Wadia news


Sad news for fans of the Wadia:

""...As you all know, the Wadia brand enjoys “legacy status” as one of the founding firms that pioneered high-performance digital audio over twenty five years ago - and how times have changed since then. Clearly a move away from music bring stored on optical media is happening today and Wadia’s future products will embrace this new market reality. Simply stated, the current product category of CD players, can no longer sustain growth in any meaningful way. Consequently, Wadia will cease manufacture immediately of the 381/381i and S7i CD players, 571 CD Transport and 521 Decoding Computer. These products are now officially discontinued. Please note that there is limited inventory remaining of these models and these will be made available to our dealer are a first come first serve basis. Additionally, the parts and service warranty on these discontinued models will be honored. Remaining models that will continue to be available going forward include the 121 Decoding Computer, 151 Power DAC Mini and of course, Intuition 01.
..."
chris10an
I used to own a Wadia 850 years ago. Was a great digital player...I think people may come to miss a really good disc spinners...
I thought Wadia also acquired Qsonix, then closed that line also. They have good technology, sorry to see them leave the stage....
I allways liked Wadia!, Its part of my ole glory days of audio!, I hate that they will be going to full loom of the new technolgy of media players and etc...I plan on keeping a disc spinner no matter what!, like people have analog record players, I will have a disc spinner, however, I am planning to buy these new formats as well, atleast for the second system!, cheers!
Their most respected players were always priced higher than I was willing to spend.
My 17 year old Wadia 16i still blows away my Oppo 105 on redbook, so I have a great respect for their gear.

Had the transport replaced at in late 90's under warranty and have had 0 issues since.

Realize their customer service had fallen a lot in recent years, but they made great sounding gear and were no more overpriced than similar high end Digital companies like Accuphase, DCS and Esoteric.
Audiolabyrinth,

I think this is the first post of yours I've read where you don't mention TARA cables. Are you feeling OK?
@ zd542, LOL!, Yeah, I feel ok,I love american audio!, sad to see wadias demise of disc spinners!, cheers!
Does this mean that my Wadia is now regulated to collector status? Woo-hoo...wadia-u-know.
As far as I'm concerned, Wadia has been out of business since the first time they went out. The 2nd time around, the service was so bad its like they weren't in business anyway. The only way I could get them to return my phone calls was to really shame them into it. I actually left them a message stating that: When all you make is CD players and the cheapest one is $5000, you need to pick up the phone. It actually worked. I love their products but its no surprise they went out of business. Again.
" I love their products but its no surprise they went 'out of business'. Again
Zd542"

Wadia is not going out of business, but rather, are going to discontinue the 381/381i and S7i CD players, 571 CD Transport and 521 Decoding Computer and are going forward with the 121 Decoding Computer, 151 Power DAC Mini and Intuition 01.

Lets get the facts straight.
Mallen123,
Even if Esoteric is more expensive than most of Wadia, it doesn't mean that these prices make sense. They all don't at least to me and I guess to many more. Otherwise, Wadia would've been sold out instead of going out of business alas from McIntosh for instance.
If Wadia beats Oppo, than I'm sure and I know that there are many CD players that beat Wadia or perform to the same level at substantially lower cost...
"Wadia is not going out of business, but rather, are going to discontinue the 381/381i and S7i CD players, 571 CD Transport and 521 Decoding Computer and are going forward with the 121 Decoding Computer, 151 Power DAC Mini and Intuition 01.

Lets get the facts straight."

Sorry. I failed to mention Wadia is still making the stuff they don't make and is just discontinuing the stuff they do make. I've been a Wadia customer for many years. Its easy to get confused.
I demoed the Wadia intuition with the new Sonus faber Olympia III speakers. The music sucked me in right away...very musical and tube sounding..I only spent 10 minutes with the system. I personally own 300B monoblocks, very expensive tube preamp and expensive cables...
But the wadia/faber was more musical...
I am confused what is the deal...how can that be? Anyone experience it too..?
@ Ajay555, Hi, What is the wadia intuition?, Is it a media player?, does this product have a volume control like past wadia componets?, thanks in advance.
Audiolabyrinth,
the Wadia Intuition is a (digital) amplifier meaning that it can directly accept a digital signal from a source. It has a built-in DAC & a class-D power amplifier. Yes, volume control is included as well. I heard one at RMAF2013 - it sounded very good indeed. I cannot make the same comment as Ajay555 as it was a show condition & playing music that I not familiar with. Nevertheless the sonics were very good - I enjoyed my stay in that room.
You can read more here:
http://www.wadia.com/en-us/products/intuition-01