I have never heard the 860 in my system but I have heard the 861. The x designation on the 860 adds 96 kHz capability - the 861 already has that capability.
I think Wadia makes a great player - a very upfront sound, very detailed and good stage if you listen on speakers. Build quality is superb. Resale is very good too if you buy it right.
IF I were going to buy a Wadia right now I would certainly give this guy a call and think long and hard about this modded unit for around $5,800 he is asking - I have talked to this guy when he worked a Jeff Rowland Design Group and he was a really nice guy:
"Custom built for me at Wadia 861 when I worked there. Unique digital filter and output section, hand-matched current conveyors, W270 transport mechanism, WBT connectors, additional noise and RF/EMI filtering, internal silver conductors, Cardas power cable (included!), digital inputs/outputs, ALL accessories, etc.
Most of you know me as Rich from Rowland (rmaez@jeffrowland.com). Why am I selling? Because I'm designing my own player and the proto work is EXPENSIVE.
Cannot ship to most countries overseas, as the unit has a 120V AC input module. If you're overseas and can change the module, then no problem, but it's your issue from the minute it leaves my hands.
The unit is black. Additional pictures available upon request."
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The Mark Levinson players are the 39s and the 390s. The 39s can be bought used for around $2,200 and the 390s can be had for less than $4,000 used.
That said it is my opnion that the 360s is a better DAC but you'd need a good transport and you don't get the analogue attenuation offered by the 39s or the 390s. The outputs were nowhere near as good when I tried them as my Mark Levinson 380s (I always preferred the sound of the 390s using the preamp than going directly into the amplifier).
The Levinson sound is darker and smoother than Wadia 861's and not quite so extended at the frequency extremes. But the midrange on the Levinson 390s edges out that of the Wadia IMHO....Either resolves well enough for any headphones I have heard but in a really resolving speaker based system neither is as resovling as the players I talked about in my earlier post.
The Wadia has digital attenuation but you need to be careful about system matching to use it well since if you attenuate too much you loose resolution. With little attenuation the Wadia sounded very good run directly into an amplifier, and that is the way I would use it if I could.
I'd certainly give a look to Accuphase as well. They are equally as well built as the Wadia or Levinson. Their resale is very good and the sound quality, while very different from the Levinson or Wadia is on a par with either out of say the dp-75v.