To get the best sound, metal cone feet are supplied and for ultra hard surfaces, softer facings are provided. The 16 is heavy and inert, thanks to its semi-solid alloy case. (On Wadia's next version I would like to see a large numeric read-out, perhaps temporarily accessing the main transport display during volume setting.) A crude visual display of volume setting is given by a vertical row of LEDs. Covering a 50dB range in 100 0.5dB steps, the control effectively adjusts output level down from a 4V maximum in both balanced and unbalanced modes. In this context the volume control is crucial, and is likely to be the most used facility. The digital input switching facility means that the 16 is more than a CD player. A DCC or satellite signal can be linked via the Toslink terminal and a DAT machine can be hooked in via the 16's AES balanced terminal. A suitable ADC would be the new Wadia 17, encoding at a specified 20-bit resolution and accepting up to four analogue inputs. On the digital receiver side, the same four input options supplement the internal CD transport itself.Īn outboard ADC for existing analogue signals may be connected, for example via the AT&T glass optical input. It is equipped with four outputs: glass and plastic optical and coax and AES/EBU balanced electrical. There is no balance control on the remote handset.Īlthough the Wadia 16 is a fully-fledged CD player, it can be used purely as a high performance CD transport. These comprise 'input', which controls selection of the chosen digital source 'mute', which instantly reduces the level to inaudibility 'absolute phase invert' and 'display on/off', two options for golden-eared audiophiles and finally the digital volume control.
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None of these controls is out of the ordinary for a full function CD player.īut then we come to the digital system controls. Only by surveying the array of buttons on the infrared-linked remote control handset can the extent of this machine's capabilities be gauged.Īpart from allowing selection of 'open-close', 'programmed play', 'normal' and 'A/B phase repeat', the remote control has time display, indexing, and 'auto space' options, the latter an aid to cassette dubbing and a ten-key numeric pad for track selection and programming. The fascia carries just two controls: drawer 'open/close' and 'play'. This large bluff unit is presented in the characteristic Wadia brushed satin black anodised alloy finish and looks deceptively simple. Now, with the Wadia 16, we have a one-box CD player/digital preamp. More recently, PS Audio's Reference Link digital decoder/preamp and the Wadia 7/9 CD transport/DAC show just how far things have progressed. The Accuphase DP-70V was a fairly primitive example of the technology in use. In digital audio, the DSP core is the 'engine'.Ī recent advance in DSP has been the development of a high-quality, remote volume control operating in the digital domain, the advantage of which is that digital source components can be connected directly to a power amplifier, bypassing the preamp, thereby eliminating a potential source of fidelity loss. This is like exchanging the engine's electronic management chip in a car to alter or improve its performance.
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Wadia's current filter software is called Digimaster and is held on EPROM IC chips that can be exchanged when superior filter designs emerge. Digital audio requires a filter to block out signals above 20kHz, and just how that block is achieved affects many aspects of the reproduced sound in the audible range below.
But Wadia's ability to write its own software gives it the freedom to fine tune the balance between filter rates, the placement and degree of spurious signals beyond the audible range and the transient response at the edge of audibility. That is not to say that excellent results cannot be achieved with a standard filter. This is in contrast to the off-the-shelf, one-chip digital filters used by the bulk of the industry. Its products are distinguished by their digital filter software or programme code, which is executed by DSP (digital signal processor or computer). Any competently run company is capable of sustained expansion founded on a solid infrastructure in which both advanced research, and the development of high technology products, play a crucial role. The US home market has such strength in depth that it can easily support a burgeoning digital audio sector. The world's greatest single-box CD player? The Wadia 16 may be even better, since it's also a digital preamplifier.
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