Wadia 861se with GNS vs Esoteric or Emm players

Rhyno, Contact Steve at Great Northern Sound concerning the differences. He'll send you a breakdown as to what is done for each upgrade--Basic, Reference, Statement--and also what to expect as to the improvement in sound. Steve emailed all this to me as a file. Stan

Hi

okay, my response is only regarding sacd, that I find to be a BIG MISTAKE! Maybe the new Wadia is a tad better than a 861, but sacd, who would ever consider this option with a Wadia player? SACD media has no texture, I'm amazed how bad this media sounds - ex. play an acoustic guitar with metal strings and you hear strings, but the body often made of pine (I think this is the word?) you can not tell. I can not tell if it's a Martin D28 or a dobro! And when I know the player uses a Martin, this is not good. I heard one of the big new Accuphase players played both redbook and sacd a while ago, and I must say that sacd is for deft people only, here I use Sugdens words for this media!

Good luck, tadman

SACD media has no texture, I'm amazed how bad this media sounds

Really? Maybe you need to do better than an Accuphase - and I don't mean more money either.

and I must say that sacd is for deft people only

I'm probably daft, but not deaf. ;-)

Regards,

For that money you can buy also a Meridian 808. We recently comparred the Esoteric X-01 with the Meridian 808. The Meridian was of an other leage and superior in many ways to the X-01. Just listen to it and you'll understand....

Leonx: I'm not at all surprised that you found the 808 to be better than the X-01. The X-01 Limited might be a different story, however; and then of course there is the APL NWO 2.5 to consider as well. I wonder if anyone has actually directly compared these four: EMM, X-01 Limited, APL NWO, 808. Now THAT's something I'd be very interested in.