I'd echo much of the above comments primarily because I found myself in nearly the same position--and there was no mistaking that the "cure" was a new CD player. I had managed to scrape together some Thiel 2.3's, and Bryston 4B-ST amp, and a VTL pre-amp (my first dabble with the tubes), but was making it all go with the help of nothing more than a decade-old Yamaha changer (which is, admitedly, a whole lot worse than your Adcom). Nothing doing. Trouble was, I was REAL tired of spending money, and was just looking for an adequate CD player that would give the rest of the equipment a chance to shine while I got over the horror of realizing how much I had already spent (even buying used). By that time, I was also pretty infatuated with tubes, so I started looking at playeres from the likes of Cal Audio, Jolida, et al. By chance, I stumbled on this AH!Tjoeb retrofit sillyness which is based on a not-so-special Marantz player and then essentially gutted and re-tricked out with all of the latest fancyness and a tube stage. (for an extensive litany of praise, check out audioreview.com) Well, I bought one, pretty much on a whim (can only order them from the factory in Holland or from a fellow named Kevin at Upscale Audio in CA, check out thier website...). Truth be told, if you have the will to invest in a Wadia, more power to you--I wish I owned one myself (or Levinson, or Meridian, or Linn...). But I've found that this little (ugly) tubed retrofit has hade me happier than I imagined it could. I had planned on it being essentially transitional when I bought it (yes, had to buy it unheard, which was tough, but they're only around $550 with all the options...) but I suspect that I'll end up hanging on to this one for a while. Maybe it's not your bag (maybe you should just sell the farm and go analog) but I would strongly suggest that it is worth a consideration. Best of luck, Peter
It's not the sound I want!
My system consists of a Krell kav300i, Aeriel Acoustic 6s and AdcomGCD750. I have Cardas cables , Jenalabs interconnects and Synergistic Research ac chords. It sound great at times but I find many cds hard to listen to. I listen to vocals with acoustic guitar and the guitar sounds detailed but so metalic and unnatural. It sounds like sombody is playing a saw with a bow. Is this what digital really sounds like? Is it sytem matching? I dont think it is the speakers. Is it just a matter of settling for the best we can get for $8000.00 and limiting what we listen to?