Wattson Digital Line

Product Highlights

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An Emotional Instrument of Precision

The Madison is a true concentrate of technology dedicated to music reproduction. Built in the spirit of Swiss watchmaking, its casing takes up the line of the Emerson and hosts a streamer/DAC designed in the pure tradition of High-End devices.

With no unnecessary features, no compromise on quality and the ease of use that contributed to the reputation of Wattson Audio products, the Madison invites you to spend many hours in its musical world.

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Madison always within Reach

In addition to the multi-function front panel button, the Wattson Music app for IOS and the Wattson Remote app for Android handle all the settings on your Madison, from the bass EQ to the various interactions with the volume of the device.

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You'll also find the entire Hi-Res catalog of TIDAL and Qobuz services, as well as the many radio stations offered by Airable in the Wattson Music app.

​Complex and Versatile

The Madison's on-board digital signal processor is extremely advanced, featuring our new proprietary oversampling algorithm.

From LEEDH Processing digital volume control, to calculation of low-frequency correction filters  and DSD to PCM conversion, this DSP is a key element in the design and operation of the Madison.

Inside the Technology

The apparent simplicity of our streamers actually hides a complexity and a finesse far greater than it seems. From the choice of the internal components to the embedded software and circuit topologies, each step of the development process  has been essential to enhance the listening experience.

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Concept

Two different strategies have been used in our range of streamers.

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The philosophy implemented in the Emerson is that of the straight wire: no sampling frequency conversion or data processing is applied, apart from volume control when used. The flow of data from the network interface is transmitted directly to the S/PDIF and AES/EBU modulators of the Emerson DIGITAL, or respectively to the digital-to-analog conversion chip in the case of the Emerson ANALOG. When properly implemented, this solution guarantees a transparent and coloration-free reproduciton.

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The Madison features a more complex architecture as it incorporates a signal processing unit (DSP) that hosts our proprietary oversampling process for optimizing input signals. This new interpolation algorithm benefits from the heritage of the iconic modules developed by Anagram Technologies. It significantly improves the digital-to-analogue conversion process in the time domain, without modifying the samples of the incoming data stream.

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Network Interface

The Madison, as well as both Emerson models leverage Engineered's streaming engine, a proprietary solution based on a Sitara processor from Texas Instruments.

The embedded software, which handles the various network communication protocols and audio stream decoding, has been under continuous development for many years. Internal processes have been optimized to ensure audio data integrity, transmission reliability, support for Hi-Res file formats (PCM and DSD) without transcoding, and a smooth and responsive user experience at the same time.

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Clocks

Two clock generators are used alternately, depending on whether the track being played back is sampled at a base frequency of 44.1kHz or 48kHz (as well as any multiples thereof). Our streamers do not include a variable oscillator or a synchronization loop. The stream of audio data is therefore directly cadenced by the active clock.

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Additionally, the selected oscillators offer superlative performances, with extremely low phase noise in the audible bandwidth. The distribution of the clock signals has been carefully designed to minimize jitter throughout the digital audio signal path.

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DAC and Output Stages

Each channel of the Madison has its own separately powered, dual-differential digital-to-analog conversion chip. We chose the same Cirrus Logic DAC used in the Emerson ANALOG. The analogue filters are differential and calculated to minimise phase rotation while providing optimum attenuation of residual DAC switching noise.

The output stages, based on the latest generation of operational amplifiers, are fully balanced and differential to achieve identical performance at both RCA and XLR outputs.

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Power Supply

The quality of the power supply for sensitive electronic circuits is a decisive factor for a device of this type. Once again, a close attention has been paid to the selection of the components and topologies. The choice of using an external adapter offers the advantage of keeping the mains voltage away from the core of the device. The DC voltage supplied by the external power adapter is smoothed by a series of common and differential mode filters and then delivered to the various components of the electronic board. Each critical section of the circuits benefits from a dedicated filtering and voltage regulator to avoid undesirable interactions. In the case of the Madison, no less than 15 low-noise voltage regulators ensure optimal operation of each critical section.

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Finally, the power supplies for the clock generators, the synchronization circuits and the analog section are particularly well performing, with an extremely low electrical noise, less than 1µV RMS (measured in a frequency bandwidth from 10Hz to 100kHz).