If you had to choose right now between Wadia/Marantz CDP

[Adamo]

if you had to choose today (as I do) which player would you pick and why given these price points:
marantz SA-11S1 at 1500+shipping/paypal/insurance.
Wadia 302 for 2000+shipping/paypal/insurance.
I need as much feedback today as possible on this as I will purchase one of them and audition it against the winner of my DAC comparo.
thanks,
Adam

 

[Rich]

I can't help you with the Wadia as I know nothing about it. But as you know, I own the SA-11S1 and am pretty impressed with it (although I am still hankering to upgrade to a high-end Esoteric player at some point).

 

[Adamo]

Rich,
Thanks for the feedback. I certainly love the specs of the Marantz and am intrigued by the lack of opamps in the CDP. I have to give my answer to the seller tomorrow so I will most likely go with it since I haven't heard anyone chime in on the Wadia. I have read just as many good reviews though. Looks like Both are excellent buys. Since the Marantz is 500 less and they are probably on par with eachother (save the Wadia's ability to be used without a preamp) I'll probably jump on that to compare with with two DACs and 3930ci combo. I'm not quite to Esoteric land just yet =)

 

[MiTT]

I think that's a pretty good call. The Marantz players have been getting a lot of good press and certainly have the pedegree.

Not to mention that the $500 you save can buy you a lot of new tunes to listen to on it!

 

[Adamo]

Tim, thanks for chiming in. I think it should be a good value at that price point. I'm going to go ahead and pull the trigger on it today!

 

[Adamo]

I did it! Pulled the trigger on the marantz SA-11S1. Can't wait to get it here and into the system to do some comparisons. I think this one just might be a keeper!