Is this a deal or what ....

Jtinn are you saying that Audio Aero, Audiomeca better separates from Wadia?
Would you care to expand a litle, how much better in what areas etc etc.
I would really appreciate :)

Prior to me buying my capitole mkII(which I recently sold btw, so I think my opinion is unbias seeing as I don't have to justify my purchase) I listened to the high end Wadia player the 860 or 861 perhaps there was an X after the model number too, it was a while ago and the exact model has slipped my mind, how ever the sound has not, it was DIGITAL. I was looking to upgrade my accuphase seperates at the time which were pretty darn good(just not a good value) and the wadia was a step back wards heading towards digititis I was looking for a more analog sounding player. Many players manage to be analog sounding how ever most tend to become overly warm(to my ears) a prime example is the Electrocompaniet cd player- incredibly analog sounding, how ever too warm for my ears and seemed to be a little rolled off on the top end. But I digress.

The Capitole MkII is NOT a wow player, it doesn't instill that wow factor that a lot of components do. It never grows tiresome, and it gets a lot better after break-in. In the sub $10k price I can not think of a player I would rather own. Wadia digital never really blew me away, its very edgy and sterile. I think a lot is said about a component based on its resale value, anything that sells for less then 50% probably isn't that great of a deal to begin with.

Tireguy- why the sale of the Cap, and what have you moved to?

Sorlowski- Jtinn is right re: the digital stuff- I have a Spectral transport (uses similar VRDS clamping technology to Wadia), and use an Audio Note Dac. My philosophy is to get a transport that extracts the most detail/signal from the disc, then 'tune' by finding a dac that matches your listening preferences- i.e. 'warmer' or 'tubier' vs accurate, etc.- whatever sonic descriptors are appropriate.

Anyways, I owned a Capitole Mk I, and can attest to Tireguy's comments- it is easy on the ears, but in the end I realized that too many details were being masked over due to the inferior nature of the transport in that iteration of the player (although I found the Mk II better in that regard). Therefore, in the end, I found the 'two-box' solution to be ultimately more satisfying.

Sorlowski: Both players are more musically correct to my ears than the Wadia. There is a naturalness that is not evident with the Wadia when compared with either of the other players, especially the Audio Aero. The Wadia is dry and thread bare in comparison.

Good luck!