High End 2016 • Hot Product

Wadax has updated the confusingly named PRE One Ultimate that so impressed Roy Gregory. The name is "confusing" because it is not just a preamplifier but an entire digital-audio server/streamer system: CD player, DAC and, yes, a preamplifier with line inputs and a highly configurable phono input. The latest version, dubbed Ultimate Trio ($68,000), now has a Zepto clock in its DAC, the latest version of Wadax's MusIC chip feed-forward error-correction algorithm and a revision to the ripper/server that allows you to use it as a CD transport, which seems like a logical idea.

In terms of specs, the relatively old-school numbers -- 24-bit/192kHz PCM and DSD up to 128 -- mean that Wadax have not rushed to install the latest chipset for the sake of the digital arms race. And this has hopefully given Wadax the opportunity to get the best sound out of the converters.