WADAX Atlantis Reference

The name of the Madrid-based company WADAX shines ever brighter in the world of high-end luxury. But it's not a young star - father Angel and son Javier Guadalajara started their journey more than 20 years ago (and long before that, they were working with the high-end as retailers). However, their journey has been decidedly unhurried - they started working on the intriguing musIC chip in 2004, brought it to life six years later, and launched their first complete product (somewhat paradoxically, an analogue phono preamplifier) in 2011. The important thing came in 2017 - the Atlantis digital signal source. And from 2020 they're building the Atlantis Reference series.

In it you will find extremely ambitiously put together components for digital playback. It consists of a server, a SACD transport and finally a DAC, all supported by external power supplies as well as some absolutely extraordinary ("dodgy" might also be an appropriate word) cables to connect it all together.

When you see all those components stacked up next to each other, you clearly feel that you are in a category where nothing matters, nothing limits anyone and everything is allowed. The design is totally, completely and utterly self-contained.

Of course, this is a huge deal for each of the components of the chain, formed by two load-bearing blocks on either side and connected by a central bridge. The design with silver accents is striking, but we've also seen an all-black version that looks like it fell out of Star Wars.

There are no words needed for the material workmanship, it's hard to look for more, it's first class work. Whether it fits within the confines of your taste is a purely personal matter. The fact is that these are extremely distinctive components and they come across with a refined luxury despite their unusualness.

WADAX Atlantis Reference Server

According to WADAX, you should entrust your music collection to the Atlantis Reference Server. As far as we're concerned, it's probably the most carefully engineered Roon core of our time. The amount of measures, design elements and solutions you'll find here is absurd. Not absolute, just absurd.

Relative to the size of the component, you see only a relatively modest display on the front, surrounded by six controls, not including the central switching button. Apart from being able to select for each transmission channel the input gain, the output gain, as well as the "speed", which compensate for the "shape" of the signal (that is, according to WADAX, in practice the form of the leading edges of the rectangular pulses) and transform the audio result (this according to the listening experience).

The mechanical side of things is subordinated to maximalist isolation. Against vibrations... Against external electromagnetic waves... Against internal inevitable electrosmog from circuits. Various cages, thick walls, complementary materials and many measures are used for this purpose. The reason for this is that WADAX says digital signals are extremely fragile and their integrity is easily compromised by microphonics, similar to RFI/EMI from the environment, as well as perhaps an unsuitable connector or imperfect transmission protocols. That's why in one chassis you will actually find several almost completely separate sections (it takes 50 blocks to build one piece, milled from a total of 150 kg of aluminium and further sorted according to individually measured vibration characteristics - as we said, the care is almost absurd), including separate earthing, etc.

WADAX pays a lot of attention to the power supply (and recommends the external Atlantis Reference PSU anyway). It starts with three separate transformers, continues with five-stage regulation, and totals over 200 discrete components just for the power supply.

Another oversized solution can be found in the area of separation from the computer network. By default, the WADAX goes for this with a strong preference for USB output - the connector on the back even has its own height-adjustable bracket to support the cable connector for perfect contact. WADAX made its own connector, the physical transmission layer. The output is then handled by the Digital Waveform Control solution.

This is based, among other things, on the fact that - as WADAX puts it - the transmission of the digital signal takes place in the form of analogue rectangles and therefore - again, says the manufacturer - we can hear the difference between USB cables, for example. They say that even the buffer on both sides evaluates the data quantitatively, not qualitatively, and unlike transmissions in the regular computer world, in music the imperfect rectangle does not matter.

The Digital Waveform Control feature builds on the functionality of the MusIC Chip 2 (an evolution of the company's first idea, which is what actually gave birth to WADAX). It is a feed-forward error correction, compensating for timing, amplitude and phase errors. The tuning is then done by the three previously mentioned controls per channel, which you can use to adjust the character to taste (or cable/signal characteristics). Either way, it's an original adaptive USB interface solution.

But if you want even more, you can use the AKASA interface - an optical signal transmission that WADAX has developed from A to Z. Custom-designed optical fibre from Japanese specialists, proprietary connectors from Neutrik. And modules with component boards directly from WADAX.

The whole server is based on the Roon kernel, which is considered by the manufacturer to be the optimal music library manager.

The 43 kg mastodon has a width of 48 cm, a height of 27 cm and a depth of 47.2 cm.

WADAX Atlantis Reference Transport

If you have not only a virtual disco, but also a supply of round silver coins with music, you will find Atlantis Reference Transport useful, conceived with the same morbid level of madness as the server described above.

Design-wise they are quite similar boxes, there are the same features, similar dimensions, there is even a display on the front and six control buttons to control playback. Plus, of course, the central switch.

The space for inserting the discs is at the top, and the mechanism is one of the most impressive we've ever seen. It starts with the opening method, where the metal rosette plunges in a slow, graceful motion into the mass of the transport body. If you've seen the movie Alien, this is the identical effect with which the shafts closed as the titular creature was hunted. Spectacular, beautiful, I'm sure at least the first time you'll stand and watch it all happen more than once. Even in that kind of detail, the mechanical quality and luxury of a Rolls Royce door closing is then beautifully evident. The disc is held in place by a tall 'puck'.

To make matters worse, this inconspicuous component is also tuned. With a mechanical change - says WADAX - you can affect the loading of discs and digital data, the manufacturer specifically again talks about leading edges, but also about exceeding or on the contrary not reaching the final stable value, we are simply back to the various artifacts of the rectangular signal. How it does this is not specified, but as with the Atlantis Reference Server, the initial shape of the acquired signal is supposed to have an effect on the analogue result.

But it all starts with power and ultimate mechanical isolation. Even here, you have to reach for an external Atlantis Reference PSU for complete perfection, but even if you don't, you get a pair of 400 VA custom toroids, multiple regulation and huge shielding profiles or anti-vibration solutions as a base.

Much of the weight of the Atlantis Reference Transport is due to the mechanics themselves. The loading mechanism weighs 25 kg, consists of 33 parts and 9 different materials. WADAX calls it THOR PRO and it is said to be the result of three years of computer "finite element" analysis. However, you won't find out which particular optical reading element the company uses - it supports both SACD and CD discs anyway.

Of course, the signal output is again available in the form of a proprietary AKASA cable with fibre optic lead and connector, where the company, in collaboration with Neutrik, has devised 25 anti-vibration and isolation components. However, AES/EBU and coax are also options. Plus there are three XLRs as Reference Link and an Ethernet interface for control - twice even, once for internet connectivity and a second time for in-house control.

Of course, WADAX uses its Digital Waveform Control technology here as well. In other words, here too the signal remains bit-perfect in the usual sense, but the company is not only concerned with the blocks of information, but also with the shape of the waveform that carries them.

Weighing around 60 kg, the giant with 620 structural elements in its chassis is again 48 cm wide, 28.5 cm high and 46.4 cm deep.

WADAX Atlantis Reference DAC

All source data then ends up in the Atlantis Reference DAC, the ruler of the entire WADAX chain - the style of the above-described peers remains the same, as do the basic principles. Here, the central screen shows you just the source and resolution, the knobs in turn toggle the individual inputs, there are also two for muting and phase switching.

In terms of aesthetics, you can also build a mono power supply block on each side, which is included. This adds yet another dimension to the Atlantis Reference DAC - not only physically, but also in terms of visual impact. After all, each unit starts as 320 kg of mass, comprising five different alloys, which are then machined and assembled in a roughly 100-hour process.

In fact, the Atlantis Reference DAC has five almost independent blocks - two completely separate power supply modules, each channel separate and interconnected with space for future expansion modules in between. Only the controls are grouped together, the rest is carefully separated into right and left blocks.

Equally careful is the internal layout, consisting of 23 circuit boards in separate shielding cages, which also allow for modular upgrades in the future. If any part of the system no longer meets current standards, it can be replaced - and just that one targeted piece, not the whole.

The positive madness of the Guadalajara family is reflected in all other parts of the structure. The entire Atlantis Reference DAC is built on some five and a half thousand (!) discrete components. Physical and electrical channel separation means true dual mono in a symmetrical configuration.

And of course, the implementation of the company's feed-forward solution MusIC Chip, this time in the third generation with 128-bit resolution, must not be missing here either. Inside, 10 custom-designed transformerswith different purposes are also at work, and the company boasts that the residual interference does not exceed 0.5 uV in the 1-100,000 Hz bandwidth. That's also thanks to 30 local controls and five-stage DC power regulation. For timing, the company uses its proprietary Zepto Reference technology with a total timing error (jitter) below 12 femtoseconds.

Inputs include USB (up to 32 bit / 384 kHz and DSD256), two coax, two BNC, two AES/EBU (all 24 bit / 192 kHz), as well as a Native Wadax Reference Link, made up of a combination of three AES/EBU and one RJ45, and of course an Akasa optics input.

Not quite common is the ability to select the output voltage on the available XLR connectors in three steps - 1 / 2 / 4 V, but mainly adjusting the output impedance in steps of 0.4 / 7.4 / 7.5 / 8.2 / 8.3 / 8.7 / 8.82 / 9.84 / 10 / 28.57 / 30 / 46.15 / 50 / 66.67 / 75 / 600 ohm.

Finally, the company does not say what DAC chip it uses here, nor in what implementation. Only between the lines you can read that it relies on the chip and not on some discrete architecture of its own.

The main chassis is again 48 cm wide, 46.6 cm deep and 26.5 cm high. This, as well as the depth, is shared with the individual power turrets, which are 18.2 cm wide. You won't find out how much the whole fun weighs, but the aforementioned 320 kg before machining suggests something.

WADAX Atlantis Reference PSU

Each of the components described here should properly - because when you're looking here, you're looking for the best - come with a separate external power supply that shares the design language of each component. You don't have to deal with this with the Atlantis Reference DAC, but you do elsewhere.

In one tower you will find the Atlantis Reference PSU input, in the other the output, the middle module provides the interface for updates in addition to the physical connection.

Most importantly - according to what WADAX says - this power supply offers a virtually uninterrupted DC output. In the 0.01 - 20,000 Hz band, the noise figure at full load does not exceed 100 nV.

Thanks to the front touchscreen, you can also work with the power supply to some extent - you can see the phase at the input and the output, and it can be inverted on both independently.

The weight of 45 kg is not only due to the width of 48 cm, the depth of 43.5 cm and the height of 26.5 cm, but also to the fifteen hundred internal components used for filtration, stabilization and optimization of the power supply in general.

WADAX AKASA

Just briefly here - although you can use pretty standard cabling, the manufacturer of course recommends reaching for premium cables. AKASA models are available as both power (red) and signal/optical (gold). The latter in a minimum length of 2.2 meters, because WADAX says that it is at a distance of 2 meters or more that the possibility of interference between interconnected components is lost.

The power version is made of gold-silver alloy with long crystals to minimize impurities and discontinuities in the material. Furthermore, the geometry of the twisted fibers was carefully calculated, of course the appropriate cross-section was taken into account with regard to mechanical resistance and the (in)possibility of induction of external interference. Also here, as with optics, you will find a mechanically extremely complex connector with the well-known Neutrik termination.

Listening took place in the importer's showroom on several sets. Standouts included YG Acoustics Sonja 3.3, the Stage III Concepts range of cabling, Paul Pang switches and the Telos Monster Power Station, a comprehensive power solution. At one point, the Ypsilon system was amplified in an Aelius II/Hyperion bi-amp, driven through a PST 100 MK2. This was alternated by a Pilium Olympus / Kratos setup from the Master Divine series. In that chain we heard Taiko Audio Olympus or WADAX Studio Player and other solutions.

The unobtrusively throbbing, yet powerful and expressive foundation in "Paper Trails" by New York electronics Darkside ("Psychic" | 2013 | Matador | OLE10355) has developed into a beauty that is almost hard to describe. It's the same smooth, caressing and gorgeous Studio Player style, but multiplied and a whole lot more luxurious. The character of the Atlantis Reference system, with its beguiling musicality, is reflected in all the variations of the line-up, and in every configuration it has stimulated catchiness and loveliness to an extraordinary degree. It's utterly malleable, yet utterly confident, unassuming on the one hand, and impressive, huge, and completely free-flowing on the other. The articulate darkness is not overdone by any stretch of the imagination and there's no other way to put it than to say that it's all there. If we had to sum it up somehow, the most distinctive is the "analogue feeling", unique in its sound and really, really immersive, where you want to savour the next note and the next, enjoying it like a sip of the finest wine. There's no point in talking about qualities here - it's definitely top-notch, precise and perfectly distinct delivery, what's more important here is the character, true, yet spiced up with that continuous, living and breathing likability.

"Trois Poémes" performed by French soprano Véronique Gens ("Nuits" | 2020 | Alpha | ALPHA589) sounded really lively. It's actually hard to describe, but the combination of grand proportions (it's hard to say whether we've ever perceived a more expansive presentation, though of course the rest of the chain is involved, not just WADAX), lilting sonority, and the sense that here you're really peering into an unquestionable reality. Where Atlantis Reference excels most is in balancing technical precision with the complete removal of any semblance of technique. And this results in a feeling of fascinating naturalness and liveliness in the sense that the musicians have truly "arrived", to use František Kraut's well-known phrase. If you want, you can go to work dissecting the recording, looking for subtle nuances of reflected reverberations in the background (they're there), of short breaths (they're audible), but everything sounds with perfect coherence and infinite grace. The mids feel miles away from perfectly measured, analytical and formally neutral players with their slick elegance that remains constant across all the changes in the rest of the string.

On the highest notes in "My Favorite Things" by South Korea's Youn Sun Nah ("Same Girl" | 2010 | ACT Music | ACT 9024-2), we were literally mesmerized by the multitude of shades and their simplicity, the non-violent, yet maximally believable form, the metal that you can feel almost on your tongue. Atlantis Reference mixes its signature here, yet sounds fantastically real in the end, whatever it is. It's more as if the entire set of source components function not as a converter of digital form to analogue, but as a transformer of technical notation to tangible reality. WADAX, through every conceivable level of detail, manages to eliminate any possible residual toxicity in a precise recording. No need to worry about reverberation, detail or anything else - it's cutting edge because it can't be any other way, or the WADAX wouldn't even be a bargain at this price range anymore. Moreover, even here you perceive the lilting beauty of absolute continuity, smoothness and subtle yet very "present" elegance.

The dynamic pulsing of Duke Ellington's band with Ella Fitzgerald singing on the classic big band "Caravan" ("Verve Jazz Masters 4" | 1994 | UMG | 00602455164940) really had massive power when the WADAX ecosystem was involved. Not aggressive, not pushy, not spectacularly dramatic. But monumentally big, flowing, beautifully unstaged. You could almost say that Atlantis Reference plays with surprising modesty - there's nothing more than a realistic portrayal of the orchestra, no frills, no extra anything. And at the same time without limits. When the brass kicks in, it pierces you with the force of gamma rays and the density of shifting tectonic plates, yet it all happens with disarming obviousness. And when a section blows in, reaching all the way down into the lower octaves, it uncompromisingly fills the listening room, but without the experience slipping into mere sound - there's still live music, immediate and alive.

We've already mentioned that the Atlantis Reference has a sound so big that it might even have its own gravitational field. But in Gordon Lightfoot's "If You Could Read My Mind" ("If You Could Read My Mind" | 2009 | recorded 1970 | Warner | 075992745161), for example, it doesn't feel artificial - rather concert-like. Here too the feeling is utterly luxurious - the music surrounds you softly, doesn't impose itself anywhere, and yet it spills out into all corners. As far as we can tell, the Atlantis Reference system is the most complete and smooth-playing front end we've ever encountered. It has a silky grace, yet all the information is there. Clean, not austere, specific yet subtle, utterly easy to read yet calm and rounded. The guitar is simply a guitar, the voice human and distinct. A trite description just can't do justice to the feeling of listening - again, all one can say is that all the details of the recording are in the right place, it's uncluttered and yet primarily homogeneously non-technical, totally "analogue".

And space? "If I Could Sing Your Blues" by Sara K. ("Play On Words" | 1994 | Chesky | 090368027863) has, thanks to David Chesky's care, a beautifully sketched musical scene, instruments and singer set in depth and a very clear ambient. WADAX - and this was the first time I'd heard it like this - pushed the boundaries of stereo to beyond the physical walls of the room. Indeed, you even get the sense that a new space has materialized in the space you're sitting in, with its own walls from which the sounds bounce and which define it, and in the orthogonal, prefrontal, and ultimately vertical axis. The result cannot be described in any other way than completely "normal", because at the right volume you feel you are in the same room as Sara K. and her musical companions. And no, it's not by extreme focus, total transparency or any other technical attribute, but precisely because these values don't come to mind at all when listening.

"Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" by Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band ("Live Bullet" | 1976 | Capitol | 0060255777458) is a true rock concert, a live essence of the seventies. And as performed by WADAX, it really is that - the rock onslaught of a brilliantly scored live album, not a trace of fatigue, yet the pull of a gateway and the prominent shrillness of a live performance. Nothing is cut, nothing is left out, not even out loud is the sweet flavor of WADAX's musicianship lost, the intimate contact with the music. The built up atmosphere is not aggressive, yet it's everywhere and absolutely great to listen to, a fantastic example of how a digital signal can be made truly analogue. An incredibly fun experience...

But a separate paragraph deserves a final listening moment, which was the insertion of the compact disc "Tannoy 85th Stereo Test Record" from the fantastic ABC Records. This disc begins with a recording of Bach's most famous "Toccatas and Fugues, BWV 565" with a monumental ringing introduction. The Atlantis Reference Transport lights up the experience to an even greater level than the already fantastic Atlantis Reference Server was able to do. Although one would think that there was "nowhere to go", the disc player managed to offer a good deal more concreteness, massiveness and physicality - as if you were standing in a bell tower where the bell had just rung and then moved to a church pew where an organ pedal, still tuned well below 20 Hz, breezed through you - and you could feel every one of those Hertz's. The transport (of course, when set up with the Atlantis Reference DAC and extreme cables) is in the royal category. It's hard to pluck more than one or two other transports from memory that raise as many goosebumps as the Atlantis Reference Transport.

But equally intense and beautifully emotional were Randy Owen's "Amazing Grace" or Alison Krauss' somewhat dark "Jacob's Dream." And the punchy percussion on The O-Zone Percussion Group's "Jazz Variants" sounds incisive, authoritative, everything in its place and time. Playing the silver reels, then, is an unparalleled fantastic experience, one in which it's easy to lose all sense of time and space.

Sure, at a price of around 15 million crowns for a source component capable of playing all sorts of streams and CD/SACDs, you kind of expect everything to work. And somehow that it will work well. Which the Atlantis Reference component and Akasa cable setup delivers. Of course it does. They're luxuriously made components, and they work perfectly smoothly as well - but again, it's nothing you wouldn't expect for this abstract amount of money. Nevertheless, the fact is that the experience of listening to them remained consistently amazing, and that's regardless of tossing around other parts of the setup. It was as if the WADAX Atlantis Reference could push the music in its full format through anything that followed in the chain. What makes it different from other über high-end solutions is its attention to analogue output, to a continuous, colourful, full-blooded form, which it spreads not only wall-to-wall but even further. It creates a truly singular, unrestricted and authentic space that incorporates you into it and absorbs the surrounding world, so that you remain in intimate contact with the music and perceive neither time nor place. WADAX Atlantis Reference is a truly referential musical signal source. Completely unorthodox in almost every way. It is, of course, a toy for a select few, yet the memory of listening to it is one that will never fade...

EUR 203 000,- Atlantis Reference DAC (control unit + power supply)
approx. EUR 4 950 000,-

EUR 84 100,- - Atlantis Reference Server
approx. EUR 2 050 000,-

EUR 150 700,- - Atlantis Reference Transport
approx. EUR 3 670 000,-

EUR 64 600,- Atlantis Reference Power Supply (for 1 component)
approx. EUR 1 570 000,-

EUR 25 900,- - Akasa DC Reference 1 m (power cable)
approx. EUR 630 000,-

EUR 11 700,- - Akasa DC Optical 2,2 m (signal cable)
approx. EUR 285 000,-

The approximate total price of the used source assembly is approximately CZK 15 000 000,-.

PHOTOS

PLAYLIST USED: https://tidal.com/playlist/6860b6ba-139a-41fa-81b5-6d65e2825c34

PROS

• phenomenal SACD transport
• maximalist construction of the type "we spared nothing"
• The Rolls Royce of the signal source world - quality, performance and luxury refinement in a uniquely designed package
• the ultimate feeling of colour naturalness
• monumental dimensions of the soundstage
• "live" flowing energy, albeit elegantly controlled
• fast and stable response, as well as wide and easy adjustment options
• the benchmark of musicality

RESPONSIBILITIES

• price is just a collection of numbers with an abstract value

SUPPLIER: Dream Audio | www.dreamaudio.eu