Does Wadia need supratek ?

I have used the Herron linestage and Thor TA-1000 linestage with great success with the Wadia 861, and I prefer both linestages to the Wadia running direct.

thanks for all answers

Bmotorcykle,
"too much of a good thing".
a like that, now I have too little of everything

Keithr
Wadia works best balanced,
yes, but I have Clayton monoblock they are not balanced too :(

Is there somebody who actually tried and liked Wadia with Supratek more them without ?

I f you are going to use a preamp with a wadia it must be
reference level ie classe omega,levinson 32,krell reference.

Does Supratek need Wadia? No insult meant toward Wadia owners. I am just trying to provoke a little "out-of-the-box" thought. Going direct from DAC to power amp means listening to one less component and one less set of internconnects. That doesn't necessarily mean you are hearing accurate, or transparent, or even realistic sound reproduction. You are still listening to the components in your signal path.

Consider this. It is very difficult for a solid-state output stage to reproduce the musical nuance, prescence, and tone that tubes do so well. FWIW, I have a Supratek Sauvignon preamp and before that I went direct from DAC to power amp. With the Supratek the noise floor of the recordings isn't so obvious but it is still quiet as a SS preamp, no tube rush, and I still have all the detail that I had with no preamp.

It doesn't even have to be a Supratek. First Sound and others make fine tube preamps also. I think your Clayton amps will mate well with a good tube preamp.

I ran my Wadia 860x direct into a VAC 70/70 mk 3 and compared that to the sound with a Supratek Syrah inserted, and the addition of the Syrah was a big improvement. The Wadia just seemed too dry by itself.

People say that this means there must be something wrong with the amp. I don't know... I guess that means the VAC 70/70 is just incapable, or that the Wadia isn't a great preamp...

right...

I think it really just comes down to synergy of components, and you won't really know until you try it out.

Interestingly, after I got a nice turntable, I sold the Wadia, and have been listening to vinyl only. And the Syrah has a great phono stage...