W A D A X

D I G I T A L S O U R C E S

WADAX Atlantis Reference DAC

Not previously known as a hotbed of High End Audio, Spain has gone for quality over quantity. WADAX, a ten-year-old manufacturer whose main focus is digital electronics, has exploded on the scene with their Atlantis Reference DAC. In the world of the digital heavyweights, WADAX is in a class by itself, both functionally and physically. It's an assemblage of three units; the DAC and two power supplies, weighing in at a modest 180 pounds. That was not a typo. According the company: This is the product of "over 30,000 man hours devoted by passionate engineers and scientists to develop the most accurate and musical DAC ever designed". Inside the Reference DAC are 23 individual printed circuit boards, each completely and independently shielded. It contains over 5500 discrete parts, so obviously the manufacturing and QC process must be quite demanding. This barely scratches the surface, so to speak, of the thought and care that went into every detail of this all out assault on the state of the art in digital. It is reasonable to have very high expectations of a $145,000 DAC. In which case, would it be surprising that Wadax would be able to meet their claims in every regard? One of the most astounding aspects to the Reference DAC design is that the jitter spec on it is a mere 12FS of jitter. A femtosecond is one quadrillionth of a second. Normally jitter in a high end DAC is measured in picoseconds. A picosecond is one billionith of a second which is already an exceedingly small number. So a jitter spec of 12FS is a bit mind-boggling to say the least! It's hard to know where they could go from here, but it's reasonable to expect great things. Viva WADAX!
As seen in the rendering above, an optional custom black finish is available as an upcharge
Features
• 3-chassis state-of-the-art digital to analog converter• 10 custom wound transformers• 23 individual printed circuit boards• More than 5500 parts• Curremt mode I/V stage alone is made of 125 components per channel• Dual-differential musIC 3 128-bit feedforward error correction process• 10 purpose-wound, functionally specific power transformers• Digital circuitry time aligned to 100ps• Analog output stage bandwidth 3 MHz• Fully balanced, dual mono design w/complete physical & electrical separation of L&R channels• 0.5uV of total rail noise (1Hz-100KHz)• Ultra sophisticated power supply with distributed regulation topology• 30 local regulation stages• 5 stages of DC regulation • User adjustable gain and output impedance• Zepto Reference clock: doubled the master clock frequency with only 12fs total jitter
Rear view of Atlantis Reference DAC flanked by both mono power supplies
Specifications
Inputs: USB (32-384KHz, 16-24-32 bits, DSD64, DSD128, DSD256, MQA)* *Note: DSD512 is forthcoming soon and all existing Reference DACs can be field upgraded 2 x SPDIF RCA (32KHz-192KHz, 16-24 bits) 2 x SPDIF BNC (32KHz-192KHz, 16-24 bits) 2 x AES-EBU (32KHz-192KHz, 16-24 bits) Native Reference Wadax Link (native PCM, DSD); 3 x AES-EBU Service Ports: Ethernet RJ45, USB Analog Outputs:Pair Balanced Line XLR Variable Output Level voltage: 1V / 2V / 4V Output impedance: 0.15 / 10 / 50 / 75 / 600 ohms User Interface: 5 inch capacitive touch full-colour display 800x480 MQA Decoding Switchable Polarity Inversion Power: 110/220V, switchable, max 200W draw Remote Support and OTA Upgrade: software upgradeable via the Internet Minimum Air Space Between Components: Vertically 1.5 inch between components Horizontally 1 inch between components Main DAC Unit: 18.9"(width) 17.12" (depth) 10" (height excluding cones.) Main DAC Weight:93 lbs. Mono Power Supplies (two are included) 7.17" (width - each) 15" (depth - each) 10" (height excluding cones - each) Mono Power Supply Weight (each) 37 lbs.

WADAX Atlantis Reference Server

If you want to get the best out of a product of this quality, you need to provide it a signal of commensurate caliber. WADAX makes that possible with their new $59,000 Reference Server. The Atlantis Reference Server utilzes Roon as the music server software. In fact you might be interested to know that back in 2015 WADAX was the first company to launch a Roon-based server. This highly refined server/streamer is implemented with custom drivers and Roon extensions which have been developed for the Reference Server. The nice thing is if you are familiar with Roon then you already know the user interface. Plus you can import your playlists if you're already got some made up. In addition Roon Playlists, be they for streaming or locally stored files, can be made anew or if they already exist in Roon they can be moved to the Reference Server. Playlist contents can be links to online streaming services (i.e. Qobuz or Tidal). Alternatively Playlist contents can also be links to locally stored files residing in the Server itself. Finally to select music and play it, just add the iPad (or other tablet or smartphone) of your choice for controlling Roon through WiFi and you're ready to go. Though you can use any reasonably current 64 bit iPad model, with a Server like this you might wish to use either the 11" iPad Pro (2018 or 2020 or 2021) or the 10.9" iPad Air 4 as the control interface--as for many that would be the sweet spot in terms of size, weight, and quality. Though some might prefer the 12.9" iPad Pro (2018 or 2020 or 2021) for its larger screen. Optionally for any of the above you could add the Apple Magic Keypad for iPad Pro, which some may find desirable for typing specific searches, and which also acts as a stand. For a smaller form factor, but still larger than your phone, the 10.2" iPad (8th Gen, 2020) or the even more compact 7.9" iPad Mini 5 (2019) are good options. The above describes iPads as of mid-2021. and obviously new models are introduced regularly. If desired there are of course aftermarket stands for all iPad models available. With respect to the Reference Server file storage, it has an internal 2TB SSD plus four SSD drive bays accessible from the back. The four bays are delivered empty from the factory and an SSD can be inserted into each by the user or installer. This takes just a few minutes as no tools or servicing are needed for this. However the SSD's do need to be a Wadax approved brand/model. For instance as of 2021, the Samsung 870 QVO SATA III 2.5" SSD 8TB are suitable for this application. These SSD's and other models are easy to find at local or online retailers such as Amazon, B&H, MicroCenter, Newegg, etc.
Regarding total music file storage space, an SSD bay can accept any size available on the market. As the largest ones available today are 8TB, total maximum size currently is 8TB x 4=32TB. Plus there is an additional 1.9TB of the 2TB internal SSD available for music file storage as well. So the total available is approximately 34TB in terms of raw space. In the future when 16TB SSD's are available, max size possible in the Reference Server would then be approximately 66TB total.
That being said, one of the important achievements of the Reference Server is the level of performance attained from quality online streaming sources, i.e. Qobuz and Tidal MQA. According to WADAX, the combination of the unique technology developed for the Reference Server with the Reference DAC via the Akasa optical link brings the sonic quality of streaming online music sources much closer to locally stored music files than one could ever imagine. WADAX believes, with their advanced technology, that playback from local SSD is now mainly focused on availability not quality anymore. By this WADAX is referring to 'Legacy' libraries: i.e. ripped and digitized LP's, unavailable/audiophile tracks not in online streaming services, etc.
Features
• State-of-the-art Universal Server. • Unique digital interface user fine-tuning system for USB and Optical.• 3 custom wound transformers. • 6 individual printed circuit boards. • Power supply regulation noise of 0.5uV.• Ultra sophisticated power supply with distributed regulation topology. • 2TB SSD storage included; 0.1TB for OS and Roon; 1.9TB for music file storage. • 4 empty bays for up to 32 TB additional SSD storage. Currently you can add up to 4x8TB SSD.• Only SSD storage is supported.• Server software based on Roon with custom extensions and drivers.• 5 inch touch screen for track info and interface finetuning feedback.
Specifications
Dimensions: 18.9"(width)17.12" (depth) 10" (height excluding cones)
Weight: 106 lbs

Akasa Optical Link for Reference Server / DAC connection

What makes this Reference Server and DAC combo especially interesting is that there is an optional fiber optic link available to connect the Server to the DAC. It utilizes the AKASA optical cable between the transmitting module in the Server and the receiving module mounted in the DAC. The entire optical system consisting of the sending and receiving modules along with the Akasa cable option is $17,495. The stock length of this proprietary optical cable is 2.2 meters. Custom lengths are aavailable as multiples of 2.2 meters: i.e. 4.4m, 6.6m, 8.8m, etc. The theoretical advantage of utilizing a fiber optical connection is that certain types of digital "noise" or grounding issues simply will not be transmitted from the Server chassis to the DAC chassis. Theory goes on to say that this should provide the cleanest possible signal for superior sound quality.

WADAX Legacy Digital Output Board for Reference Server

The $3000 optional Legacy digital output board provides the following outputs: • AES/EBU• SPDIF• BNC Note: In normal use these outputs are not needed. Reason being, that when using the Reference Server to feed the Reference DAC, the Akasa Optical Link is the highest performance connection.
Absolute Sound Review - Wadax Reference DAC
Audio Beat REVIEW - WADAX REFERENCE DAC
AudioTechnique HK Review - WADAX REFERENCE DAC
Wadax Reference Server User Manual R210621
wadax Reference DAC user manual R270621
There is a lot to know about the WADAX components. So if you'd like to know more you're welcome to email or call us.