Wadia 861SE with GNSC Statement Upgrade

Hi Bombaywalla and Bar 81,

Maybe I was unlucky with the Wadia. I always thought in the past Wadia made very desirable CD players. This was the main reason why I tried one out.

I tried everything to make it work (cabling/power filtering/isolation). To be honest I really wanted to like it. It just didnt work out for me. An Audio Aero capitole SE was much more detailed and that had a tube output stage.

To my ears the 861se GNSC statement sounded like old digital. Slight edge of grain with not quite resolved details. The dynamics were 3 stage. It didnt have a natural flow or progression through the dynamic envelope. pp then mf then f. It seemed to reach each a threshold step by step rather than letting the event happen with ease with no jumps. Look dont get me wrong, we are talking fine details here, but nevertheless at this level very important.

I was dying to find a 1 box player that was world class. I had had enough of massive hifi taking over the room. I wanted it to fit in my fireplace. I still ended up with a 3 box player again in the end.

I dont wish to upset anyone out there and of course my opinion is just my opinion. What is good to me may not be good for you. I am not slamming Wadia.

I will qualify my comments with the fact that I had a lot if top end players through the door around that time. Comparisons were done over a few months, and side by side on the whole. The wadia reminded me quite a lot of the ML players from the late 90s early 00s (great at the time).

I do stand by my experience that new digital on the whole is better than old. Digital playback has become much more refined. Dont fool yourselves. Look at the computer market.

Many of the components and board layouts are much better now. I owned state of the art players that were once known as the best you could find and within a few years modest players had the same performance.

The main thing is that you enjoy your music.

Maybe I should qualify the above with the fact that the players with volume control were used so and fed direct into power amps.

02-22-09: Chadeffect
Maybe I should qualify the above with the fact that the players with volume control were used so and fed direct into power amps.
Chadeffect

Now I can see where you are coming from,direct to amp is make or break for most all digital play back. Fine digital also needs a fine line stage, imo.

Aolmrd1241,

Sometimes. The difficulty is finding a good one! I spent many years looking and gave up. There was always a gain and a loss in the pre amps I tried. Never a gain gain if you catch my drift. The ARC ref 3 being the only compromise that I could almost live with. The Lamm was good but no remote...

But the traits of the player are the traits of the player. A pre amp wont add detail although it may enhance what is there.

Maybe I just expect uber detail from hi end players.

I've run the player direct for some time and again, your description of the player's attributes is completely out of line with what I've experienced (and those of practically all others including, recently, Hi-Fi+).

With regard to a preamp, try the Ayre KX-R, there's no downside ime.