Emerson Analog Streamer / DAC
The Emerson Analog from Wattson Audio brings the company’s advanced digital architecture into a compact, elegantly simple network streamer and DAC. Built around a SHARC DSP processing engine, precision clocking, and a carefully implemented analog output stage, the Emerson is designed to deliver digital playback with natural timing, tonal richness, and musical flow.
Rather than chasing headline specifications, the Emerson focuses on the fundamentals that determine how digital audio actually sounds: stable clocking, low-noise architecture, and time-domain optimized filtering. The result is a network source that presents music with clarity, dimensionality, and an inviting sense of ease.
Digital Architecture
At the heart of the Emerson is the same core digital platform found in the Madison Streamer. A high-performance SHARC DSP processor performs 8× upsampling and applies Wattson’s Spline filtering algorithm, preserving time-domain accuracy before the signal reaches the DAC.
Separate low-phase-noise oscillators for the 44.1 kHz and 48 kHz sample-rate families maintain clock stability during processing.
Following DSP processing and reclocking, the signal is converted by a single Wolfson WM8742 multi-bit DAC and passed through a carefully implemented analog output stage designed to preserve the tonal richness and microdynamic detail established earlier in the digital chain.
Listening
The Emerson Analog presents music with an easy sense of balance and coherence. Resolution is present in abundance, but it is integrated into a presentation that emphasizes tonal richness, texture, and natural timing rather than analytical detail.
Voices and instruments carry convincing body and color, while transients emerge with clarity but never sharpness. Harmonic textures remain intact, giving acoustic instruments and vocals a sense of presence and realism that draws the listener into the performance.
The overall impression is one of musical flow and engagement—a digital source that reveals detail while maintaining the warmth, weight, and continuity that make long listening sessions deeply rewarding.
Specifications
Network input: 100Mbit/s Ethernet
Analog output: 1 unbalanced RCA
Supported standards: UPnP/DLNA, AirPlay, TIDAL connect, Qobuz connect, Roon Ready, plays with Audirvāna
Streaming services brought by the Wattson Music iOS app: TIDAL, Qobuz, airable radios, DLNA servers
Supported formats: WAV, FLAC, AIFF, ALAC, MP3, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, WMA, uncompressed DSF/DFF
Network streaming resolution: PCM up to 24-bit 384 kHz, DSD64
RCA output level (0dB FS): 2.0V RMS
Signal-to-noise, weighted (SNR-A): > 120dB
Harmonic distortion (THD+N, 0dB FS): < 0,001%
Dimensions (W x D x H): 4.1” x 3.4” x 1.5”)
Weight: 0.88lb
Power consumption: 1.5W (idle), 2.5 W (playing)