Wadia 860, Levinson & Aero Cap Direct into Amp

Hi

I just sold my wadia 861 CD player. The unit without a doubt is harsh and unstable sounding. especially on transiets...I tried different interconnects but no luck.. I lived with mine for 5 months in my recording studio , I could not figure out what was harsh until I got rid of the wadia. As far as running direct to the amplifier. This is a Joke. The output drivers in the Wadia certianly do not do a good job of driving the input of a good amplifier. You can really hear it in the lower midrange. All of these conclusions were done in my world class recording. studio with FM amplifiers and FM 266 preamp.

As a rule the direct route will give the most life and detail. I am surprised micb's experience took away midrange. I heard a comparison of a Wadia direct versus thru a Lamm preamp at a group meeting and agreed that the sound was less brilliant and the general preference was to go direct. It is easy to see however that if you wanted less on top that an active pre may suit your taste. I have not heard the Levinson so no opinion concerning the comparison.

I know a guy who had both the upgraded Wadia 861SE and the Audio Aero Capitole for quite a while. He sold the Wadia...

golden_ears he needs a hearing exam something is wrong if he kept the Capitol

In a hobby where changing a power cord can make the difference between thinking you just purchased sonic nirvana or the worst piece of junk ever made, one must be careful when making blanket statements about gear! That being said, I have owned many of the aforementioned players and would have to say that the Levinson 39/390S delivers a substantially better presentation across the board...extended, controlled, dynamic with tons of texture tone color and spaciousness. The Wadia was refined but a bit forward and closed in, lacking air...otherwise superb! I own neither currently as long term listening revealed their sound to be a little overdone or surreal if you will. Live music, truly live acoustic music treads a fine line of dynamics, control, ease and subtelty that are missed with most digital gear.