Which 3K CDP: Simaudio Nova, Ayre CX-7 Wadia 302


Unfortunately the market is saturated with many 'new' ~3K CD players, all of which are well reviewed. I have heard all 3, but do not have the opportunity to do A/B comparisons, as only the Simaudio is available where I live. It is tough to compare the 3 in your mind, when you have listened to all 3 in 3 different cities, using different electronics, speakers and in different rooms. All 3 sounded great, but without the possibility of direct comparison it is tough to choose among them.

I will likely be using them with Hovland HP200 pre vs. Simaudio P-5 pre, Simaudio LE W-5 amp, and speakers still undecided (JMlab Alto Be vs. Dynaudio Confidence C2 vs. Wilson Sophia)
thom_y
Mdp0430

You bring up an interesting point(keeping the equipment for a long time). That was another reason why I went with the Simaudio Nova LE. They have a 10 year warranty on the electronics on that player. That, is hard to beat. I intend on keeping it for a long time...
Right. And if you like Nova's kind of sound... it doesn't have much competition in its niche. I guess it would be the last thing I'll upgrade.
"Sim Audio" Good thing about that 10 year warranty, I had my Sim Audio W5 for only 5 days before I sent it back!

Are you really intending to keep your front end for 10years? in 5 years a $200 player will kill it..

My wadia 12 that I bought used was still doing duty 2 years ago when I sold it... so is that like 10+ years?? The seller sold it to me without the feet, and when I called wadia to see how much they were, they just asked for my address and sent them to me in 5 days for free! I couldn't ask for better support.
as far as wadia is concerned, even if the company were to disappear, there are always people like great northern sounds who can take care of any maintenance issues... and their players are great!