Mcintosh CD players vs. Wadia Cd Players

I have heard both and my recommendation would be Wadia. Yes, we are an authorized dealer for Wadia but that is not why I am recommending them per se. On the merits of the sonics alone - the Wadia is far superior.

And, yes, the McIntosh is warmer. Only you can determine if you would prefer the most revealing, true-to-life sounding front end source or would you prefer something polite and harmonically modified.

Regards,
Burt

With all do respect, the newer Mcintosh amps, preamps and digital are not like the prior generations. The newer electronics and digital are not warm, fuzzy, slow, forgiving, colored, tubby, slow in the bass, or whatever the cliches are. I have owned the older stuff and now the newer. The older models the above attributes/faults may be true, but not in the the newer amps/preamps and Mcd 1100. For the record I own the Mcd 1100, had it for sale recently because I thought it was too lean sounding and overly judgemental. Turns out if left powered on 24/7 or given a two hour warmup it becomes a whole other animal. No doubt Wadia does great digital but if the Mcintosh is warmer than the Wadia, it just may be too cool IMO.

If you choose a Wadia, so make secure that the works 100%. It is my opinion, that Wadia unfortunately has way too many bugs in their products.

However, Wadia has in my opinion, a much better sound, and you should look at at the 381 or 381i model.

>>Yes, we are an authorized dealer for Wadia but that is not why I am recommending them per se.<<

Yeah, right.

Sigh.

Had I been both a McIntosh & Wadia dealer - or neither (like Audiofeil) I would still direct you toward Wadia.

The 381 is a strong recommendation at $3,000 less than the MCD 1100. Even more so when you consider that, based on our phone conversation, you don't require SACD playback or integration with a computer. Sounds to me like your friend is advising you properly.