When I opened the main box, I found two smaller boxes. The little brown one contained a fist-sized power supply in a chassis of extruded aluminum, with a label attached that said "AC/DC Hybrid Adaptor" next to a circle containing a sun cross symbol and the words "Designed, Engineered and Built in Switzerland" in capital letters circling its top edge. Below the circle was more writing: "Wattson Audio—a CH…
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After it was delivered, I weighed the box containing Wattson Audio's DAC-equipped Madison LE Streamer on my bathroom scale. It was hardly bigger than a shoebox. It weighed 8.3lb.
Listening
When I audition a new DAC, the main things I listen for are the liveliness of musical forms (flow, action, jump, vibrancy) and materiality. I used to think these important-to-me audio-sonic traits went out with wringer washers, flushed away in limp digital streams, or buried under layers of signal processing, but exceptional flow, presence, and vibrancy (!) were the first traits I noticed streaming Qobuz via Wattson's control app.
I was hoping to get a quick read on the Wattson's streaming app. Was it as transparent as dCS's Mosaic? I played the remastered 1965…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-channel D/A processor, streamer, and headphone amplifier. Digital inputs: one electrical (S/PDIF on RCA), one optical (TosLink), and one Ethernet. Analog outputs: stereo pair balanced (XLR), stereo pair single-ended (RCA); single-ended headphone (¼" stereo). THD: <0.001%. S/N ratio: >120dB (A-weighted). Headphone amplifier maximum output power: 150mW into 32 ohms, 50mW into 150 ohms, 10mW into 600 ohms. Supported formats: PCM to 384kHz, DSD to 256×. Control protocols: UPnP/DLNA, AirPlay, Tidal Connect, Roon Ready, Audirvãna. Control app:…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog sources: Dr. Feickert Analogue Blackbird turntable with EMT 912-HI tonearm and EMT JSD 6 moving coil cartridge, Sorane SA-1.2 tonearm with a Nagaoka MP-200 moving Permalloy cartridge, plus Audio-Technica ART20, Benz Micro Gullwing SLR, and Hana Umami Blue moving coils. MoFi MasterPhono and Prima Luna EVO 100 phono stages.
Digital sources: Roon Nucleus+ music server; Denafrips Terminator Plus, HoloAudio Spring 3 LTE, dCS Lina DAC with Master Clock; TEAC VRDS-701T and Sparkler Audio S515t CD transports.
Preamplifier: HoloAudio Serene.
Power…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I performed a full set of measurements on the Wattson Madison LE using my Audio Precision SYS2722 system, repeating some of the testing with the magazine's higher-performance APx555 analyzer. I used network data streamed with Roon and optical S/PDIF data. (The TosLink input accepted data sampled at rates up to 192kHz.) I adjusted the processor's settings with the Wattson Music app, installed on my iPad mini.
The Madison preserved absolute polarity from the balanced and unbalanced line outputs, and from the headphone output. The volume control…
It's not unusual for audiophiles to have fond childhood recollections of the old family stereo, but Eelco Grimm's memory of his dad's audio system probably stands alone. It's not just that Piet Grimm, a professional pilot for the Dutch air defense (footnote 1), had a pair of very fine Infinity speakers, a Pioneer receiver, and a Technics turntable. Others surely did, too. It's more that he purchased the system from a military PX shop at a US air force base in Germany, then happily flew the equipment home to the Netherlands on his Northrop F5 supersonic fighter plane. That's not run-of-the-…
Because every LS1 midrange driver and tweeter is measured during manufacturing, then precision-matched to the amplifier that powers them, the Grimm crew says that users should make sure that the serial number on the speaker is the same as the serial number on the speaker leg containing the electronics. Easy enough—though I will say that connection-wise and web-interface-wise, inaugurating this system was quite a bit more complicated than hooking up other powered speakers I'm familiar with, including the KEF LS50W, SVS Prime Pro Wireless, and Vanatoo Transparent One Encore. The Grimm…
Photo by Rogier van Bakel
Tuned in, turned on
Zeroing in on the ideal location for the LS1c's in my well-treated 15' × 21' listening room meant moving them 7'10" apart, measured from their centers. The backs of the cabinets stood 5'6" from the front wall.
Grimm advises starting with a 45° toe-in and adjusting to taste from there. The web-based software lets you choose DSP settings for either a 45° or a 30° angle, which applies a small correction to the highest treble to make the frequency response of the direct sound as linear as possible when it reaches your ears. (If you…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Floorstanding active stereo speakers, available in two-way and three-way configurations. Max SPL 105dB. Signal/noise ratio 114dB (unweighted). Crossovers: 1550Hz, 4th-order Linkwitz-Riley; 70Hz, 2nd-order Linkwitz-Riley (three-way system). Phase correction to linear phase on both crossovers. Supported sample rates: 44.1–192kHz via AES3; USB with LS1i USB interface. Amplifier power 120W per driver; 500W per subwoofer. Frequency response 20Hz– 27kHz +0.5dB/–3dB with subwoofers; 35Hz–27kHz +0.5dB/–3dB without.
Dimensions: 20.5" (520.7mm) W × 6.3" (…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital sources: 16" MacBook Pro M1 running Roon 2.0. Roon ROCK (Lenovo ThinkCentre). Grimm Audio MU1. Aurender A20.
Loudspeakers: Focal Utopia Scala EVO.
Power cables and interconnects: Clarus Crimson pure copper OCC power cables, AudioQuest WEL Signature AES3 cable, AudioQuest Vodka TosLink cable.
Accessories: AudioQuest PowerQuest PQ-707 power conditioner. Puron and Nordost plug-in AC enhancers.
Listening room: Custom-built dedicated 21' × 15' room with 10'-tall walls and a 16' gabled ceiling, total volume around 4000ft3. Extra-thick…