Parks Audio Waxwing

Evaluating the Parks Audio Waxwing: Digital Dilemma or Solution?​

TLDR:
Pros:

• Great price and feature set.
• Does exactly what I want and need.
• Great smartphone app for control.

Cons:

• None in this price point.
• Digitizing vinyl is haram.

Introduction: ​

I’ve never written one of these on here before, but I really appreciate the tremendous detail, thoughts, and criticism that many of you have provided on headphones and equipment when I’m deciding what gear to buy. Your opinions have proven invaluable to me, and I only hope to return the favor in my own small way.

I’d like to discuss a relatively small company and its boutique phono preamp, the Waxwing. Parks Audio is a small company run by founder and owner Shannon Parks. He’s a nice fellow who kindly responded to my impatient emails while I waited for the launch of the Waxwing. Prior to building the Waxwing, Parks Audio has built several boutique phono pre amps like the legendary Puffin and the Budgie. However, the new Waxwing is the first to be controlled by a smartphone app.

The Waxwing​

So, what is the Waxwing? In short, the Waxwing ($499 + $15 shipping) is a phono preamp. It's about 3 inches by 3 inches by 1 inch. It's is a tiny little black box with no buttons, some I/O on the back, "Waxwing" printed on the front. But it’s far far more than a phono preamp. It’s also an analog to digital converter (ADC) and digital signal processor (DSP) all controlled by an app on your smartphone.

Yeah, yeah yeah, I know. “Hey! You got “digital” in my analog? Gross! I certainly would never have considered this even a few months ago, enjoying my purely analog setup’s rich caramel flavors and buttery smooth tubey vibes. I have resisted Class D amps, streaming (when I have a physical alternative), and the verboten“Bluetooth.” So, shouldn’t a digital phono pre be the biggest no-no for an all-analog setup? Well, of course lol.

But I’m not writing this to say that the Waxwing isn’t worth the price of admission. In fact, I am arguing that it’s worth far more than that despite being the weakest digital link in my otherwise all-analog rig.

I’ve already buried the lede, so here’s a breakdown in a sentence: The Waxwing is an exciting, incredibly performant digital phono pre that solves the problem of digitizing records and more. The digital aspect is not an error but rather a solution.

Why on God's Green Earth? ​

With that caveat now covered, let’s cover who the emptors are. You are a vinyl record collector. Your collection is unwieldy and expensive. Digital music is convenient and cheap and far better than it used to be. What if you could digitize your enormous physical media collection and store it in something the size of a wallet? Well, if you’re such a person, then the Waxwing’s flexibility, cost, and design are at the perfect cross of cost and benefit.

For example, the free Waxwing app (available for iOS and Android) instantly connects to your Waxwing via Bluetooth (there are no buttons on the chassis. It includes standard settings you need in any phono pre like gain, high and low filters, and MC and MM loading. But here is where it exceeds many of the alternative competitors. It also includes a million features that, thanks to the ADC/DSP combo, you won’t get on anything else (that I know of).

These excellent and useful features include warmth, air, treble, bass, mono and supermono modes, automatic vinyl grading algorithms, “Magic,” “FX,” derumble, PEQ, balance, phase, output modes, phono curve adjustment and presets, dB level tracking, and a bass shelf. But wait, there’s more! An entire submenu is dedicated to “tests” including RPM measurement, azimuth separation balance, fine channel balancing, and even a sine wave generator. I think that’s everything but considering the Waxwing can be updated with new firmware, and Shannon is passionate about his work, I think we can expect more in the future—whatever that might be. (I used both the Azimuth and the RPM tests and they correct reported back what I already knew about my rig.)

Whew! That’s a mouthful. Let’s unpack one of the less self-explanatory ones. The Waxwing app states that the “Magic” toggle:


This is a clever piece of kit, that in my tests lives up to its name and feels “magical.” It is far more desirable, for me at least, than older noise suppression techniques which often cut off the high end. This is far more capable and exact; it removes noise without harming the music.

Does It Sound Bad?​

So, the next question is, does digitized vinyl sound bad? Well, I think it at least sounds neutral and flatter than unvarnished analog. But Parks Audio has thought of this too, giving you the option to add Warmth and Air that can be adjusted to your liking, as well as FX like 2nd and 3rd order harmonics to gain back some of what was lost in translation.

Beyond all its tricks, the Waxwing does one thing superbly well. It is a transparent sounding phono pre that allows you to output via optical, coax, or line out RCA. The analog output still utilizes the DSP so you can still make whatever adjustments you’d like before to the signal before it arrives at your preamp. But the digital outs are what make this special and are the culmination of years of refinement and research by Parks Audio.

When you select digital out, you can either output digital or analog and you get the option of 24/48 or 24/96. You can also use the optical and coax outputs simultaneously if, for example, you want to run a line to your computer for digitalizing your record while monitoring it via your stereo or headphone setup. What I found worked best for me was turntable > analog phono pre > Waxwing > DAC. Since my analog phono pre has two line outs, I was able to A/B test using my preamp input selector.

Okay, stop wasting our time, what were the results of the A/B?​

The analog only sounds more open, like an open window. The digital translation (and then back via my DAC) feels more artificial. But the digital version has some major advantages. Using the 2nd harmonics, warmth, and air features, among other tweaks, I was able to get the digital version sounding suitably “analog.” But where the Waxwing really shines is when playing older, noisier, and damaged records. The “magic” feature demonstrably removes decades of wear and tear on your vinyl to the point that it made some of my previously unlistenable records perfectly adequate and enjoyable.

In fact, the noise suppression and error correction are breathtaking. I’d say that it makes a VG- record play VG+ and a G+ record play VG. It won’t fix your records, but it can do a helluva lot to improve them without any discernible drawbacks. I used the following settings. Gain 2dB, Warmth +2, Air +2, Bass Boost On, Hi shelf 30khz, Lo Shelf 20hz, Magic On, FX Tube 2H.

Record used for testing: Martin Denny self-titled LRP 3438 which is borderline unlistenable (for me) even after a brush down (I don’t have a wet wash please don’t sue me). But with the Waxwing it’s clear, concise, and much more enjoyable. There is still noise in the dead wax between songs because the algorithm has a harder time discerning between noise vs silence and music vs silence (speculation). Using the Mono and SuperMono options further reduces noise on mono records (like the Martin Denny S/T) into the VG+ range in my experience but YMMV.

I forced my wife to listen to my A/B on this record and on a clean record. She vastly preferred the digital version both times. It sounds tighter, less noisy, and improves bass response.

Conclusion: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb Digital​

This is a very respectable and enjoyable way to listen to this 60-year-old record. But, ultimately, am I now listening to a simulacrum of the real thing? Why not just stream it?

I don’t have an answer for you. Sometimes it’s just fun to play with equipment and to make old vinyl sound new again. And if that sounds like something you’re interested in, then the Waxwing can save you a ton of money from having to buy pricier, single-use tools and equipment.

For example, there are some very high-end solutions to surface noise, clicks, pops, etc from companies like SweetVinyl and their $2250 SugarCube SC-1 Mini/Phono which likely has a bigger/better/stronger implementation of noise reduction as well as other bigger/better/stronger tricks, but for less than a quarter of the price (and my inability to test it), I think this is likely an awesome solution. There’s also the Pro-Ject NRS Box S3 which reduces noise for just $400.

Then there are crosstalk elimination options from companies like Black Ice / Jolida for $350$ or even just the ability to test azimuth with a Musical Surroundings Fozgometer for another $400.

Then there is the digitizing aspect. I haven't had the time to do more than toy around with this, but using Audacity I was able to capture a recording of the Martin Denny record with the noise control features on and it was audibly transparent and completely useable. If you want to digitize your record collection, and save yourself a ton of space and money, you can.

Well, the Waxwing can do all of that (albeit digitally), for a fraction of the cost.

Gear used in test:
Rega P2 with Ania MC Cart and Ortofon Bronze MM Cart
Schiit Skoll
Parks Audio Waxwing
Schiit Gungnir MB
Schiit Freya +
Schiit monoblocked GHorns
KEF 104/2 and SVS SB1000