Sasha DAW

[HiFiFan]

Just heard this bad boy yesterday, very nice. I guess it is the replacement for the Sasha 2.

[Steve]

The first Wilson released after the passing of the big man himself... Did you think it was a noticeable step up from the Sasha 2 or just marginal? Maybe difficult to tell if the audition was in a much different environment than your own setup?
Wilson do seem to release new versions of some models relatively frequently. I had thought Sasha 2 was only around for a few years.

[HiFiFan]

I think the Sasha 2 are from 2013 so I guess 5 years isn't too bad, although if I'm being honest I'd prefer it to be a little slower. I bought mine about 3.5 years ago but am thinking of changing out to the DAW. Very happy with the Series2 but the DAW seems to have so much trickle down and redesign for not a huge price different.I can't comment too much on the sound of them at the moment. I heard them at a small audio event where the room was much smaller than mine and the amps and source were different. I did think they were very good though and seemed to have more presence than the series 2. I like the new look, a little bit of a throwback to the Watts but with some nice modern touches. I thought in person the new venting looks better than it does in the photos.

My own dealer is getting them in very soon and I'll be able to do a proper listen using my own gear. He is going to have an event soon with the new (to be released) Alexandrias and a bunch of Peter McGrath recordings but I'll be away on travel and will miss that. Would you believe he sold two pairs of Wilson Audio MAXX this year.

[Steve]

Shame to miss that session with the Alexandria's. Would be a nice way to spend an evening!

If you were going to consider swapping for the new Sasha DAW's, would you also consider Alexia's? Or perhaps the Sasha's are just right for your room?

[HiFiFan]

The Alexias are more money than I'd be comfortable spending on speakers (and the wife would veto it even if I could/wanted to). Might be next year now before I get to hear the DAW properly, I have a lot of travel coming up.

[HiFiFan]

So last Sunday I spent 4 to 5 hours just myself, my wife and store owner (who is great) listening to the Sasha DAWs. For the first three hours or so I drove them from my Chord DAVE and Merrill Audio VERITAS. Then we switched over to D'Agostino Momentum monoblock power amps (of which we used 100 W/ch of the available 400 W/ch).

It's weird but all in all I am not sure I liked the sound of the DAWs. Given all the changes on paper they represent a significant update but I can’t say I preferred them. Sometimes it seemed very similar to the Sasha 2s other times very noticeably different, but I am not convinced better. I will certainly have to listen to them more to determine if they or an amplifier change will make a better upgrade. If I were going from Sophias to Sashas this would probably be a no brainer but, from my limited listening, that is not true when going from Sahsa 2 even though the DAW is basically a scaled down Alexia II as opposed to a Sasha.

There was definitely a difference in sound on some material between the VERITAS and the D’Agostinos but of course this was with the DAWs and not the 2’s. We had a phase issue on the right channel connection for a few songs that make things sound odd and threw some cloud over the listening when I switched to the momentums. Once corrected we did some more listening. The D’Agostino totally changed the character of “Editors – No Harm “in a good way, really bringing out the menace but didn’t seem to offer much or any improvement on simpler vocals etc. That said we were getting tired and weren’t quite giving it the same attention as earlier.

It was enough for me to decide to explore some amplifier changes which I’ll be doing over the next few months. The momentum monoblocks are not a consideration but I’ll be home auditioning the stereo version in the next few weeks. Then the Ypisilon Auelis and Merril Audio’s new Element 118.

[Diapason]

Interesting report. I don't personally know the amps you were using (although obviously I know their stellar reputations) but would you consider a test with some high-powered valves?

One way or the other it's interesting that the DAW was different but not always better. You can sleep easier now.

[HiFiFan]

Interesting report. I don't personally know the amps you were using (although obviously I know their stellar reputations) but would you consider a test with some high-powered valves?

One way or the other it's interesting that the DAW was different but not always better. You can sleep easier now.

Just a follow up, I am now quite unsure about the whole day. Last night I reconnected my gear and did some listening. Straight off the bat something sounded different, in some cases I liked the difference in others not. It turned out that the Phase inversion on the DAVE had been set to Invert. Now I can't be sure if this might have also happened at the listening session and if it did was it all the time or when we changed amps? This is separate from the mis-wiring we had on the right channel when we changed amps on Sunday.

On the valve question I'm probably not going to go down that road, though the Ypsilon has a single-ended class A tubed input stage. I definitely want to try the new Merrill's but its a bit weird with the other two because it is more out of convinence with what my dealer carries as opposed to any research or personal taste.Though all the amps have great reviews. Part of me doesn't have the enthusiasm to explore too much and in particular to approach different stores etc. That said the main intent will be to try these few options and see if (a) there is a significant improvement over what I have and (b) is there a significant difference between them/one I definitely prefer. This might led me to explore further before making any (if any) purchase

[Diapason]

Yeah that all makes sense. A bit annoying about the phase issue and the questions it leaves lingering. Oh well, nice problems to have!

[mcq]

Let me know how you get on with the Ypsilon.  Although I'm very happy with my Jadis I-88, I would dearly love to try the hybrid integrated from Ypsilon, the Phaethon, which is basically a contraction of the PST100mk2 preamp and the Aelius monoblock into a single chassis.

Another very interesting hybrid integrated that I would love to hear one day is the Absolare integrated.