
Wadia's di322 Digital Audio Decoder ($3,500.00 USD) brings new capabilities to the 321. At $3,500.00 USD, the price is right spot on. What are it's capabilities?
Budget price for the face-plate (shell), but rather stupid buttons. We'd prefer DCS. How about inside?
Wadia is known for it's DigiMaster circuitry, which is 32-bit, 1.40-MHz on the Wadia 121. One bit we missed about the 321 was that it was 32-bit as well. 32/192. Via USB.

Well for the price, marring the buttons, you don't expect anything inside, really.
The 321 was essentially a 24 bit, 192 kHz DAC with a very fine case. That approaching - nay exceeding - that of the Berkley Alpha DAC Reference ($16,000.00 USD).
An Intuition 01, for another $8000.00, maybe? That could use an aluminum looking case, really.
This was another product which was rather stupid, despite the nice face plate. By stupid, we mean sad. Perhaps manufactures lack the finances of the Sasha Baron Cohen's Al Aladeen's Republic of Wadiya. Aaah. This thing dost really look nice.
Previously, Wadia 321 Decoding Computer ($3,000.00 USD) - still available via Wadia.
Frequency response remains the same:
+/-0.5dB from 4Hz to 20,000Hz
+0.5/-3dB from 4Hz to 68,000Hz
Of interest is the variable voltage out:
0 - 4.0Vrms Unbalanced
0 - 8.0Vrms Balanced
2V RMS is standard for single-ended RCA's - unbalanced.
4V RMS is standard for balanced XLR's - balanced.
Sometimes an amplifier like a Parasound HCA-2200II expects a higher input voltage. The Parasound P/LD-1100 Preamp will output 10V before clipping, for example, while the Parasound P/LD-2000 Pre-amp will take as input 10.5V before clip.
Released in 1994, the P/LD-2000's Preamplifier's frequency response is 5 Hz - 150 kHz, +0/-2 dB, full output. This was an analogue pre-amplifier, for a year that had 16-bit 44.1 kHz (CD, 20 Hz - 20 kHz) as it's common standard+
Can digital do better? The 68,0000 Hz upper-limit of the Wadia beats CD4 quadraphonic by 18 kHz. It does not do justice to the Wadia's source specification, however.
Take simply DSD. The format allows for dynamic range of 120 dB. Frequency response? 100 kHz. This is not to speak of DSD 2x, and DSD 4x.
Take then, PCM. PCM-32 in particular. This format allows for a dynamic range of .... Ok, processing. PCM-24. This format allows for a dynamic range of ...
DXD 352.8 kHz: 0 Hz - 176.4 kHz (176,000 Hz)
DXD 384 kHz: 0 Hz - 192 kHz (192,000 Hz).
This is a rather steep roll off filter. Audiophiles prefer to to hear any band-pass noise, should it be in their upper-frequency (ultra) spectrum.
In pro-audio, DI is what is known as a Direct Interface.
Amateur headphone enthusiasts might better choose the Wadia di122 (Meridian Prime Category - Separate Power Supply). One would think that manufacture's make these products just so that dealers can sell to their poorer clients. The client comes in, because of his fellows and class-identification, knows nothing about audio, and hopes to make a purchase - any purchase - so he can be pity and parth of the club.
SNR is 110dB, dynamic range is 100dB. We're not calling the Wadia di322 Digital Audio Decoder a DI, but it would work handsomely with the ... power re-generator.
At this price range, one can not expect untold expectation. The frequency response is actually rather nice. Taken in comparison to Mark Levinson pricing of ... the setup is actually quite reasonable.
+ to be fair, high end turntable cartridges (some) have frequency responses up to 120 kHz, while records have experimentally been cut up to 122 kHz. These are rather linear, 20 Hz to 15 kHz +/-0.3 dB for the Technics EPC-100CMK4. CD4 records - a quadraphonic format - have frequency reponses up to 50 kHz. Can digital do better?
JP 2015/09/23
www.hifiart.ca
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