Wadia 861 SE or 581 SE.

The 581 should sound better since it is newer and uses better digital parts although the transport mechanism is suspect to some.The current converters are a major upgrade in the 581SE and are a must if you are considering this player.I don't think a plastic remote affects the sound but image is everything in this game.I am not femilar with the blurring issue on the 861 but feel that a GNSC is a major upgrade to all Wadia units and a must to get the very best out of it.The older units are a good buy and with the GNsc is a steal when compared to buying new ( 581se with GNSC is around 13,000.00).Hope this helps and good hunting Dennis

Hi. I´ve had (one of) the first GNSC Reference Level modded 581 and compared it extensively to Wadia 861 SE - the modded 581 came out as a CLEAR winner. The US $ 13.000,00 that were mentionned above are very well invested. Build quality of Wadia is second to none in digital audio. By the way: mine had a metal remote too ;-)

You compared the modded player to an unmodded player or were they both GNSC modded and if so, what was the level of the 861se?

the 861se was unmodded - but was nearly equal in price to the modded 581

Thanks for the clarification.