Wadia 861

Wadia 861 sounds more accurate to me than the previously owned Audio Aero Capitol Mk.II and believe me I'm not biased against vacuum tubes by any means check out my system link below.

I had the opportunity to listen to the Wadia 861 in a friend's system. His system consisted of all-Gryphon(Danish) electronics & Dynaudio Confidence 5 (these are older speakers & out of production now but they sound better than today's Confidence series, IMO).
I can say that the Gryphon Adagio CDP beat the Wadia 861 convincing in my books.
The Wadia is etched in the high freq. extremes & it deceivingly gives the impression of more resolution & clarity. That is not true! It is distortion one is hearing. The Gryphon CDP is much more natural sounding over the entire audio band. In comparison to the Wadia 861 I thought that the high freq were rolled off but upon critical listening I found that all the content was there - it was just presented in more naturally.
Also, on the classical music that we were playing comparing the 2 CDPs, the Gryphon had better microdynamics as it was better able to flesh out the lower level details vs. the Wadia 861.
The Wadia 861 can be modified by Great Northern Sound & this might get rid of the etched high freq. I don't have any experience w/ this mod & am only mentioning it.
All-in-all I'd call the Wadia 861 an audiophile's CDP, one where the user is listening only to the sound of his/her system. The Gryphon CDP is a music lover's player, one where the user is listening to the music coming out of his system & where sound is only a means to an end - the music.

FWIW. IMHO. YMMV.

I had a Wadia 301 and sold it partly because of high frequency glare and smearing. (Rather serious listening fatigue on less than pristine recordings). I almost bought the 861 but was advised that it exhibits many of the same characteristics -- unless you let Steven Huntley mod it. I ended up with an AA Cap, which is much more listenable, but certainly looser and slower in the bass and perhaps w/o the sparkling top end detail.

If the Wadia 861 sounds edgy or bright, it's probably a cable -- or associated component -- issue.

9rw I concur. Cable issues are blamed as component problems very often. All equipment must have the correct matching cables for their specific sonic balances.