You guys are really funny! For what reason did you buy the very best single cd player like the Wadia 861SE to "bend" or color the sound afterwards? Doesn't make sense at all to me.
In any case the addition of ANY preamp between the Wadia and the Power Amp will only color the sound, it CANNOT ever get any better because its just an addional amplifier chain which is never as good as a straight wire.
There might be a possible mismatch between the Wadia and the Power Amp in some case, therefore the output of the Wadia is adjustable.
And for those specialists who believe in cutting of bits via the volume control: the wadia operates the volume control in the digital domain, not on the analog side. The 861 processes 24 bits while the cd itself contains a maximum of 16 bits of information.
Therefore 8 bits (or 256 steps) are available as "waste" just for the volume control. With only 100 possible steps (50 dB, 0.5 dB each step) degration of the sound even with the volume set on step 1 is just impossible - but who will judge the sound of the system at step 1, the speakers don't even produce any real sound at step 1. I do normal listening with the volume set to 50 or even 70....
I have tried many times with and without preamp - the system sounds best when the player is directly driving the amps. Maybe you guys should invest the money better in good speakers so that you can hear what your cd player really delivers...
Cheers!
In any case the addition of ANY preamp between the Wadia and the Power Amp will only color the sound, it CANNOT ever get any better because its just an addional amplifier chain which is never as good as a straight wire.
There might be a possible mismatch between the Wadia and the Power Amp in some case, therefore the output of the Wadia is adjustable.
And for those specialists who believe in cutting of bits via the volume control: the wadia operates the volume control in the digital domain, not on the analog side. The 861 processes 24 bits while the cd itself contains a maximum of 16 bits of information.
Therefore 8 bits (or 256 steps) are available as "waste" just for the volume control. With only 100 possible steps (50 dB, 0.5 dB each step) degration of the sound even with the volume set on step 1 is just impossible - but who will judge the sound of the system at step 1, the speakers don't even produce any real sound at step 1. I do normal listening with the volume set to 50 or even 70....
I have tried many times with and without preamp - the system sounds best when the player is directly driving the amps. Maybe you guys should invest the money better in good speakers so that you can hear what your cd player really delivers...
Cheers!