Wadax Studio Player

Installed studio power supply to existing Studio Player with Akasa DC cable yesterday morning. Let it simmer for 24 hours or so and have it a first listening this afternoon. This is exactly the kind of difference the ref power supply made with my ref server.
It’s not small it’s a force multiplier
Everything is better, more space, more air, more , more more!
 
Two great pieces of equipment
EMM is a dac , not a cd or SACD player. They both can stream in the same ways. The EMM sells for around 6k less.
The sound you should listen to yourself . I love both brands and both are terrific products.
 
I did see, listen to and was impressed by the Wadax system. It was excellent, but I will stick with T+A. Sorry but a company's best DAC costs more (much more) than both my Electric Mercedes and Hybrid Lexus combined. I doubt my old ears with my modest system could even hear the difference.
 
Randy Myers said:
I did see, listen to and was impressed by the Wadax system. It was excellent, but I will stick with T+A. Sorry but a company's best DAC costs more (much more) than both my Electric Mercedes and Hybrid Lexus combined. I doubt my old ears with my modest system could even hear the difference.
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Hey Randy. I like the way you put the cost of the Wadax DAC in perspective to the combined cost of the Mercedes and Lexus that you own.

Like you, I have a Lexus. Mine is a 2024 RX350 F Sport and I love it. It's the best vehicle I have ever purchased.

Having said that, never sell your ears short for being able to tell what a piece of gear brings to the table in your system, even if it's not on your radar screen for purchasing.

You clearly liked what you heard at the show which puts you in good company with those that have heard or purchased Wadax gear.

I'm also not in the market to purchase Wadax gear, but I sure would review it if given the opportunity.
 
Randy Myers said:
I did see, listen to and was impressed by the Wadax system. It was excellent, but I will stick with T+A. Sorry but a company's best DAC costs more (much more) than both my Electric Mercedes and Hybrid Lexus combined. I doubt my old ears with my modest system could even hear the difference.
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THe Reference system is at the top of the financial mountain for sure but a Studio Player is 40800. and is a great item and not crazy priced. If you were at FLAX that was the item there.
A full Wadax like many other products in audio including speakers, electronics etc are out of the reality for most of us.
 
The Wadax Reference, dCS Varese and MSB Sentinel are amazing products but well beyond my reach. It seems, however, that products like the Wadax Studio Player, EMM DA2i, Berkeley Reference 3P, Esoteric-I'm sure there are others-get you really, really close to the pinnacle for only the price of one car, which seems reasonable in this crazy hobby. Its all a matter of perspective. Which is why I never tell any of my non-audiophile friends what my gear costs, even if they are rude enough to ask-they would not understand.
 
Kramer64 said:
The Wadax Reference, dCS Varese and MSB Sentinel are amazing products but well beyond my reach. It seems, however, that products like the Wadax Studio Player, EMM DA2i, Berkeley Reference 3P, Esoteric-I'm sure there are others-get you really, really close to the pinnacle for only the price of one car, which seems reasonable in this crazy hobby. Its all a matter of perspective. Which is why I never tell any of my non-audiophile friends what my gear costs, even if they are rude enough to ask-they would not understand.
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totally agree. Value is in those items not in the crazy priced units.
A Studio Player is a huge percentage of the references performance for like 10 percent of the price. That's a great Value.
EMM DV2i another great value for what they do versus what they cost.
When you can get most of the way there ( how we define this is what the arguments are about) is very interesting. Treat A SP like you would treat a ref with cables and other toys and its quite special.
 
The irony of all ironies. Elliot started the Fab 5 in part to "expose" reviewers and the publications they work for that have reviewers with gear on long-term loans. Elliot had to drop out of the Fab 5 due to industry blowback.

Robert Harley has had Wadax gear in his system since 2020. And now Elliot posts a Wadax video review from RH here on AS.

I guess the moral to this story is inspite of being a reviewer with long-term loans of gear, as long as it's a positive review for gear Elliot reps, Elliot is happy to get behind it.
 
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mep said:
The irony of all ironies. Elliot started the Fab 5 to in part to "expose" reviewers and the publications they work for that have reviewers with gear on long-term loans. Elliot had to drop out of the Fab 5 due to industry blowback.

Robert Harley has had Wadax gear in his system since 2020. And now Elliot posts a Wadax video review from RH here on AS.

I guess the moral to this story is inspite of being a reviewer with long-term loans of gear, as long as it's a positive review for gear Elliot reps, Elliot is happy to get behind it.
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This review was by Tom Martin (Nextscreen Chairman and CEO).
 
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GSOphile said:
This review was by Tom Martin (Nextscreen Chairman and CEO).
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I stand corrected on Tom Martin, RH has been the digital guru for TAS for many years. Tom Martin has had Wadax gear in his system since at least Jan 2025.
 
I love when a piece of digital gear (only a fraction of their all-out product) that is priced at over $40,000 is referred to as a value. I'm sorry, but this industry and this hobby have lost their ever-loving mind. And people wonder why the audiophile world is on the decline.

This thread scares the crap out of me, and I am someone who has been into audiophile gear for almost 50 years. I can't even imagine someone just starting to get into audio and they read one of the magazines or read a thread like this one.

I remember when I used to take my headphones and portable player into work prior to retiring. Many people listened to music at work in our office. Our office manager looked up the Abyss headphones and about dropped a load when she saw they were $4000... they all thought I had lost my mind. I can't even imagine if they saw the price of this...

The absolute best thing that could happen to this industry is for top end companies to develop extreme high end near best they can do products but resist the draw of charging insane prices. I absolutely loved when Goldmund offered the Job amplifiers. They were great and I would love to get one again. It would be even better if these companies would make this a priority. Selling many items versus a few (or one) would be so much better for the company's image in my and view.

Having a magazine that resist the draw (and their reviewers resist) of the ridiculous products in favor of items that someone with a good job could actually afford. There are true value products, but they get drummed into oblivion by insane flagship items (that honestly, have no real justification for their pricing; and yes, I understand R&D and everything else that goes with it). When current magazines have four out of five products being reviewed that are beyond the level that anyone even remotely new to this hobby could afford and the fifth definitely appears to be there just to throw a bone so to speak... than this industry has lost its way.

Yes, there has always been more expensive (much more expensive) products. But never ever was it this extreme. When McIntosh can be referred to as a low priced or value product than something is definitely wrong.
 
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hey Randy
i do understand what you mean and never would i call a 40k player value:) but no, nothing is wrong.
The market offers everything at every pricepoint.

if the manufacture wants to improve your 4k headphones, what would it take to do and where would the price end up?
 
u-sound said:
hey Randy
i do understand what you mean and never would i call a 40k player value:) but no, nothing is wrong.
The market offers everything at every pricepoint.

if the manufacture wants to improve your 4k headphones, what would it take to do and where would the price end up?
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Improve, sure ok... and the updated models were actually the same price. A brand-new model is just now being released at $5k.

My point was there is no, and I mean zero cost value to the prices that are now being asked for top end gear. In recent magazine articles I have seen $200k amplifiers, $80k tonearms, $100k pre-amp, etc., etc. There is no cost (R&D) justification. It is almost like company X offers a product at a quarter a million so to show we are as good we have too also.

The end result is the shrinking of the audiophile hobby because I assume some people who may have interests follow the same path as I did. Research and see what is out there before jumping in. The research will scare off many, and I mean a much larger percentage than in years gone by long before they ever make the original plunge.

Yes, there are value products. I am not referring to the throw you a bone product that seem to get a review in many magazines, instead real values. Wyred 4 Sound preamp is a true value, but what have you heard from them lately? Nothing because getting press and reviews is almost the exclusive realm of the billionaire products. The STP-SE Stage 2 pre-amp is still being sold and is still one of the best sounding pre-amps on the market. Or the Hatter passive pre-amp. How many of you even know their names? Charge insane prices and market the shit out of it and I bet the answer would be a lot higher on both products.

Or the previously mentioned Job amplifiers. They were amazing, but Goldmund stop building them. The only reason I could ascertain was that it got out they were being built on the same benches as their line of gear that was ten times (or more) the price. Were people asking why the Goldmund models were costing so much more?

This industry has lost their marbles, and it is catching up with it in my view. Honestly, it is too bad because it is probably at it's absolutely best technically that it has ever been. Put simply the costs do not justify what is being asked for the products.

I can almost guarantee that a vast majority of members on this forum could not hear the difference between this digital setup and my T+A if compared side by side... maybe but it would be very very slight, for 10x, 20x, 100x the price.
 
I am not defending the pricing of anything however when a company makes a system for 400k and thgen produces something that gets you close to the top level performance at 1/10 the price that term is called value.
Now whether anything at any price is a value depends on your reference
 
BendingWave said:
I am not defending the pricing of anything however when a company makes a system for 400k and thgen produces something that gets you close to the top level performance at 1/10 the price that term is called value.
Now whether anything at any price is a value depends on your reference
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My point is simply put, that $40k item could easily be priced at $10k and probably would still make the company money. But the company probably thinks this would hurt their reputation. Also, the other way of looking at it is that there is no justification for the $400k digital product.... NONE.
 
Randy Myers said:
My point is simply put, that $40k item could easily be priced at $10k and probably would still make the company money. But the company probably thinks this would hurt their reputation. Also, the other way of looking at it is that there is no justification for the $400k digital product.... NONE.
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your opinion is fine but many would disagree. In your world then Bentley, Rolls, Ferrari, Patek Phillipe, Rolex, Sub Zero, Hermes, Channel, Mercedes and every other luxury brand should not exist.
I am afraid that many would not agree. That is why there is McDonalds and Peter Lugers its your free choice.
 
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