Great Northern Sound 860 Statement Upgrade

Awhile ago, I posted a review of the Wadia 860 Reference upgrade from Great Northern Sound Company. I attached it to this review of the Wadia 860 Statement upgrade so anyone interested in owning a $3,000~ used CD player that offers a reasonably priced upgrade path to $20k+ DAC/Transport performance can read about the results.

Before I get into the review, Steve Huntley can upgrade many other manufacturer’s amps, preamps, DACs, and Transports so his expertise extends beyond Wadia. Call him if you like what you’re about to read.

I have nothing but respect for Steve Huntley and it didn’t come easily, he earned it. Steve has clarity of vision. He has clarity of vision about the way music should be presented to the listener and the genius to engineer his vision into audio equipment. I can tell you from years of business experience that if you can find a man with clarity of vision, follow him. Those individuals are rare.

Today, my system consists of a Wadia 860x CD player, a BAT VK500 amplifier, Martin-Logan reQuest speakers, Nordost Quattro Fil interconnects XLR and Nordost SPM Reference speaker cables. There is a PS Audio P300 feeding the speakers, a PS Audio 20-amp high current outlet for the PS300 and a PS Audio 20-amp high current outlet for the amp. There are bass tube traps placed where needed. I run the Wadia straight into the VK500, no preamp. If you know what this gear is, you know it has more than enough quality engineered in to make music sound “great”. You also know there are some limitations.

When my Wadia 860X underwent the “Reference Upgrade”, incredible amounts of pure music came pouring out and the sound jumped across an ocean of change. The upgrade is well worth the money as it will elevate your system to “audiophile” status and if you want to know more about the Reference Upgrade, jump down to that section. The Statement review assumes that the reader is familiar with the Reference Upgrade review.

So, having attained audiophile sound with the Reference Upgrade, how much more “there” could there possibly be there? Until the Statement Upgrade I had only read the answer to that question in reviews.

Micro-detail and micro-dynamics in ambient cues make “real” sound real. Even in a very large or loud musical moment, micro-detail and micro-dynamics provide the final definition of the event. This is a widely held precept that requires little explanation.

A CD player’s ability to reproduce sound is limited by its components and the noise and vibration it makes in the process of doing its job. Steve Huntley gets the components right while attacking noise and vibration in the transport. In doing so, he creates a hypnotically musical soundscape few listeners have ever experienced.

The Statement Upgrade pushes your perception over the edge of reality by revealing the fine micro-details inside of larger, grain-free and flowing musical moments. In some respects it is the balance of the presentation that supends belief and brings the recorded acoustic to life in your listening room. But, however you decribe it, you can "see" 360 degrees around the musicians and that is incredible! Audiophiles might say that what the Statement Upgrade does much more of, is produce “air”. But, the degree to which it produces air, and the purity of the air, is well within the realm of finely produced SACD.

Here are some notes I made about the Wadia 860 Statement upgrade:

The sound stage coming from the Wadia seems completely devoid of grain, hash or digital smear. It is, at first, shocking to hear. It is so immaculately clear you may question your own perception. Yes, you can easily hear sound bouncing off the back wall and side walls of the venue, but it is the purity and dynamics of the sound that is so astounding. I never before heard sound reflected so cleanly and vividly within a soundstage. On some CDs, there is a shocking width and depth to the soundstage that literally gives you pause to reflect upon the moment. It is so breathtaking you know you will not hear it on any system without a World-Class CD player in the chain. It is wider and deeper than the Reference upgrade and offers greater clarity. So far, every time I improve room resonance and electrical purity, the system leaps effortlessly to a higher level of musical resolution and enjoyment.

Second, there is a clear perception of air between musicians. The sound stage is like a pool of black oil. Sounds appear within it. There is a sense of naturalness when an instrument or voice crescendos above others or momentarily emerges from a black space, then falls back leaving a calm void. The sense of blackness is vast, dark, shapeless, offering a 3-dimensional canvas within which music appears. In this regard, compared to the Reference Upgrade, the Statement Upgrade seems to convey a feeling of finality. Like there is no more blackness that can be had. I want to be careful here. Audio makes fools of us all. I’m referring to the Statement Upgrade’s ability to get out of the way of the music. The potential seems as limitless as any $20K pair of separates. Instruments sometimes shimmer in the soundstage as if illuminated by spotlight. I don’t mean a forward or harsh presentation. I mean you can hear the hertz value of the note oscillating in space as a singular event in the midst of an opus of sound! You will find yourself, questioning the performance of every other component in your system, thinking of ways to make them more perfect.

Third, there is the overall dynamics and musicality of the Statement presentation. It is pure music, dynamic without restraint or compression. Within the soundstage, dynamic nuances of instruments and voices rise and fall independently like they are really happening right here, right now! The soundstage is coherent yet instruments and voices are allowed to “breathe” independently on their own. I can’t think of a better way to define live music or a better way to describe the musical presentation of the Wadia Statement! When distortion, hash, grain and grunge are removed, there can only be the music on the CD. The Statement presents music purely to the listener and this brings me to the final point.

We all like to hear our music colored and my color preference is probably different than your color preference. Getting the music to come out of speakers in the color we like is the quest we are on. This is the reason we change equipment like socks. It’s also the reason we hesitate to make some purchases. The Wadia Statement allows the rest of your well thought out system to apply its color to the music and present it to you in purity of voice. The Statement Upgrade is the right decision if your downstream components are right! It will never be wrong! If you are still building an audiophile system, with a Wadia Statement Upgrade in place, you can comfortably focus your attention on all other downstream components. The source is SOLVED!

Is it the best? Of course not, but take a step back and put things in perspective. You can buy a used player and send it to a real pro who can make it perform like something at 3 times the price. If you want to hear what it will perform like before you invest, get a brand new Wadia 270/27ix and plug it into your system. The Statement upgrade will be a bit better.

My Previous Post; Great Northern Sound Company, Wadia 806 Reference Upgrade:

Make sure you read this if you are considering an upgrade from Great Northern Sound Company. I always read opinions written by people like you before I make any new investment in audiophile equipment. Sometimes I’m not sure if the writer really understands what an “audiophile” system is supposed to sound like. I admit that I was once lost in the woods. I thought I understood what audiophile sound was. It turns out I only understood what “great” sound was. I learned what audiophile sound was very recently, and there is a huge difference!

My system consists of a Wadia 860x CD player, a BAT VK500 amplifier, Martin-Logan reQuest speakers, Nordost Quattro Fil interconnects XLR and Nordost SPM Reference speaker cables. In addition, there is a PS Audio P300 feeding the Wadia, one PS Audio 20-amp high current outlet for the speakers and one PS Audio 20-amp high current outlet for the amp. I run the Wadia straight into the VK500, no preamp. If you know what this gear is, you know it has more than enough quality engineered in to make music sound “great”. And for the past few years, music did sound “great”! You also know there are some limitations.

All that has changed for the better. My Wadia 860X recently underwent the “Reference Upgrade”, at Great Northern Sound Company, a Steve Huntley designed modification. I can say without any hesitation that I now own an audiophile system. Incredible amounts of pure music are pouring out of the components and the sound has jumped across an ocean of change.

The Wadia now presents musicians in a holographic array on the soundstage. You can clearly “see” musicians standing at the front, sides and rear of the recorded acoustic. In fact, the sound suspends belief like a great movie or a great book and surrounds you with the recorded acoustic so convincingly you forget you’re listening to a CD. A few nights ago I got up from my listening chair and walked past my CD player to a potted plant because that’s where the voice was coming from. I started to reach toward the plant to change the CD and caught myself!

Make no mistake, I’ve worked my butt off to eliminate improper speaker placement, bad electrical connections and uncontrolled room interactions. I’ve listened to $1,000 through $100K+ systems. I’m a member of the Chicago Audio Society and am blessed with the knowledge, guidance and accomplishments of my contemporaries. My audiophile associates have helped me learn to listen. I’ve learned there is a mountain of difference between different and better and an ocean of difference between “great sound” and “audiophile sound”. Before the GNS Reference upgrade, the system already had focus, fluidity, blackness, air, extended highs and lows, and a wide, deep soundstage. Before the upgrade I already had micro and macro detail and dynamics.

The upgrade resulted in a redefinition of the soundstage itself, a change in the translation of the recorded acoustic. The upgrade resulted in pristine, palpable, living, breathing musicians on a wide, crystal clear sound stage that falls back as far as the CD says to fall back. Musicians sound “alive” in my listening room. I hear music, not the CD. Today, my system’s sound bears no resemblance whatsoever to the “great” sound it produced a month ago. This isn’t a change. This is a transformation!

So, here’s the point. Reliable information is the key to making the right investment and getting the most from your investment. It is clear to me that Great Northern Sound Company is for real. Through the work of Steve Huntley, I hear the true potential of my equipment. Would I recommend a Great Northern Sound Company upgrade? Without a moment of hesitation! And, yes, I’ll be back for the “Statement Upgrade”. As they say, “This changes everything”!