SMOOTH AS SILK

In our quest for developing a package for the audiophile seeking more than just high-quality audio reproduction, we realized several things. Firstly, we need digital precision but with „analog” charm, free of any „digital glare” yet with rich detail. Secondly, this package needs to provide outstanding value, future proofing, new features and a stunning, timeless design. This is how the „Wavelight DAC” was created, more than just a little brother for the accomplished „Wavedream”.

UPSAMPLING FILTERS

For the Wavelight we truly did our math and extended out testing methodology. Careful optimizations allowed us to achieve subtle nuances in listening sessions so that any listener is catered for.

Powerful, customized DSP units are performing high precision calculations in real time for studio-quality upsampling. User can choose between 4 filter modes : linear, minimum phase, hybrid mode and NOS.

ANALOG SECTION & POWER SUPPLY

With 5 digital inputs and one analogue input, the unit is also capable of operating as a preamplifier. To avoid data truncation, the volume control inside the Wavelight is fully analogue, even if controlled digitally.

The analog path is fully discrete. Two toroidal power transformers allow the separation between analog and digital circuitry. A massive filtering bank capacity (over 100.000 uF) is conditioning the power supplies.

The Wavelight audiophile music Server – or the WLS – is your perfect source partner for Wavelight/Wavedream dacs, or just any dac, especially if equipped with a I2S input. In adition the I2S output, USB, AES/EBU, SPDIF, and optical output (Toslink) are available.

INTERNAL STRUCTURE

The WLS combines a few key elements for server-based digital audio playback: a linear power supply, a low TDP computing system running custom Linux, a highly efficient FPGA / DSP system for audio management.

SOFTWARE AND USER SCENARIOS

The WLS will manage to transcode between formats on hardware level, without overloading the CPU. Therefore, it’s heat and RFI emissions will stay low, without bad influence on audio circuitry.

The WLS has the ability to let you choose from a variety of server software and audio services including Roon, MPD, LMS and so on. There are many use scenarios, the device can be used as core, or can be used as renderer or endpoint.

CONTROL INTERFACE

The WLS has a powerful control interface that can be accessed via local browser or control app. It allows the owner to manage internal or attached storage, select active software or services, select upsampling or transcoding parameters, select I2S output setting for DAC compatibilty, rip cd’s to local drives, enable room correction etc.

WLS is fully upgradable and future-proof. Both operating system with services and FPGA (audio hardware) can be easily updatable via internet.

THE SOUND YOU EVER EXPECTED,
AND BEYOND.

We are proud to present our current flagship in digital audio reproduction. We believe it has the right ingredients to produce a sound that will honour it’s name. In the good tradition established by it’s predecessor, the Wavedream continues to push the limits of performance, design and sound quality. The ingredients, innovations, technology and features of the product are presented below.

FEMTOVOX CLOCK SYSTEM

The clock is the heart of a digital reproduction system. It’s accuracy and jitter levels are critical in regard of sound quality. Only a very good clock system can make the way to the analog sound on the output of your DAC. If the clock is flawed, digital harshness will occur and the analog feeling of the music will be severely altered. Apart from the performance of the clock itself, equally critical is the construction of the clock tree (the clock distribution architecture) inside the DAC. The jitter amount that really counts it’s not only the performance of the clock itself – but the clock which actually enters the dac and is used for conversion – let’s call it the conversion clock. The conversion clock that enters the dac section relies on the clock tree, which is usually not just routing, but in most cases conditioning, altering it’s quality. A poorly designed clock tree can degrade significantly the clock quality entering the d/a section, even if the source clock has great performance.

With these facts in mind, we designed for the Wavedream an advanced clock system called the femtovox. With femtovox in place, one is assured that only extremely small amounts of jitter are present at the dac conversion clock input. It’s unique architecture employs that conversion clock is directly synthesised at the dac input, without any conditioning, giving constant jitter performance at any sample rate. The conversion clock is controlled with 1 ppb precision, while exhibiting about 300 fS of jitter. The smallest jitter figure in the world? No. The smallest jitter figure where actually matters? Probably.

D/A CONVERSION

For the effective D/A conversion stage we developed dedicated dac modules called RD-0 (used in Signature – 27 bit structure) and RD-1 (used in Edition – 26 bit structure). Modules themselves are complex pieces of technology, sharing a discrete sign-magnitude hybrid ladder topology, driven by a complex algorythm which is embedded into their own FPGA. Therefore the dac modules firmware is updatable both performance and feature-wise. Currently RD-0/1 can sustain a maximum sample rate of 6 MHz, which is the industry’s maximum sample rate specified for a audio dac. The output of the dac modules is un-buffered, allowing maximum transparency and natural sound reproduction.

OUTPUT STAGE

Finally, the last stage of the signal path is the analog output stage. It’s contribution to final sound is of extreme importance. Designed from the scratch to work with converter modules RD-0 & RD-1, the output stage is totally discrete and acts as a high-speed buffer. Made entirely with through-hole components (non-smd), we combined j-fet & bipolar devices into a class A design, with a closed-loop output impedance of under 1 ohm and equivalent input noise as low as 1nV, as a perfect match for the converter overall performance.

LOCAL, LAN AND DISC MEMORY TRANSPORT

The Wavedream NET is a unique product which adds together a high performance audio server and a latest generation, memory-based cd transport. You can enjoy your cd collection, internal storage playback or latest streaming experience from only one machine. The NET is naturally the best complementary source for the Wavedream DAC over the HDlink(I2S) connection.