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Wadia upgrade - Levinson or Naim?

I am looking to upgrade from a Wadia 830 CD player. I really like some aspects about it, such as resolution of the fine harmonic structure of instruments, deep bass, and a strength (slam?) that refuses to let music be ignored. What I really want to be different is its tendency to highlight the upper midrange a bit. I would like something with a bit fuller upper bass?lower midrange, and a more relaxed upper midrange. Given this, if I could also get a more liquid sound and PRAT, that would put me in audio heaven. After reading as mucha as I can, the top contenders seem to be a Levinson 39 or a Naim CDX. Has anyone compared any of these 3 directly? What kind of differences between them did you hear?
honest1
chriskeating
189 posts
 
You need to go to the Levinson 390S to significantly improve your sound VS. the Wadia. I had Wadia 850 and Levinson 39 and 390S. The 850 and 39 had strengths and weaknesses comparatively but the 390S was in a different league.
jshaw1004
53 posts
 
Why don't you give Wadia 861 CD player a try? It seems to meet all your upgrade anticipation. And, one more thing, it builds like a tank. Good luck!
rja's avatar
rja
2,356 posts
 
Send your 830 to Great Northern Sound for reference mod package. You're not going to believe the sound improvement!
9rw's avatar
9rw
318 posts
 
I had the Levinson 37/360S combination, which I'm sure beats the 390S, and the Electrocompaniet EMC1 trounced it. And then the Wadia 861 did the same to the EMC1 (and later EMC1MKII). I'm with Jshaw1004 on this one.
jshaw1004
53 posts
 
Check out the testimonies that GNSC has done for Wadia products at http://www.greatnorthernsound.com/testimony/ FYR.
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