Is this a deal or what ....

The Wadia equipment was very good in it's day, but digital, more than anything else currently in audio, does not stand still.

I have compared the Audio Aero, Audiomeca directly with the Wadia 7/9 and 27ix/270 and the Wadia cannot compare anymore.

The Wadia transports are still terrific, but the DAC's are outdated.

I think getting Cambridge D500SE demo $325 from audioadvisor(30 days free trial!) is much better deal nowdays. DACs chips become cheaper and cheaper so as computers do. Newer DACs are easier to filter and they're more precise than previous ones.
The only thing is not clear how player with CD-rom drive and DAC-chips $50 each can cost $25...27k or even than reduced to $5k??

I directly compared Cambridge D500SE with Capitole II and found differences only in output level Capitole had a-bit higher than Cambrige(hence the distortions might be less but not to the level to spend $7k instead of $300 for sure).

Jtinn are you saying that Audio Aero, Audiomeca better separates from Wadia?
Would you care to expand a litle, how much better in what areas etc etc.
I would really appreciate :)

Prior to me buying my capitole mkII(which I recently sold btw, so I think my opinion is unbias seeing as I don't have to justify my purchase) I listened to the high end Wadia player the 860 or 861 perhaps there was an X after the model number too, it was a while ago and the exact model has slipped my mind, how ever the sound has not, it was DIGITAL. I was looking to upgrade my accuphase seperates at the time which were pretty darn good(just not a good value) and the wadia was a step back wards heading towards digititis I was looking for a more analog sounding player. Many players manage to be analog sounding how ever most tend to become overly warm(to my ears) a prime example is the Electrocompaniet cd player- incredibly analog sounding, how ever too warm for my ears and seemed to be a little rolled off on the top end. But I digress.

The Capitole MkII is NOT a wow player, it doesn't instill that wow factor that a lot of components do. It never grows tiresome, and it gets a lot better after break-in. In the sub $10k price I can not think of a player I would rather own. Wadia digital never really blew me away, its very edgy and sterile. I think a lot is said about a component based on its resale value, anything that sells for less then 50% probably isn't that great of a deal to begin with.