wadia making mistake?

i don't think that it's about making a mistake @ Wadia by offering SACDs in their latest models. Their hand was "forced" so to say: TEAC has stopped making redbook only VRDS transports. They decided to make multiformat transports using some of their new technology. It's called the VRDS-Neo with the "Neo" having a dual meaning - Neo as in new & Neo because it uses Neodymium magnets.
Wadia had decided long ago that these VRDS transports were one of the keys to good sound & since they wanted to keep using VRDS transports, they had no choice but to offer multi-format players.
The DigiMaster algorithm has been getting updates regularly - if you look thru an 860 manual & an 861 manual, if I remember correctly, there is diff in version. However, there are only minor tweaks as the algorithm is pretty solid & completely debugged. It also is to Wadia's liking so they are not going to mess w/ it merely to update it for updating's sake.

Ok, I'll take the bite. I Have a Wadia 850 cd player and would like to hear from anyone who own a Wadia 850 and has had Steve do upgrades on their Wadia 850.
BTW, I'll take any well recorded cd that was recorded on good analogue equipment any day over those recorded on most digital machines to include what I have heard on some sacd
players

The new Wadia players DO NOT use VRDS-Neo transport mechanisms. What basicly happend, was that Teac priced-out Wadia from using it. They just wanted too much for them, so Wadia had to start using different (i.e. - non Teac)drive.

hello all ,i must say some great answers on wadia and sacd. I fill that there is so much more that can be obtained through red book mode with more R/D that to put to much effort into sacd when this format is technically [dead in the water] is just a waste ... steve huntley must be doing something right or i believe his backing concerning his expertise in gnsc modifications would not even be an issue ... bombaywalla you hit the nail on the head concerning wadias step into sacd waters... thanks...

In my opinion SACD (hybrid) is going to be around for awhile and if a manufacturer wants to compete in the digital arena they need to offer it on their players; which is probably the case with Wadia. It has been my experience that SACD sounds superior to redbook in the majority of CD's that I own. And if available I always purchase the hybrid disc over the redbook only counterpart. As far as XRCD they are far to expensive to even consider me buying them as well as to limited in the selection available. And with HDCD not enough players available to play the format and limited material avaialability. I would never consider purchasing a player that could not play SACD's. But again this my preference and others have theirs.

Chuck