fashionable amongst the competition and their customers to scoff at the Wadax Reference components, dismissing them as irrelevant on grounds of price. Well guys, it’s time for a serious wake-up call. Is that your bell tolling your alarm clock or the impending crack of doom? Contrary to their competition’s perception, I’ve always approached each new generation of Wadax products with a healthy scepticism. When you know what the current products do, it’s easy to assume that claims for transformative performance are hopeful as much as realistic. Yet the brand continues to confound expectations, consistently over-delivering on its promises. The Studio Player really does take a healthy slice of what makes the Reference components so musically special and presents it at a price and in a package that’s hard to ignore. If you must shuffle a never-ending stream of mis-matched boxes in search of digital nirvana: if your entertainment comes in the form of constantly choosing your next component, rather than listening to the one(s) you have: if you simply believe that bigger numbers must be better, then don’t waste your time on the Wadax.
If, on the other hand, you are a digital devotee simply looking for the best available musical performance, or an analogue aficionado who simply wants a fuss-free, one-box digital do-it-all solution that will play an existing CD/SACD collection and actually deliver on the promise of streaming, the Wadax Studio Player will likely tick all your boxes, and do it in bold. Maybe you just want to know what all the fuss is about? Be careful what you wish for: the longer you listen to the Studio Player the more apparent it becomes that the Wadax approach, their engineering and the MusIC process really does represent a fundamentally different and more musically engaging approach to digital replay. Once experienced, it’s a difficult lesson to ignore and one that in many ways renders price comparisons redundant – there are simply so few digital products that can do, in musical terms, what this one does, regardless of price. In many ways this machine crystalises the high-end dilemma: which side of the digital divide do you stand? Is it about the kit and sonic minutiae, or is it about the (musical) performance? If there’s a better, more communicative, more engaging way of accessing digitally stored music at anywhere near this price, I’ve yet to hear it. You should hear it too…
