Audio Bacon was on hand this weekend at the 5th Anniversary Open House for Audio Element. It was a fun event with food, drinks, and a ton of people.  The big headline for the event was the debut of Wilson Audio’s Sasha DAW (David Andrew Wilson).  If you’ve been following us for a while, you know both Jay and I are huge fans of the Wilson Alexia 2’s.  We awarded them the best of show last year at the Rocky Mountain Audio Festival.

The Sasha DAW is noteworthy not just for how great it sounds, but also represents the Wilson Audio release since the passing of David Wilson.  It’s quite the tribute with an amazing sound and a design containing a lot of trickle down technology from their higher end speakers.  A couple of high-level technical notes to consider:

  • The tweeter is the same tweeter used from the Alexia 2 and WAMM
  • The midrange is the same driver is used with the Alexia 2, Alexx, and WAMM
  • The woofers are new, and a variant based on what was done for the Alexia 2
  • A ton of effort was put in on the time domain to tune the Sasha DAWs to that same sonic signature as the WAMM

Here are some quick impressions while at the event with a good twenty minutes driving the music, and even more time sitting in the sweet spot. For a moment, I thought I was transported back to RMAF last year.

  • Led Zepplin’s Whole Lotta Love shows off how dynamic the system can be.  Great separation between all the instruments, vocal, and effects tossed together in the track. The cymbals were both weighty and delicate in their reverb.
  • Vocals were lush and sweet as in Sara Bareilles’ Variety Playhouse performance.  The piano was weighted and real in its tone. The audience was detailed and spacious in their little woo’s and claps.
  • Michael Jackson’s 2000 watt exploded with a giant soundstage that almost wraps around you.  The bass is incredible in its texture and detail, though it’s low-end punch didn’t quite have the same amplitude as the Alexia 2’s.  Absolutely expected and understandable given it’s smaller footprint and size.

There’s something absolutely magnetic about the Sasha DAW.  Between a full day of weekend plans, I only tended to listen and hang out for a bit but ended up glued to the seat for nearly an hour.  The Alexia Series 2 is still my dream speaker for its complete package, but getting 90% of the way there at 2/3rd of the price is incredibly tempting.  The Sasha DAWs deliver an amazing abundance of performance for the $38k price tag and actually starts to look enticing given my current set up.  It’s just near within reach enough to start fantasizing and scheming how I move some finances around to bring this bad boy home.

Visit Audio Element:

117 E. Union St
Pasadena, CA 91103
www.audio-element.com
(626) 793-7229

2018 5th Anniversary Celebration – “Audio Nirvana” Sound Room Component List:

Wilson Audio Sasha DAW Series III DAW – $37950
VTL MB-450 III Monoblock Pair – $22500
VTL TL-7.5 Series III Reference Preamp – $25000
VTL TP-6.5 Signature Phono Preamp – $12000
AMG Giro SE 5th Anniv w/ AMG 9WT Tonearm & Koetsu Black Cart – $21745
dCS Bartok DAC w/ Class A Headphone Amp – $15000
Transparent & Cardas Cables – $50000