Wadia cdp's

I am after a cdp with volume control so that I can go straight into a power amp. The one that I liked best so far is the Wadia 302. However, I don't think its worth the list price of £4300, so I have turned my attention to the Wadia back catalogue.

Second hand Wadia's appear from time to time over a wide price range. Since I have never heard any of them, I was wondering how they compare with the 302 and which are the ones to go for and which ones are best avoided. Are the old wadia players reliable and if they do go wrong, is it easy to get them fixed?

I don't mind if its a one or two box player and do not need any inputs. I can go up to £3000, but would prefer to stay around the £2000 mark. Any suggestions would be welcome. BTW, are there any British cdp's with volume control around this price range?

 

I,ve gone down the same route as you now,I tried 861 in standard format and the 301,861 was enjoyable,did'nt get on with the 301

have you considered the Aero Capital mk1 or 2 ?..........

I fallen for it's sweet musical delivery ,Managed to get mine just under your budget.

 

Calling Mr Meister....

British with variable out.... The Quad 99 CD-P has variable out. Not sure of price...

 

Oh dear, no hope I'm afraid, someone who likes the 302 apart from a mag reviewer I'd do a Yah-boo, get the AA, there cheap now, even the MKII can be had for the £2200 mark, though Kev only paid £2k I believe. Try a Cary 306/200 or an MSB platium Player/dac, Accuphase DPV-55/65 are also worth a listen if you like (sic) the 302/ why not a DAX decade, or wait for Cyrus DacX?

 

Check here for some info on the DAC X / DAC XP release date.

 

Trouble with the AA is that eventually owners realise they sound much better with a seperate preamp, which makes in the inbuilt stage redundant for most.

I have considered one, and still might go down that route, given that I was offered one recently for sub £2K. It does have some very special qualities,

 

i really rather enjoy my 301, and with the 302 out, prices are rather good on 301s. i got mine for £1800. year and a half old... not bad i think.

 

I'm currently using a Wadia 20 transport and the 25 DAC as a pre out and it sounds just great to me. Far more life to it than the Perpetual Tech stuff I was using before, bigger sound, better definition etc, etc.

Also 25 allows me the route my freeview and DVD into it as well as. Oh yeah they are also built like tanks and aesthetically look quite pleasing too.

Not sure what price they go for in the UK but defiantly worth a look, I won't be upgrading them for a while! (although the top might come off for a little treatment soon).

 

Slightly OT

I know we're suppose to be on about Wadias, but since the subject of the AA Capitole has come up, has anyone heard the latest Audiomeca gear (Mephisto II.x)? I'm led to believe that it uses the same Anagram DAC as the Capitole and has had a couple of good reviews.

It doesn't have a tube stage or the built in volume control of the AA Capitole, but the main selling point for me is the custom CDM rather than the use of a bought in unit.

Any thoughts/experiences of Audiomeca gear?

reg :Quad:

 

DAC XP - I currently own a cyrus dad3q24 and would like to hear the dac xp, if is ever released (its been any week now for about 6 months). However it will not be cheap, £2000 for the dac xp + say £200 for the digital i/c and £300 that I could get for my dad3. One of the reasons for wanting to change is that I find the cyrus too harsh at elevated volumes and the dac xp may not improve this. It will also rely on a relatively cheap cdp as a transport.

AA Capital mk 2 - may be worth a go, particularly if it can be had for £2000. There is one on hififorsale, but its £3050.

Wadia 302 - as far as volume control cdp's go, I have only heard this against an accuphase 55 and r.a opus 21. They were going straight into a bel canto evo 2 and the sound that they produced was streets ahead of anything else that I have heard. I would imagine that this was mostly down to the amp and a well setup demo. I thought the wadia was better then the opus 21, but only by a small margin. This led me to conclude that I could get a better cdp for less money and so improve the sound still further.

The reason for the post was to get opinions on the good and bad wadia's with a view to buying one second hand. If it is a popular model and I don't like it, I can always sell it on. It seems that the 301 and 302 are not the best and I cant afford a 861. So what about the rest. There is a 22 / 26 on ebay at the moment for £1000; is this any good? Are the older models reliable and are they easy to get fixed if they do go wrong.

Of course it doesn't have to be Wadia and I may just stick to my black shoe boxes.

 

I agree!