High end / Cutting edge , Opinions please

[StingRay]

What was the Wadia that had a budget Philips CDP inside it's fancy case?

[Macca]

There was a Goldmund that was essentially the slightly modded boards from a budget Pioneer DVD player put into a fancy case. There was one other where they literally put the cheap player inside a fancy case, don't think that was Wadia though but I can't recall.

[popol_vuh]

What was the Wadia that had a budget Philips CDP inside it's fancy case?

I don't know which model had that transport. I'm talking about Wadia 581. And Wadias are really well engineered and built (not talking about cases) even if some of them have a cheapo CD transport. That's really not crucial for sound quality. Don't assume things about these devices if you have no experience with them, they are top-notch components. It's just that digital has gone quite a bit ahead from those days.

I'm not talking from "magazine knowledge". I don't read hi-fi magazines and don't read/watch reviews. I talk only about things I've experienced myself or things that were experienced by my hi-fi buddies, whose first-hand experiences i trust.

[StingRay]

There was a Goldmund that was essentially the slightly modded boards from a budget Pioneer DVD player put into a fancy case. There was one other where they literally put the cheap player inside a fancy case, don't think that was Wadia though but I can't recall.

Found it, it was a Wadia Transport WT3200.

[popol_vuh]

There was a Goldmund that was essentially the slightly modded boards from a budget Pioneer DVD player put into a fancy case. There was one other where they literally put the cheap player inside a fancy case, don't think that was Wadia though but I can't recall.

Yes, i know that case. There is also a similar case with one Goldmund integrated amp that i know of. However, that's not really comparable to what I was talking about. With Wadia that's certainly not even close to the case, so the Goldmund issue could be misleading in this context.

[Macca]

I heard a Wadia 2 box cd player a long time ago, that was very good. Out of my pay grade though.

I don't think quality digital replay has anything much to do with the chips or the tech but how it is put together, discreet power supplies for the various functions, that sort of thing. IME of owning dozens of cd players that is where the difference in SQ lies. Different DAC chips have a different 'character'? Maybe, I'd like to see someone distinguish between them in a test though before I'd accept that as gospel.

The whole business about early digital sounding harsh is nonsense, I have early (1980s) players here that prove that statement. It's true that the boundaries for noise and distortion have been pushed much farther in the past ten years, but early players can be shown to have those factors below audibility anyway. Mostly it is just marketing puff these days. In the 1980s people (especially in UK) had edgy-sounding amps and speakers to put a bit of 'bite' into the sound of LP and cassette. Fed with a neutral source from digital they just showed up their true character.

[Haselsh1]

Back in 1997 I owned a Digital Analogue Company 'The Ultimate' CD player which back then was a £5k cutting edge CD player with valve output stages. I could well be wrong but I doubt it would be considered such at the mo.

[Flo]

Perhaps a better analogy for aged hi fi are vintage cars.
The new stuff is better, quieter, faster, more reliable, the result of improving every part thru better standards of engineering, quality of parts and knowledge involved in design.
Vintage cars, hi fi, kit has a emotional and aesthetic appeal, but rarely outperforms modern equivalents.
Also over years there has been a realisation that hifi infrastructure, cables and tables play a vital role.
Vintage cars are wonderful, but have you got time and money to accommodate there delicate nature.