I totally agree. The Conrad-Johnson/Kharma MIDI room was outstanding and the Tidal room sounded really musical too.
Ken
Wadax Reference Dac and Reference Server arrive
- Thread starter Mike Lavigne
- Start date
I totally agree. The Conrad-Johnson/Kharma MIDI room was outstanding and the Tidal room sounded really musical too.
Ken
Alrainbow, I don’t think so. I wish Mike L. all the best with the Wadax, but having heard it a few times, it’s not for me. I agree with Ken on this one. I have a feeling it’s something that may impress at first, but long term doesn’t cut the mustard and may grow fatiguing. When I sat listening to the Wadax in Germany, I found it grew fatiguing on me the longer I listened. I’ve heard it a couple of times after that. Not my cup of tea, but I’m glad Mike likes it.
I’ve heard a lot of digital - a lot - and the MSB, to my ears, most closely resembles my R2R. The MSB is so fleshed out and natural sounding. I can listen to it for hours and never get digital fatigue. I also like that MSB is made here in the U.S., and there is a sizable company behind it with in-house manufacturing and a 35+ year legacy in digital.
If I didn’t want something that resembled my R2R, but instead of a world class source in its own right, I would go for the new Esoteric Master Discrete products.
Just my two cents….
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a.wayne
Well-known member
Plus 3 on Esoteric ..!
Mike Lavigne
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- Thread Author
- #25
yes.
the MSB Select II is out of the system now. and it's on it's way to it's new owner, i have purchased the Wadax Ref Dac. both servers are still in the system and i have a few weeks to compare each server with the Wadax Ref Dac before i make a decision on which server to keep. when i do compare the server's head to head with the Wadax dac it will underline what the dac differences were.
Mike Lavigne
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- #26
thank you Ken.
Mike Lavigne
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- #27
thank you Giorgio.
Mike Lavigne
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- #28
comments from my visitors was that the Wadax combo was more life-like and if they did not know better, sounded like vinyl. my view is that the Wadax makes digital sound like analog in the best sense. this is not to say it's a good as vinyl. more that when you are listening to the Wadax it could be vinyl. there is no sense of any digital signature. and this is a relative thing. the MSB relative to other digital 5 years ago did the same thing. but now, by a greater margin than back then, the Wadax does that much more completely. it crosses a threshold.
of course, this is in my own system compared directly to my sources. it took me 6 months to set up this in room demo so i could be sure of my result. i was and continue to be an MSB believer. it's fantastic in it's own right. this does not change that. i still feel the same about MSB.
but my views are just one guy's opinion. and we have a few other visitors too, who did hear what they heard.
SCAudiophile
Active member
Ken,
The Grandioso stack in the big VAC/Von Schweikert room at CAF 2021 did sound amazing, no argument there....that setup was the
Grandioso P1 and D1 generation, Esoteric's top offerings until Spring 2019 when the P1X and D1X were brought out; the move being
a change from AKM 4495S DACs (16 per channel) to Esoteric's new in-house designed and built DACs and a few other upgraded features.
The Audio Company did a great job showing P1 / D1 at its best, for sure and it sounded wonderful.
Now it's my turn because I installed that exact Grandioso stack at home here on December 30th and could not be happier,...will post photos soon.
Ken,
The Grandioso stack in the big VAC/Von Schweikert room at CAF 2021 did sound amazing, no argument there....that setup was the
Grandioso P1 and D1 generation, Esoteric's top offerings until Spring 2019 when the P1X and D1X were brought out; the move being
a change from AKM 4495S DACs (16 per channel) to Esoteric's new in-house designed and built DACs and a few other upgraded features.
The Audio Company did a great job showing P1 / D1 at its best, for sure and it sounded wonderful.
Now it's my turn because I installed that exact Grandioso stack at home here on December 30th and could not be happier,...will post photos soon.
Congrats on your new Grandioso P1X/D1X/G1X Stack! I owned the Grandioso K1/G1, which was terrific sounding, before I replaced it with the MSB Select II DAC. The Grandioso P1X/D1X/G1X stack is certainly a major step up with its new in-house DAC chip. Please give us a full report on what you’re hearing when you get the opportunity. Thanks!
Enjoy,
Ken
SCAudiophile
Active member
Thank you Ken,...as mentioned above what I picked up was the P1 and D1; I did not pick up the G1 or G1X clock as I already have a Cybershaft OP21A Prem Ltd2 that's written about elsewhere which equals the complete performance of the G1X at a fraction of the price. I did however also add a C-02X preamp (new) to the mix
Good morning mike L a big congrats on the new top of the Mountain setup. I’m sure it’s all you claim and more. sometimes changes in a new direction is magical. like a new plate of food never had before. I’m sure you will seated even more playing music on it.
may I ask what is the OS of the new server ?
may I ask what is the OS of the new server ?
CPP
Active member
The operating system chosen for Atlantis Server is an extensively modified Windows 10 according to their website..
Mike Lavigne
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- #34
hi Al, thank you.
you are spot on. i love what i'm hearing. great to hear familiar digital music as 'fresh and new' again. harder to go to work, or to bed. i'm captured. as far as it being 'just' the new thing, that's why i use references in my own system such as my tt's, as well as keeping the MSB around to directly compare. i wanted to know if it was just different, or really better. and by how much. for myself. which....i did. over three days with 7 visitors at various times i went back and fourth 15 times with myself or others in the sweet spot.
i have not yet copied my own files to the Wadax Ref Server since i've not decided between it and the Taiko Extreme. that is my next task. there are 1.8tb of music installed on the Wadax server resident memory, but many are unknown to me. so not much for a reference....yet. but a few are ones i used.....but not my own best/favorite 24/352 or dsd256 files.
the Wadax server uses Roon for music management. as far as an OS can't say, and have not read it. not sure if it's windows, Linux or whatever.
Thanks glad to see your enjoying the new dac
To me it looks very retro industrial I love it truly do.
It’s a break out look no doubt.
Roon is the best GUI period there is nothing close.
keep us posted on how things go. I use it but in a two pc setup but it’s great on its own
To me it looks very retro industrial I love it truly do.
It’s a break out look no doubt.
Roon is the best GUI period there is nothing close.
keep us posted on how things go. I use it but in a two pc setup but it’s great on its own
Thank you Ken,...as mentioned above what I picked up was the P1 and D1; I did not pick up the G1 or G1X clock as I already have a Cybershaft OP21A Prem Ltd2 that's written about elsewhere which equals the complete performance of the G1X at a fraction of the price. I did however also add a C-02X preamp (new) to the mix
That’s a great system! Exactly what I would buy or the MSB. Great choice. Love the pictures you shared on the other thread. The new Esoteric stuff is fabulous. So musical.
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SCAudiophile
Active member
Thanks Mike! Apologies to Mr. Lavigne for taking the eye off the ball of his fantastic Wadax Reference DAC update and the trial of the new Reference Server.
There are very few ways to achieve best of the best, "sounds non-digital" playback in this sport and the Wadax series is definitely special in that regard!
Thank you Ken,...as mentioned above what I picked up was the P1 and D1; I did not pick up the G1 or G1X clock as I already have a Cybershaft OP21A Prem Ltd2 that's written about elsewhere which equals the complete performance of the G1X at a fraction of the price. I did however also add a C-02X preamp (new) to the mix
Sorry for the misunderstanding on my end. I guess it was wishful thinking on my part.
Anyway, congrats on the P1/D1 combo, also terrific! Ken
Mike Lavigne
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- Thread Author
- #39
my Extreme is going to a new happy owner. i'm buying the Wadax Reference Server.
on Friday night my friend Victor, who owns is an MSB Select 2 and is an Extreme owner, came over to assist with the compare. Victor also brought a Gigaswitch and LPS to optimize the copper Ethernet that both the Wadax and Extreme would use. both the Extreme and Wadax server were sitting on Dazia's. we used TAS for the Extreme, and Roon obviously for the Wadax. Emile had optimized the USB driver for the Wadax Reference dac.
we did the compare, first three tracks with the Wadax Server, then those same three with the Extreme. i'm not going to speak on behalf of Victor. but it was a clear choice. we move on. synergy? Akasa Optical link? hard to know cause and effect exactly.
the Extreme/Wadax Ref dac is awesome in every way. the Wadax combo is better.
on Friday night my friend Victor, who owns is an MSB Select 2 and is an Extreme owner, came over to assist with the compare. Victor also brought a Gigaswitch and LPS to optimize the copper Ethernet that both the Wadax and Extreme would use. both the Extreme and Wadax server were sitting on Dazia's. we used TAS for the Extreme, and Roon obviously for the Wadax. Emile had optimized the USB driver for the Wadax Reference dac.
we did the compare, first three tracks with the Wadax Server, then those same three with the Extreme. i'm not going to speak on behalf of Victor. but it was a clear choice. we move on. synergy? Akasa Optical link? hard to know cause and effect exactly.
the Extreme/Wadax Ref dac is awesome in every way. the Wadax combo is better.
SCAudiophile
Active member
@Mike Lavigne
Mike, a hearty congratulations on such an incredible set of upgrades to your system. No matter which products stayed and in which combination there
was no downside as they are all excellent. Very happy for you and wish you all the best with your new SOTA purchases!!! (In a rather long line of SOTA purchases
over the years, you certainly have a trend going
!!!)