Cd9?

[Lorenzo]

the best way to ascertain that ariess is to get a home trial or lug your CD7+DAC8 to the showroom and A/B it.

I pretty sure the CD9 would trump it but I havent had the Cd7+DAC8 combo. I've only heard the CD8 and several other brands of CDPs. IMHO the DCS Puccini wasn't as good as the CD9 and the DCS costs more.

Cheers

[domby]

Is cd9 now the flagship in the Fine Sounds group ? Take a look at Wadia's web site as there is no mention anymore of cd players. Perhaps cd9 incorporates the latest thinking from ARC and wadia ?

[domby]

I own a cd7 and have heard the ref dac and the cd 9. i can say that cd 9 is way superior to the cd7. i was also able to hear a cd5 on its own and then connected to the ref dac using the cd5 solely as a transport...night and day is an understatement !!. When i asked if the cd9 had a scaled down dac to that in the ref dac i was told it was the other way round as there were less competing electronics (transport/dac) in the cd9 as compared with the pre amp/dac in the ref dac and thus it was closer to a pure dac. I seem to remember dac 8 was one of those rare arc products that was a bit underwhelming.

[ariess]

Domby,


Great intel, thanks. Who was it that told you this about the Ref DAC and the CD9 DAC?

Adam

[domby]

Adam, i was told by the UK distributor

[BillK]

Wadia exited the CD player business as well as, it seems, the reference-level DAC business.

I wonder if I could get Fine Sounds to trade me a CD9 for my S7i?

[domby]

Sadly most manufacturers are interested in selling new equipment and it is up to their dealers to facilitate the upgrade process. However, it is likely that Wadia cd products will continue to be supported, particularly as several were spotted at ARC during a recent journalist visit, and thus your s7i should remain a desirable player.

[microstrip]

Originally Posted by BillK

Wadia exited the CD player business as well as, it seems, the reference-level DAC business.

I wonder if I could get Fine Sounds to trade me a CD9 for my S7i?

Probably not - just learned today that current demand for the CD9 is high and they are being rationed.

[ariess]

Where did you hear this?

[BillK]

Originally Posted by domby

Sadly most manufacturers are interested in selling new equipment and it is up to their dealers to facilitate the upgrade process. However, it is likely that Wadia cd products will continue to be supported, particularly as several were spotted at ARC during a recent journalist visit, and thus your s7i should remain a desirable player.

Desirable yes, but several features that were said to be "in development" - most notably 24/192 support - will unfortunately never see the light of day.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those who feels my purchase has been in any way devalued because it's been discontinued; it still sounds as amazing as it did the day I decided I had to have it and (IMHO) it still sounds better playing RedBook than the CD9.

On the other hand, Wadia always offered a nice trade-in (20% for non-working players, 25% for working ones) on old Wadia players towards a new one; it would be fun if corporate owner Fine Sounds could extend the same policy for Wadia owners towards ARC CD players.

As an aside, it's cute to try and reach a page that no longer appears on Wadia's web site, as the error message you get is in Italian.