But to date, there remains one area in which even the best files fall short of the best records. Using the Grand Prix Audio Monaco v2.0 robs the digital sources of their traditional advantage in terms of speed and dimensional stability. But even playing a digital LP like the Víkingur Ólafsson Debussy/Rameau disc (DGG 483 8283) and comparing it to the 96/24 download, the record player still wins out in terms of immediacy and intimacy, the sheer poised subtlety of the playing. It is better able to communicate the human agency at work. The file presents a bigger, more solid and even more complex instrument, but it still lacks that expressive connection that makes really good LP so convincing and engaging. But perhaps what is most significant of all is that this comparison is even necessary. The full Wadax Reference Server system, in combination with the Reference DAC, has advanced the art of file replay to a point where it’s not just competitive with the best alternative sources, it materially extends the range of possibilities, the range of recordings that are available and can be played with the highest levels of performance.
Natural superiority…
The Reference DAC wasn’t just better than the competition – it was better by a country mile: and still is. Adding the Reference Server to that equation is like adding two and two and getting eight! The Reference Server is arguably even more impressive and significant than the Reference DAC, but it’s true significance is only really revealed when using the AKASA interconnect. That means that to get the results I’m describing here, you have to use the Reference DAC too, at least until Wadax offer a more affordable DAC equipped with the AKASA optical interface. Which is how what started out as a server review ended up covering a five-box digital replay chain, plus cables!
Despite those who feel that streamed music is the answer to the world, the universe and everything, it simply ain’t so. Walking around any audio show will demonstrate that! Nobody is ever going to describe the Wadax Reference set as a cheap option. But the best rarely is and, currently, if you want what is unequivocally the best streaming solution, this is it. The arrival of the full Wadax Reference set up finally elevates general file replay – by which I mean its use for playing real music for actual listening, rather than a few ‘audiophile’ recordings for test and evaluation – to qualitative equivalence with the best vinyl and optical disc systems. That’s no small thing. It’s not so much that nothing else comes close to achieving that goal: nothing else that I’ve heard is even in the same race…
Wadax S.A.
Madrid, Spain
info@wadax.eu
www.wadax.eu
Wadax Reference DAC and twin external power supplies – $157,000 USD (+ two DC cables)
Wadax Reference Server – $64,900 USD
Wadax Reference Power supply – $49,000 USD (+ one DC cable)
Wadax Akasa Reference Optical Interfaces and connection – $19,240 USD
Wadax Akasa DC Standard leads – $1,200 USD (1m)
Wadax Akasa DC Reference leads – $19,800 USD (1m)
