WASHINGTON DC (PTA) — American Sound Distribution was debuting electronics from WADAX, along with Avantgarde Acoustic loudspeakers, and Phasemation amplification.

Capital Audiofest 2019 brought to you in part by Verdant Audio!

The Story

American Sound Distribution debuted the WADAX (of Spain) Atlantis line of digital components to North America. The four flagship components that make up the Atlantis series comprise of a Transport, Server and DAC. Each of the components represents a cost-no-object approach to design.

The Atlantis Transport features five motors, two custom toroidal transformers, and a total of ten circuit boards. Based on a custom optical engine – “THOR 1.3” – milled around a solid metal alloy of a specific formulation and combined with a complex selection of materials to improve performance, isolation and damping.“Thor 1.3” was developed using state-of-the-art FEA (Finite Element Analysis) simulation techniques. FEA can predict the multi-disciplinary behavior and minimize sensitivity to vibrations, electromagnetic emissions, mechanical stability and how they interact with each other. FEA is usually applied in sophisticated industrial designs such as Formula 1 cars and airplane wings.

The Atlantis Server started as an R&D project that began in 2010 determined that the sound quality of a digital playback system is greatly dependent on the server used. This project’s primary purpose was to provide a server that unleashes a DAC’s full potential. Created by the same engineering team responsible for the Atlantis DAC, the Atlantis Server is universal with respect to features, and is both Roon based and MQA certified.

At the heart of the Atlantis line is the DAC, which uses a WADAX in-house developed “musIC 2 chip”. Operating on a 128-bit internal processing platform with 588 hardware multipliers in parallel, with 6.4GB/second data transfer capabilities. Design is dual-mono, fully balanced, and also includes WADAX’s second generation “Zepto Clock 2”. The DAC also features a fully discrete output stage with 300 parts/channel and is MQA certified. Finally, the outboard power supply is a symmetric dual-mono design with 3 custom transformers, wound around a custom formulated core, and features a real-time AC line monitoring function to reduce noise.

The Sound

I never thought I’d be familiar with Avantgarde horns in any sense. Though this experience is to be taken in the context of audio show terms. During the past two years I’ve had quite a few run-ins with the Duo XD line, and this go round with the Duo XD has offered something special.

This is the first digital I’ve heard on the Duo XD, and the experience was indeed exceptionally analog in nature. The horns of Avantgarde speakers have an honesty to them that doesn’t allow anything spurious to slide by or go undetected. I appreciate this level of detail in a speaker that still sounds inviting and comfortable to listen to. The Atlantis Line of components imbued the Avantgarde system with a remarkable level digital refinement and the supreme poise and confidence often exclusively found in analog.