WADIA Digital, which was acquired a few years ago by Italian group Fine Sounds (also home to Sonus faber, Audio Research, Sumiko and McIntosh) is ready to ship its first new product of the year, the Intuition 01 Power DAC.
Launched in January this year, the Intuition 01 is described as a “Modern Digital Integrated Amplifier”, and there’s no doubting where Wadia is going with this.
The US outfit has had a chequered history over the past two decades, being at the forefront of digital playback and yet, unable to remain financially viable and passing through various hands. The Fine Sound acquisition brings about streamlining of the product range. No more burly casing filled with electronics and lots of air – the CD players, transports, DACs and iDocks have all been consigned to history.
What is on the menu now, however, indicts a wholehearted embrace of today’s trends – the 121 Decoding Computer (well, DAC, really) and 151 Power DAC Mini, both built on a mini chassis to facilitate desktop use. The Intuition 01, however, is more conventionally sized, but the design embraces trends in the audio lifestyle realm. And it is made in Italy. The curves are a giveaway!
The Intuition 01 has seven digital inputs (USB, optical, balanced, two coaxial and two I2S) and two pairs of analogue inputs – connect your source to it, hook up a pair of speakers via the provided terminals and you’re ready to roll.
The Intuition 01’s power amp section delivers 190 watts per channel into eight-ohm loads, and 350W into four ohms. The high-resolution USB input (32-bit/384kHz) allows native DSD playback. Upsampling is via a 1.536MHz Wadia Delta-SigMaster 32-bit algorithm, while the DAC stage uses a Sabre 32-bit ESS 9081 decoder.
A stylish remote unit is provided, and we’re assuming you can control the volume of the amp with it – rather silly otherwise. The Intuition 01 isn’t exactly a new concept, but the Wadia name will certainly draw some attention. Check with your dealer for arrival times.
