For the record, I don't subscribe to audio mags. They are mostly advertising propaganda and I only flip through them in the newsstands to get the scoop on new products coming out and check out the specs and all I am doing is stating the facts. If you guys claim that Wadia gives the best sound in your system, and you want to bow down to your 50lb shiny machined aluminum box, it's your money and your call. I'm sure they have a nice markup and profit margin since the cost of the parts they put in are so cheap and they don't have much R&D costs. The R&D is all picked up by Teac which has the same transport as the 850/860 (since they developed and built it!). Teac sells their own high end CD players for only $3k. Teac sells transports to Wadia at a marked up price, who then put it in a nicer box and add some tweaks here and there and then further mark up the price for the final consumer. I can't believe Wadia would go out of business unless it's the fact that fewer and fewer audio lovers are being fooled by the fancy box. I'll definitely give it an audition when I'm ready to upgrade, but I'm blindfolding myself so I don't get sold by the shiny metal box!
Linn vs. Wadia
I was just checking out the specs on the Linn Ikemi and Wadia 830. The head-to-head comparison of the specs are quite interesting... MSRP Price: Ikemi $3500, Wadia $3250-$4000 depending on options Transport: Ikemi - proprietary design from the $20k Sondek CD12 (regarded as best CD player in the world). Hundreds of thousands went into R&D. Constructed from machined aluminum. Value of transport alone is around $2k since the Ikemi transport doubles the price of the Genki, which is essentially the same player (chassis, DAC and power supply). Wadia - dipped into the Pioneer parts bin and modified(?) the transport that originally went into sub $1k mass-market Pioneer machines. Value of transport around $200? DAC/Digital filter: Ikemi - less sophisticated variation of the Sondek, but still a proprietary 24k delta sigma design that decodes HDCD beautifully. Wadia - no HDCD decoding, because you get Digimaster (whoopie), DAC is from the same parts bin as everyone else. Chassis: Linn - same dated but functional box as their lesser models. Wadia - not much better until you move up to the 850/860. Preamp: Linn - have to use preamp or integrated, like you are supposed to in hi-end. Wadia - digitally shreds the sound up like the volume control on my personal computer. Sound: I have not heard either so I won't comment. Guess which player I'm expecting to give better sound? :) Where's the beef? I'm rather appalled that a "leader" in digital audio technology like Wadia hasn't in their over 10 year history even bothered to develop a transport that pushes the state of the art. So where are all the R&D bucks supposed to be going? I always thought that Wadia was like a pure bred Ferrari, but now I find that this "Ferrari" has a Honda engine and a Ford transmission!
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- 22 posts total
- 22 posts total