Wadia with or without a preamp ?

In my system the Wadia 860x direct would make you scratch your own eyes out after about twenty minutes of listening to most CDs. I don't know if it was an issue with the Wadia, the quality of the recordings I listen to, or other elements of the signal chain (the Confidence 5s I use are pretty unforgiving of high frequency crap), but it sounds much better run through my preamp

Agree 100% with Ignatz. I have a Wadia 27 that run straight into my SS amp will give you a headache in about 30 minutes. I just could not figure it out but once I put my tube pre back into the loop, I could listen to my system for hours. I am not kidding when I say I would get a headache. I would simply not want to turn on my system. But Wadia swears by the direct-connect methdo. I think if I had a tube amp, perhaps things would be different. And BTW, I use BW N802 speakers which are also quite revealing.

i think it depends on you amp, cables and speakers. my 850 sounds like heaven ran direct. but i'm using vandersteen 3a sigs and a very musical ss amp.

Keep in mind that "bits are bits" and a digital volume control as used on the wadia players strips bits to digitally attenuate volume. This is why the players have the sensitivity switches inside and why wadia recommends setting them so you run the higher end of the volume control for normal listening. Regardless of any marketing hype and hoodoo, stripping bits = loss of fidelity.

My friend who had an 830, and all who listened agreed that his system was better served when the BAT VK50SE preamp was introduced between the 830 and his amp.

Paul

I had an 830 that I tried direct with a number of amps, Classe, Krell, Plinius, Music Reference and Sim Audio. I never liked it direct. It was always better with a linestage, not even close.