Adaptor

Realistic

As most of you here know I am the proud new owner of a p5 pre and I would like to run the ipod touch threw the dac in the pre via the usb or coax. my problem is the connection, does anyone make a adaptor to go from the I pod to one of the above options I have listed? I hope you guys are not growing tired of my questions but I really have no idea. I looked on amazon just to see if I could find one so I would have a reference but found nothing.

bikerboy

I'm not an apple user but the p5 has an front input specifically for mini jacks. I don't think there is a easy/affordable way to get digital out of an iPod. If you are using the low res mp3 quality files on the pod I wouldn't spend much. You're better off using a laptop or pad and usb.

EndersShadow

They make something called a LOD cable which bypasses the volume control in the iPod and gives you a line level signal via a 3.5mm plug but that's all I know of.

FTGV

You might look for a used Pure i20 or Wadia 170i ipod dock.Both will give you an SPDIF output from ipod.

Realistic

Thanks guys, I am reading up on the wadia 170i I think this would be a good choice. Any one here use or have used one in the past?

Realistic

Hey Skip nice to see hear from you. Are you talking something like the wadia 170i, I like what I have been reading about that.

Realistic

I am almost finished converting all my cds to apple lossless per Tonys suggestion.

Mikey081057

^^+1^^

Doesn't matter if you send it thru the 3.5 or a connection to usb... MP3 is MP3.

If you just want to listen to MP3 than the 3.5 will do it... but like Skip says if you want hi-res than get a streamer and use it to stream flac from your stored or a hi-res streaming service like Tidal.

The Bluesound Node2 is nice I can attest.. The Auralic stuff looks to be very good as well

Realistic

Not sure I am getting this, sorry . When I convert my cds to lossless and then dump them into my ipod they are still mp3 or are they lossless? The wadia device I mentioned is not a streaming device? Is it just a very nice ipod doc?

Realistic

Going to google this stuff so I am not so illiterate with this topic. Thanks guys.

Realistic

Ok just watched a video on crutchfield on the bluesound node 2, I was way off on what a streamer is, educating yourself before asking questions is a good idea I am realizing.

Moose68Bash

@Realistic,

I use a Wadia 171i iPod Transport in one of my two-channel systems and a Cambridge Audio iD100 iPod dock in the other. The Wadia connects to my PS Audio Perfectwave MKII DAC via coaxial cable, and the Cambridge Audio dock connects to my PS Audio DirectStream DAC via an AES/EBU cable.

I believe the Wadia is superior to the Cambridge Audio dock, but I use the Wadia in my "secondary" system because I use the iPod far more frequently in this system than in my "main" system. I cannot comment about the difference between the Wadia 170i v. the 171i.

I use both the Wadia and the Cambridge Audio with an iPod Classic (160GB) in which all files are stored in AIFF format. Both docks extract bit-perfect digital signals from the iPod, and the DACs render this music extremely well. The sound quality is close to Red Book CD quality, in my judgement.

The key to getting the best sound out of music stored in an iPod, iPhone, or iPad (as well as a Mac computer, for that matter) is to circumvent the DAC in any of these devices. Both the Wadia and Cambridge Audio transports/docks do this by, as I said above, extracting a "bit-perfect" signal -- that is, the signal from the music file before any conversion in the Apple device itself.

For my purposes, these devices work very well. When I'm doing critical listening or just want the best possible sound quality, I prefer either music from my NAS to either of the DACs mentioned above or from either my PS Audio PerfectWave Transport (to the DSD DAC) or a Cambridge Audio 840C CD player digital-out port into the other PS Audio DAC.

Either the Wadia "transport" or the Cambridge Audio dock should work well, if you connect them to a reasonably good DAC and if the music on your iPod is in a lossless format.

Just my humble opinion.

Realistic

Thank you very much, great comment and information. Man this place is great.

Realistic

I read that bluesound is heading in a different direction they are letting workers go to free up funds to focus on other things. There are a lot of choices and a guy like me can get overwhelmed, confused and frustrated very quickly.

Realistic

I look forward to talking to you, remember if I get rambling on just hang up on me LOL.