Turntables better than a Wadia 861SE w/ Statement

This Thread is from 2005.
High End Digital was never High End (only from Price) and is dying right now.
In a very few years high End will be Analog only, "the digital" will be replaced from Data downloads in probably some external DACs (PC/Mac to Docking Station)
The Digital Chapter in High End is closed.

Gnsc: Hi Steve. As GNSC does not provide mods to european 230 volt devices anymore... I´m not saying ;-)

Syntax......Amen.

I have both, Digital and Analog.

Personally, i do not think that Digital Red Book players can touch a well thought out Analog system at any price. Name them all. (Wadia, dcs, MBL, ARC, Simaudio, etc...). The closest thing to Analog is 96/24 downloads feeding into a top shelf USB or Firewire DAC.

I have many red book downloads (or ripped CD's) on my Ipod docked onto a Wadia dock feeding an ARC DAC7 (both modded by GNSC) with satisfying results. I take this up a notch hooking my my MacBook Pro to the DAC7 with a Bel Canto USB Link playing 96/24 downloads. Sound pretty darn good.

Queueing up Patricia Barber MOFI 45rpm Cafe Blue on a modded Sota Cosmos IV, Graham Phantom II and Ortofon A90 feeding an ARC Ref Phono 2 and Ref3 LE (both modded by GNSC) gives me gratifying results.

When i'm really lazy, i just hook up my Ipod to my Tivoli table radio with less than satisfying results but hey......some nights after returning from work late, i do not feel like firing up an all tube audio system.

Listen for yourself and make your own decision. I made mine.

Sly

If you are in the NYC area, OMA has a showroom in Soho, Manhattan and we have the only Wadia system 9 for public audition in the New York Metropolitan area, or so I've been told by Wadia. You can come in and here a direct A/B comparison with our turntables, using the same material recorded on both vinyl and CD. I've been told that we are getting the new Wadia transport in a couple of weeks by Wadia principal John Schaeffer.

Jonathan Weiss
Oswaldsmill Audio