Been a long time since I’ve listened to the two players mentioned, and never heard either going direct. Took home the Wadia 830 and felt at the time my current ARC CD2 was the better sounding player. Today I’d say pass on both and look at a Cambridge CXC V2, RME ADI 2fs DAC/Teddy Pardo PS combination or something similar. I use mine direct most of the time and feel my ModWright LS 36.5 preamp is damn good which speaks highly for the RME when using a upgraded linear power supply. Probably close to the price of these older players as well if not less.
