Thought I should start this thread for the Wadia series of Dacs. I recently got mine in (Wadia 25) and I was lucky enough to be able to pick it up right before the weekend so you know what that means! (To clarify, i was able to pick up the DDC that allows me to even use my dac right before the weekend lol) Last night I played it a bit but most of the real listening was done this morning, ended up playing Steve Lacy’s newest album and a bit of everything else including some Paty Cantu, Maluma, Julieta Venegas and some other post modern stuff, tons of rap etc. So i tried to really play alot of different things. First of all, this dac (or Decoding Computer as they call it) has been full of surprises and all of them good. When it comes to the things that stand out so far, bass, bass and BASS. I’m not exagerrating when I say that this is the bassiest thing i’ve ever heard, and I don’t mean that it’s just a step up in bass performance like the Bifrost was over the modius or any other lower end dac that i’ve tried, no this Wadia 25 Dac has a surplus of bass quantity and ridiculously amazing bass quality. It’s a bass head’s dream DAC, not to mention it’s other great qualities like great macro detail, the left and right seperation also really stand out for some reason. It’s a bit intimate, much more than I expected considering I came from an intimate RS6 Dac. Another stand out is the ridiculous amount of impact that this dac has. It’s just bananas!
Now then for the negatives, the treble is indeed faaaairly pulled back. It’s a legit darker sounding dac which really caught me off guard. As many of you may know, i’m a treble head. lol. But this has given me the opportunity to expand and already have another dac in line to buy (a more neutral balanced one to balance it out and have two different sounds) soon once i build back some money. The thought of having two high end dacs is very exciting but it’s also just the sheer amount of difference that changing dacs has been that excites me. When using the RS6 dac chained to my WA8 + OG 600 it was a mids lover wet dream, and while the mids on the Wadia 25 dac are still amazing and extremely organic it’s evident that there’s just such a fun focus on bass. While the OG HD600 already has amazing bass it’s really gone to such a next level and is just ridiculously fun now lol.
It plays up to 24 bit 48khz since it’s a older dac (to my understanding these were in production from 1996-1998 only) so it does have downsides with playing higher res music. Infact two albums that I really wanted to hear I couldn’t play on it, but @M0N is gonna do me a favor of downsampling the files to play them. Thankfully I have literally a handful of music that’s hi res, 97% of my library is 16 bit or 24 bit 48khz. Also this dac does not have a USB section so you can only connect through some things like toslink cables etc or you can buy a DDC like I did, hook it up to the DDC and then hook up your source. (in my case a android device i have specifically with only music) Something I find Interesting is that I straight up have to have the dac at full volume because the WA8 amp just dosen’t get loud enough if it’s at anything lower than full volume, while if it’s at full volume the WA8 gets plenty loud with great headroom to spare.
But yes, to recap. The Wadia 25 is an extremely fun/engaging dac with a major emphasize in bass performance both quantity and quality, very punchy sounding dac, fairly great dynamics. It’s a fun device that has fun history behind it being the predecessor to the exogal company, and was famous for it’s CD players which is evident as my Wadia 25 controller comes with very CD focused controls. Oh and Mon gave me the fun history tidbit that apparently because most CDs had very poor bass at the time they made this dac as bassy as it is, to counterbalance.
Pic to show the ridiculous size of the control lol. And just a front pic of the dac too.
REPRESENTING.
hahaha, yeah I considered the 27 actually when i found out it existed. but couldn’t find one either lol. The Wadia 25 purchase did come out of nowhere tho, I was planning for my dac upgrade and Mon throughout the idea that it would be like a fun project to get a vintage dac since I love my OG vintage senn 600. Then i found a wadia 25 listing on ebay, was able to talk the guy down a little and pulled the trigger. Mon was talking to me for over an hour and thirty minutes if not 2 hours over my options. Got the dac in 5 days ago but hadn’t been able to use it. Didn’t know you were keeping an eye on the 27 or that anyone here besides mon and probably polygon had heard of them! that’s nice
Been glued to it this morning and run around to hear 2-3 songs at a time when i can sneak out LOL. Been loving this dude. Keeps on getting better as the mutec warms up (or maybe im just getting more used to it’s sound idk)
As I’ve had my day off today I’ve had a surplus of free time to listen to the new dac in addition to new albums that I’ve been waiting to hear for a while as I was dac-less, a build up if you will. In addition, this is my first higher end dac so it’s been taking a little bit more time to really notice all sorts of things and also put them into words. For reference, my real baseline/reference dacs are the Schiit Bifrost 2 and really the most reference for me is the RS6 Dac so I’ll e drawing comparisons/conclusions from these.
First of all, in terms of being laid back or chill in speed, impact the RS6 is the absolute most chill dac of the three. It’s got blunted speed/attack that leads to a very euphoric, dreamy or dainty type of sound. Bifrost is in the middle where it’s a bit smoothed over and kind of dirty but great punch and is not blunted in its speed or attack. The Wadia 25 is the most aggressive one, much more forward than both of the previously mentioned dacs, the punchiest as well to the point where you feel like it really wants to Mike Tyson type of punch you. The speed is also very good, and the attack and decay is just a class ahead of the Bifrost, while of course the RS6 Dac as mentioned is blunted. Essentially the Wadia and the RS6 represent two opposite sides of the spectrum while the bifrost is in the middle.
Again, the Wadia 25 has been surprisingly intimate and forward sounding to where I would say it is just as narrow as the RS6 if not more. The way it presents is extremely engaging, it may not be as holographic sounding as an RS6 or maybe even bifrost but it’s such a dense sounding dac. It’s not that it sounds thick in a way that might lead you to believe it is closer to muddy than being thin, instead it’s just such a concentrated dense sounding dac. It feels like iron, extremely dense, heavy and just extremely impactful.
I love the RS6 dac, and in terms of sound signature it’s definitely closer to my preference, but the Wadia 25 has been such an awesome discovery of a completely opposite type of sound that I enjoy like crazy. IT FEELS LIKE A FUCKING TITAN.
On a final note, I know I mentioned this before because it’s been the biggest takeaway. But i truly think it’d impossible to overstate the levels ahead that this is in the bass region. First of all, it’s incredibly textured and incredibly detailed in the bass region + a combination of added bass quantity and ridiculous impact. As I’ve gone up the ladder in dacs I’ve noticed bass improvements as a general trend but this dosent fit that trend, it’s a completely different animal when it comes to bass. I know mon said that they created this to make up for the poor bass performance in CDs at the time but this dac feels like it was created to extract, enhance the best bass performance ever. It’s just that amazing. It’s almost scary to think about using an already bass cannon type of headphone with this dac, because I think someone can legit die from impact or develop CTE from constant heavy blows to the head by the bass waves lol.
Disclaimer: since I can’t use the Wadia without the mutec ddc it’s also possible that it’s the ddc is responsible for the following changes, if not a combination of both.
I’ve had a little bit more time with the dac now that a week and a bit has passed. Just like the RS6 dac this one, (my vocabulary might be debatable but) requires warm up. In the owners manual they do mention it requires 3 days of being fully on to sound it’s best but besides that I would debate it requires at least 40 minutes of warm up actually playing music before listening. At least in my experience there is a fairly sizable difference in sound when I leave it playing music all day vs when I plug n play. Staging becomes considerably more spacious, defined with proper separation when it’s been warmed up playing music. General sense of impact is much greater, much tighter with no slopinnes which it can be without warmup. Generally more organic, more appropriate speed etc. Interestingly enough unlike the RS6 where general frequency dosent change much with warmup I do find the treble on the Wadia to be extremely unrefined and sharp without warmup (upper mids might be more accurate) while with the full warmup I talked about its so perfect you would think it’s a different dac. Generally just like the RS6 I find that it can be lackluster without it having continuous music playback before you listen to it!
Besides that I would say that everything I’ve mentioned before is generally the same. The Wadia 25 has the most awesome bass impact, general detail, texture, bass focus that really get the inner bass head in me to shine a bit haha. Mids are actually super awesome, fairly organic even if not necessarily the most soulful that I’ve heard. Treble is fairly dark-ish but I think in this dac witch it’s very particular sound I don’t mind whatsoever. Generally the detail has been surprising because it feels like it takes a complete macro detail approach but I once again am not feeling like the micro detail is missing too much.
I guess the best way to explain my feelings towards this dac is that while it’s not in line with my usual preference aka organic vocals plus fun treble I really REEEALLY love what it does with the opposite and makes me realize I can really love something else too! Although I still don’t listen to my girl Stella Jang and some other music that I tend to play to just hear the soul of my singers in this dac. That’s for sure. I generally play most of my other music, kpop, hip hop and this dac has me playing more rock than ever! Don’t like post modern nor classical music or even lofi on it tho.
Alright then! Just got off a ridiculously awesome jamming session with the Wadia 25 dac! The dac that keeps on surprising me. Swear it might be top purchase of 2022!
Funny long story at the end!
The Wadia is so damn sick, I just got finished with a long ass session of the Wadia 25 DAC, hooked up to my powered Focal Alpha 80 speakers. Something I noticed a while ago with the Fostex headphones, V shapes are ridiculously amazing for rock. I don’t know why, they just are. The Wadia 25 keeps on surprising me because it’s got slightly recessed vocals, but incredibly filled out vocals due to a ridiculous presence in the low end and pulled back treble. Even though the treble is incredibly pulled back the upper mids do have a nice big emphasis that on something with too much treble can be an issue but in the Focal Alpha that have too tamed treble in my room it shines. There’s just so much contrast to music, again the Wadia is a bit closed in where it dosent have the holographic and incredibly wide sound stages that many modern dacs do. BUT, it more than makes up for it with certain qualities. In particular the Wadia has such as engaging attack, punch and general sense of slam. It’s the slammiest dac I’ve ever heard, no doubt about that as it’s leagues ahead. The bass is leagues ahead of everytbing else I’ve heard, including the bifrost, RS6, P6P. It’s simply so much more textured, controlled, detailed and also has the most bass quantity too. Ridiculous stuff. Was listening to Dua Lipa, Injury reserve, Flatbush zombies and this dac brings out the 13 year old rocker in me as it keeps me playing system of a down, slipknot, linking park and all the great 2000s alt rock groups. It’s just ridiculously when you have the sound be as visceral as the Wadia is. Oh yeah I forgot to mention, the Wadia’s micro dynamics might not be the best but the Macro dynamics without a doubt are. SO ENGAGING. It’s an addicting dac. It does require warmup as mentioned before but honestly at this point all my gear requires it, and I just read a book while it warms up lol.
A great quote about the Wadia 25 that I heard explaining why the Wadia 25 is so fun.
“people just had more fun in the past” - Not a reviewer
Funny/interesting story about the Wadia 25
Mainly now that I hooked up my speakers again (Focal Alpha 80) I decided to have some sessions with the Wadia as the dac. First of all, the Wadia is very evidently old based off a few things. I noticed even with the WA8 that it requires much more of the heavy lifting being done in the amp side, aka much more juice. While with the Hiby RS6, P6P or Bifrost 2 the general volume range I always was on was 4-6 maybe(the volume when lining into the WA8 amp) . Depending on how little compression the album had it would once in a blue moon go up to 7. That is out of 12 steps. With the Wadia acting as the DAC, it was evident that 6 was the bare minimum and in reality it would have to be stepped up to 9 on a regular, only leaving 3 more volume steps of overhead. But today while using the Focal Alphas, whom I know like the back of my hand (due to many lonely nights I’m afraid) the Wadia surprised me again by how little volume it really provides (btw I always have the volume of the Wadia at 100% because it’s absolutely necessary). Depending on the DAC, the standard volume range on the big knob volume controller is at 12-1 O’ Clock. Sometimes more, this is using the balanced XLR cables on my speakers which I discovered years ago cut the volume down by a fair bit as opposed to the SE RCA connectors. Using the Wadia 25 as the dac I had to basically have the knob turned all the way and this was when listening to a song with average volume, not even one of the more demanding songs with least compression. Even after hitting the switch on my powered speakers to +6Db I almost had to still go all the way. Finally I decided to just switch back, removed the XLR connectors and used my SE RCA cables, still +6Db on the speakers and only now is it comparable to volume levels that I generally have on other dacs. LOL.
