Brings out best of the best, excellant paino, upgradable

Brings out the worst of the worst in a bearable sound.

I used a CD-80 with heavy mods, including an additional internal power supply. This unit outperformed my EAD DSP 7000II or about vinatage 1990, with an EAD single disc transport.I had owned the the Altis D/A in the 1980's, Pioneer Elite,CD-91, Revox B225 Signature, and JVC XL440TN or someting. I liked my CD-80, but realized it was old and the technology dated. I did not think I would drop $5000 either. I did not shop around extensively, but read many reviews and listened to a few. My postion is that if I am going to drop about $5000 or so on CD player and probabaly keep it many years as I did, then going with a unit I can upgrade for quite a few years is the best move.

The dealer where I bought it had the Sony SACD, but no one was excited about it. They all preferred the Wadia or a conventional high end CD player. Another factor to consider was SACD vs. DVD vs. what happen to HDCD ect.. The Wadia philiospohy was buy an additional transport when a winning format is the standard somewhere in the future. You might see it as a hardware sales pitch too, I know.

Associated equipment: Merlin VSM, Genesis 1500 (15"/500 watt sub),Presence Deluxe preamp(tube $4000), First Sound Passive ($2600), LAT Int'l SS-1000D bi-wired speaker cable, JPS Labs Superconductor 2 Interconnect. Components are system dependent on other components. Could the Wadia not sound as good in another system? Sure. But it better be a heck of a good CD player with a different sonic signature. It does not play HDCD, but with XRCD, who cares!

This unit sounds day and nught different from my old modified PhillipsCD-80. The Wadia 860x CD for my money does eveything right. If the CD is a great recording it will sound great, if it is a compressed, harsh, and older recording, it will come through. Nothing is unbearable to hear, rather a dissapointing older or poorly recorded CD being played. I have many audiophile CD's (MFSL, XRCD, Mapleshade, ect.) and they really perform unbelievable on this unit. It plays the CD the way it sounds. I don't think it very colored or tubey, it is just muscial. I have never heard the piano sound so real or natural as it does on this unit. I thought about some competitors in the same price range, but if they were not upgradable, why waste the cash on obsolescence a few years down the road. It's built like a tank. I used and like best through my tube preamp. The tube preamp does more good than bad. It adds dynamics, and the tube warmth. It adds just enough t0 make bad sounding CD's more bearable.

I ran this unit direct to amp, sure it was slightly more transparent. I owned a passive for years as I referenced above. I finally realized that I had that last breath of air coming through a passive, but gave up more in dynamics or a sterile sound. The one downfall I found running it direct is that I added a second set of RCA's to the amp. I ran the tape, tuner, and video into the preamp, then the passive preamp to the amp. The Wadia would not play, due to Wadia circuitry sensing another device in the line. Wadia explained it better than I am. The point is that if you are not running the Wadia as your only source device, it is not practical to go passive preamp direct as in my case. You need to determine which way sounds best in your system.

I have no interest in looking at any other units. I've ran it for about 8 months. I will keep it for years to come. When I get the extra cash I will upgrade it to the 861 for $500.

Similar Products Used:

EAD, Altis, Phillps CD-80(heavy mods, Pioneer Elite

Great sound, brings out the best in (good) cd's. Soundstage, imaging, etc. excellent. Solidly built.

Remote is a pain in the ass. You need to be able to point it directly at the player, and every time you lift it you get a workout. Over the top...

Great player, and I got it at a great price. An even better value when you consider you don't need a preamp (unless you still listen to vinyl like me).

Associated equipment:
Krell FPB300
ARC LS15/PH1
ProAc Response 5
Synergistic/MIT cables