Cd Player shootout ; which is the best of the best


Want to have some fun and at the same time benefit from some savy advice, here is the deal.
My front end is a Wadia 861 (actually an 860x recently upgraded). The unit's presentation is exquisite, in fact it bettered or equaled in various areas a 270/27ix Wadia combo I was babysiting for a friend while waiting for mine. However I've been serously considering going one step further and send it to Steve Huntley of Great Northern Sound(GNS) for his further upgrade which it's know to yield a significant improvement in the performance of this unit.
While doing some research in this topic a couple of units have cough my eye as serious contenders to the title of "best of the best cd player" Now I am wondering if I would do better upgrading my 861 or switching to one of these, the contenders are:
* Wadia 861 (with the GNS modificaton)
* Audiomeca Mephisto 24/192
* Audio Aereo Capitole 24/192
* Electrocompaniet EMC-1 MK II 24/192
There maybe some other worthy contenders but for sanity purpouses I've limited the scope to these ones.
For matching purpouses the rest of my set-up includes Lamm M1.1 monoblocks driving Verity's Parsifals via XLO Limited speaker cables, balanced interconnects are XLO Limited.
The 861 goes directly into the amps. in my current set-up but with 2 of this units I would need some volume control and am thinking a Placette pasive unit since ther is no analog in my inmediate future. No offense to vinyl lovers, I recognize it's many strenghs but at this point in my life am not willing to deal with it's complications.
Have you had the chance to compare some of these units among themselves? Your experiences will be greatly welcome and appreciated. Thanks.
jmr
Hi there,

i have owned a Wadia 860x, and currently waiting on the delivery of a Bow ZZ Eight.

I have listened to all of the CDs you mentionned above, and in my honest opinion, none of them does EVERYTHING right.

The mephisto is pure velvet : musical, delicate, detailed but lacks a certain 'punch'
The Capitole is a lot like the mephisto, but does it better. Still lacks that 'punch'.
The Electrocompaniet EMC1 MkII is a more balanced player. It has the delivery the forementionned lack, but is maybe a little less fluid in its presentation.
Wadia 861 is highly detailed, highly musical, but misses the heart and soul of music sometimes.

These are just my opinions, and frankly i think they are ALL fantastic players. You really cant go wrong with any of them. I personnally went for the Bow because i absolutely fell in love with its character. If i were to choose any of the above, i would in the end go with the EMC MkII.

Hope this helps

Cheers
Bad
Did you forget to mention the Cary 306/200? I know it's better than the EMC 24-192 from a friend. He had the two CDP at one time and kept the Cary.
I have the Wadia 861 and the Cary 306/200, and I know the Cary is not as dynamic and transparent as the Wadia. However, the Cary is more musical and less fatigue to my ears.
If you want to reproduce live music then the Wadia is the best choice... I think you should go with the upgrades on your Wadia.
A question for the group: will any of these players read as digital-in (to DA) their own digital out (from transport)? The reason for wanting to do this is to insert a TacT or Z-Systems unit in the system and still use the DA section of the CDP. My old Levinson No. 39 would not allow this. -Dan
The Audio Aero is the Best CD player I have heard.The Cary is not in the same League.Also a friend whose audio opinon I value chose the EMC-1 over the Cary.It was not even close.
Different strokes for different folks I guess.