2023 DAC comparison: MSB Select vs dCS Vivaldi Apex vs Wadax Atlantis Reference

thanks for posting that, @shkong78

Fred Crowder is a very credible listener. and a good guy. not had the dCS Vivaldi Apex in my room for a direct compare, but agree with Fred about the Wadax. for 18 months i've been saying it resembles good vinyl/analog. it's special.

Thank you for the input everyone.

@mikelavigne - I will read through your review. 

@shkong78 - Didn't see that article. Goodwin's is my home store and I have been starting to compare the Vivaldi Apex

My baseline reference is for better or worse the Wadax. I agree with Mike that doing these reviews and comparisons are very difficult due to all the variables. Look forward to further listening

The Wadax DAC and server seem extraordinary, per Robert Harley. In the stratosphere costwise, but if price is no deterrent...
WADAX server

Excerpt:

Most of us have experienced the thrill of hearing a favorite album in a fabulous remastering. The best remastering jobs are transformative. You hear a newfound clarity; each instrument or voice is distinct and sonically separate; the bass suddenly has depth, texture, pitch, and nuance; the treble is smooth and liquid rather than hard and metallic; a murky haze gives way to crystalline clarity; and there’s an ease and warmth that draw you into the music. As a result, you experience the music in a different and more profound way.

Unfortunately, we don’t have the ability to conjure up any album we choose for the remastered experience; we must rely on whatever titles the reissue companies provide. But I have discovered a device that performs the astonishing feat of making any digital file sound almost like it had undergone a high-quality remastering. I would not have believed such a thing were possible unless I heard it for myself. 

That device is the Wadax Atlantis Reference Music Server when driving the Wadax Atlantis Reference DAC. Quite apart from the Reference Server’s revelatory performance is the surprising and happy realization that many of digital’s sonic limitations are the result of decoding on playback rather than flaws permanently embedded in the music files. To say that this bodes well for the future of digital audio is an understatement. 

The unfortunate news is that, at $221,495, the Wadax duo is astronomically expensive. That’s a breathtaking number for a digital front end by any measure. Nonetheless, it took a device of the Wadax’s sophistication to reveal the true sound quality hidden within our digital files. The Spanish company spent four years researching the techniques for extracting this musicality and for making even standard-resolution files vastly more enjoyable. Although it took a $200k+ pair of devices to prove the concept, it is my fervent hope—and Wadax’s intention—that the company will apply its technology to lower-priced products accessible to a wider range of music lovers. For those of you who object to the very existence of a such an expensive digital front end, consider that those wealthy customers who can afford the Wadax pair are subsidizing the R&D for the rest of us. 

The Wadax Reference DAC, which I reviewed in Issue 312 and named our Overall Product of the Year Award-winner in 2020, set a new benchmark in digital sound quality in my experience. But it turns out that the $145,000 Reference DAC is only half of the equation; Wadax has been developing proprietary new music-server technologies that go hand-in-hand with the DAC to elevate the sound of digital audio to unprecedented heights.