Wadia direct into amp, Sound a bit too lean??

i have also found that running my Wadia 861 thru my tube pre is much better than running directly into amp. I do not think that Wadia's digital volume is anything to write home about. It does the job of attenuating the sound but i personally do not think that it can provide the soundstage depth & width & height that a really good preamp can. Hence, after comparing w/ tube preamp & direct to amp for several weeks, i setup the system thru the tube preamp & I bypassed the DSP-based volume control (set it to 100). never regretted it one bit!

Another solution to consider is the Musical Fidelity X-10v3 tube buffer stage between CDP and amp. Only works single ended on RCAs though. Adds a little tube warmth. At $399 a lot cheaper than a lot of cables and maybe worth a try.

in trying to tweak your sonic signature you don't mention doing any experimentation with AC cords. Changing cords on the CDP & the amp (not necessarily / probably not using identical AC cords on each unit) you can accomplish a lot more change than you might believe possible. Also you can experiment with many different types of tuning products: shelving, footers, cones, bearings, etc. placed mainly under the source component; although whatever is supporting the amp can certainly also have a significant effect.

Hi Jerry, yes, I too have experienced the same result: thin, bright sound. The soundstage also became slightly compressed with direct mode opeartion. I'm using the Wadia 301 & M/F XP-200 mono blocks. Auditioned a VTL 5.5
tube preamp and the "problem" disappeared! So I bought it! Even though it's another link in the chain, the musical result was very satisfying. All the best, Mark.

The one and only solution for you is to get a top preamp. I had the same setup (861 se going directly into solid state power amp) and the sound was exactly as you describe. Good but dry! I got Mick Maloney in Australia to make me a preamp (see his website - Supratek) and I have never looked back. IMHO matching powerful solid state amps with a valve pre and a top quality source gives you the best of all worlds.