There seems to be a solid group of members here who prefer 10-25 year old CD players and DAC’s
Why do Asian looks for old Wadia CDP at high price?
I recently sold my Wadia 861 for a Vietnamese at unbelievable price. The question keep popping up on my mind why do Asians (Vietnamese) interested in the Wadia CDP too much even at very high price. Many nowadays CDP has better quality with up-to-date technologies on sound distortion deductions.
We have been used Wadia for around 2 decades ago and it's time to put them on retirement but they treat as treasures. I was so surprised about that. Wish I could have more Wadia CDP to sell to them in order to make some extra bucks.
We have been used Wadia for around 2 decades ago and it's time to put them on retirement but they treat as treasures. I was so surprised about that. Wish I could have more Wadia CDP to sell to them in order to make some extra bucks.
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Nearly all old Wadia’s/ML’s/Theta’s, had R2R Ladder Multibit D to A converters done right, it’s the best way to convert RedBook CD (pcm) 16/44 or 24/96. I’ve sold many to them being the same mains voltage as Australia, they still love their CD’s as do I, and want the best way to get the best sound from them. Cheers George |
This is a really good question. I think it pertains to a lot more than just Wadia CD players. I wonder if even the people in question even know why they like them. Maybe the name is appealing to them in their language? I have an LP by a man named David Wiffin titled "Live at the Bunkhouse". It has commanded a ton of money in Japan. Why??? It's only one guy and his guitar singing folk standards. (They only pressed 100 of these). It's OK but nothing to get exited about. Oh well. Does anyone want to buy some beanie babies? (My dad bought a bunch of them). Joe |
jl351,643 posts09-27-2017 7:01amWhat are some of the R2R Wadia models? ThanksThese are some Wadia's that use Multibit: The one with my favourite Multibit chip being the latest PCM1704 WADIA 9 8 x PCM63P-K + DSP – CS8412-CP It's a DAC WADIA 15 4 x PCM63P-K + DSP – CS8412-CP It's a DAC WADIA 16 4 x PCM1702-K + DSP – CS8412-CP VRDS CMK-3.2 – KSS-151A WADIA 25 4 x PCM1702-K + DSP It's a DAC WADIA 27 PCM1702 / PCM1704 + DSP It's a DAC WADIA 302 2 x PCM1704-K + DSP Philips VAM1250 WADIA 381i 4 x PCM1704-K + 2 x DSP56004FJ50 StreamUnlimited WADIA 521 4 x PCM1704-K + 2 x DSP56004FJ50 It's a DAC WADIA 581 4 x PCM1704-K + 2 x Motorola DSP Sanyo SF-HD65 WADIA 781i 4 x PCM1704-K + 2 x Motorola DSP
WADIA 830 4 x PCM1702U + Motorola DSP Pioneer Stable Platter PEA1343 WADIA 831 PCM1704 Pioneer Stable Platter WADIA 850 2 x PCM1702-K + Motorola DSP VRDS CMK-4-a – KSS-240A WADIA 860 4 x PCM1702-K + 2 x Motorola DSP VRDS CMK-3.2 – KSS-151A WADIA 861 4 x PCM1704-K + 2 x Motorola DSP VRDS CMK-3.2 – KSS-151A WADIA 861SE 4 x PCM1704-K + 2 x Motorola DSP VRDS S-Type – KSS-151A Cheers George |
I sold it after auditioned with a Berkerley DAC Alpha 2. It made me couldn’t listen to my 861 anymore due to the Berkerley DAC has much much more details and sonics. The presentation that I have never had with 861 previously, things becoming unreal. I'm looking forward to upgrade for an Emm labs DAC now |
There are current manufacturers that use very old DAC chipsets because they sound better. These include Naim, Zanden and Audio Note, among others. Some of these old chips are expensive because they are coveted. The priority for modern chips is to be very small and use very little power for use in mobile devices, and sound quality is not much of a consideration. I have an older CD player (still in production) that utilizes the 1704 chip and it still sounds really good. I also like a number of DACs that use resistor ladder multi-bit conversion, but, I don't know if this is the reason they sound good. I owned a Wadia a long time ago and it sounded good and worked flawlessly. Still, I am not certain I would get one unless I knew the transport was in really good shape or replacement parts are still available. I also wonder if there is such a thing as a different, "vintage" sound to DACs. I know a dealer who hates the sound of most modern DACs, particularly when utilizing USB connection. He thinks most sound to analytical, and while detailed sounding, that is accomplished by sounding bright and tizzy. I have not looked into this myself to any great extent, but, I do know from my own experience that some highly regarded DACs, players and streamers are not to my particular taste. |
Jond, You made an excellent choice. I came oh so close to buying a used AN DAC 3 or 4 level at one time. I am certain that I'd been very happy with it. Personally I don't find many of the newer generation DACs necessarily better sounding, just more of an emphasis on "detail" but not particularly natural or musically engaging. My 2 cents worth. Charles |
@charles1dad great point. I have experienced with my Berkerley DAC alpha at the beginning too. However, it’s turn out that I used the low quality USB and didn’t stream lossless music through any audiophile player software. The dealer recomended me to use Mac Mini with Audirvana Plus software, and lent me a Light Harmonic USB cable to try out. Things turned out completely different as my old setup. It was surprised at extremely quiet background, soundstage depth, and imaging precision clearly, and very natural overall. It also produced an amazingly pure sound as listening to live performance which could see the musicians position, no bright or harshness of digital in a very musical sound. My system would have never been like that before though I tried to upgrade all cables around many times. Maybe I was lucky than others on DAC but I have learned that be patience with this new technology involved with computer since I'm not a tech-savvy. However, you can get to the point if in the right direction for the digital solution setup. |
Parts for Wadia players have not been available for about 5 years. I sold my 4 box 9 series Wadia due to lack of support and no spares being available, especially the Sony KSS151 lasers and DAC chips etc. yes, they sounded great, but I replaced the Wadia with a German T+A PDP3000HV and in direct comparisons the T+A was almost identical in sound, but just slightly more detail and air up top. This was at 1/4 the price of the Wadia. |
Perhaps Christiaan can shed some light on the subject: http://www.hifi-advice.com/blog/review/digital-reviews/spdif-dac-reviews/wadia-521-dac/ |
Perhaps Christiaan can shed some light on the subject: He did. The Wadia 512 which he loved uses old R2R Multibit dacs, the last ones made without going discrete like others are today. Burr-Brown 1704 DACs. Today because Wadia used the ESS Delta Sigma dacs instead of going discrete like MSB and others, they don't seem to hold center stage as much. MSB went for doing discrete R2R Multibit after the last R2R chips ran out and they seem to have the center stage more than Wadia do now. Cheers George |
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Yes, reputation. 1. But also simply geographics. No offense to Vietnam, but they dont have the number of folks with big money to spend on toys, compared to the US. So there is a smaller number of higher end products available. E.g. We often forget how spoiled we are in the US with all our choices, but it is not the same around the world. 2. Reputation in the sense of which products get hype and which ones dont, just like in the US. What is hot right now? I see more and more forums on Asian brands- Denafrips DAC, Jay's Transport, Kinki something something. And people in the US are jumping on that bandwagon. Same thing in Vietnam. 3. IME, the audiophile Asians I have met tend to like a smoother sound, like the ESS Sabre DACs with 1000x oversampling. It is still detailed, but smoothness and lack of grain tend to be the preference. Not to stereotype or anything, just my experience. Which is interesting b/c the older WAdia/high end DACs that are quoted above are Burr-Browns, which to my ears have always been more fast, nimble, high res, high dynamics but a mostly analogue sound (the better the support circuitry and power modules. ) |
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