ML Aerius I, Moon W-3, Wadia 830

lets put it this way i just sold my krell-krc-3 so that i could go direct with a wadia, krell-fpb-200 and aerial 10-t's. it is the best sound i have ever heard in my room. as long as you say its for exclusive cd playback you can't go wrong.the preamp is just one more variable in the way. happy listening and let us know what you end with.

I agree that you won't need a preamp. That's a given, you'd be stupid to put one there. BUT THERE IS A BETTER CD PLAYER THAN THE 830, and it works even better running straight into the power amp: The Resolution Audio CD50. Just put a "want to buy" ad for a used one, and you can get a very good deal. I'D PUT IT UP AGAINST ANY WADIA, ANYTIME. Wadia's filter rolls off the treble's top octave by 3 freaking decibels!! Slow roll off filters ARE a good idea, but only when they are combined with UPSAMPLING, to keep the filter FROM BECOMING A TONE CONTROL IN THE AUDIBLE RANGE. And if you think you're compensating for this with the 10T's metal dome tweeter, think again. Once those airy top octave harmonic details are blunted by a filter, they can never be "put back" correctly downstream. JUST THINK ABOUT THIS A WHILE...Now, if the 830 did upsample (for a similar price), that'd really be something; but it doesn't. Also, metal dome tweeters will ring at 26 kHz, whether OR NOT they get ultrasonic signals from the power amp, so again, you're not really compensating for anything by rolling off that top octave. I AGREE THAT WADIA AND AERIAL HAVE BEEN A POPULAR COMBINATION, BUT just consider what I've said here.

Your Wadia 830 may sound different with and without a pre-amp.Better or worse,that is the question you'll have to answer for yourself.Less is not always more.