Wadia vs. Audiomeca

I have compared the "Wadia sound" to many other top players over the past 6 years (home auditions using my GNSC-modded 850 or current 861). IMHO, while a number of other players are more refined and open, often with better soundstage definition, Wadia has a "solidity" and "presence" in the bass and lower midrange that is simply unmatched. I'm not quite sure how they do it, but I've noticed this no matter what downstream cabling and amplification is involved. Wadia better simulates the "impact and texture" of lower octaves which you would hear from real instruments in the room. (E.g., cello and piano, not just drums, synthesizer, etc.) But again, the weakness of Wadia is a certain lack of refinement on top (even with GNSC), which becomes more noticable with classical music.

Honest1: Another possibility for you might be a hybrid integrated amp, i.e. one that combines a tube preamp stage with solid state output stage. In my experience this arrangement smooths out the CD sound without adding as much color as a separate active preamp, or without loosing some dynamics in the case of certain passive preamps. In any case, I do think that Wadia gear sounds a bit better through some kind of preamp.