Wadia 850 repair? Suggested replacement?

From Mojo Music Inc.

"When a PCM file is played on a DSD or Bit Stream converter, the DAC chip has to convert the PCM to DSD in real time. This is one of the major reasons people claim DSD sounds better than PCM, when in fact, it is just that the chip in most modern single-bit DACs do a poor job of decoding PCM."

BTW: The OP’s Wadia is a very good Multibit machine converts bit perfect for PCM , not DSD/bitsteam/single bit, as the Oppo’s are.

Cheers George

" I'll bet you thousands,of dough-nuts, that the Oppo,in such a set, Blows away the old Wadia--even though it was great--way back then."

I'll take that bet. A Wadia 850 will make a 105 or 203 sound defective on Redbook. And even though its old, the 850 will easily surpass the Oppo in many ways. Its definitely a more advanced player.

" Dear George,
Have you made the comparison?
From the forcefullness of your comment I most sincerely 'doubt' it.)

The same can be said of you. The Oppo 205 isn't coming out until next year, so how can you compare it to anything? Also, you don't have an 850 now, and your posts suggest that you're never owned one. You would have said so if you did. So how did you make the comparisons that George didn't?

True,I was making statements from assumptions....Benny Hill would have chided me for that. I had listened to later Wadia's,about 5 years ago and was very impressed. I didn't think 16 year old technology was as good as you know it to be. I was just teasing George. Not too nicely I take it. I'll improve for 2017 !

I didn't realize you were joking, but I don't get the part about 16 year old technology. (actually its more than 16 years. something like 18-20. I had my 850 in 1997.) 

Here's a list of features that the Wadia has over the Oppo.

-Transport. There's just no comparison. The transport alone is worth more than the Oppo itself.

-The analog stage. Fully balanced, 0 negative feedback, parts quality.

-The designers. Wadia and a few others practicly wrote the book on high end digital playback. I'm not saying that Oppo doesn't have good designers. They do. But guys like Steve Huntly are in another league.

-Volume control. It comes in 2 parts. First is the digital volume control that you actually adjust while listening. The second is global gain settings. There's a series of dip switches you can set to raise or lower the overall gain. This allows you to keep the volume as close to 100 as you can. Also, if you're dealing with components that are sensitive to gain, such as very efficient speakers, you can have issues like gain related noise/hissing, or an overly sensitive volume control.

-Its impervious to external vibrations. (case and feet design).

-Most of what's going into the Oppo is video related. For a player that sells for around $500, how much money went into sound quality? It can't be that much.

I'm sure I could come up with a few more examples, but this should do. Put these players side by side, and there will be no doubt as to the difference in SQ.

   

Thanks for your inputs guys. Well Ben was very nice but won't touch it due to parts being unavailable. He won't use gray market or aftermarket parts as he feels they fail prematurely and doesn't want what he repaired to come back for a long time.

dan6054, I'll reach out to Scott and see what he says. Thanks!

mb1, george, appreciate the info. I am not all that savvy and technical but know that I love what the Wadia produces with my CDs. Now I know why.

ptss, thanks for the info but I like old bricks and not really into the habit of just throwing out anything that has served me well for a long time. I'll try my best to get it fixed and if not, maybe I'll check out this Oppo brand.

Best,

Jay