Wadia 170iTransport

shack

adam2434 wrote:

Immediately dismissing the Wadia without fair and valid listening experiences just does not make any sense to me, nor does proposing that it is the ultimate transport.

Whether it's your cup of tea or not - well that's a whole different matter.

F1nut has stated on several occasions that he HAS compared the Wadia played through a high end DAC to a high end CDP and found the Wadia not up to the CDP. It is of course just his opinion. I know his gear and I know his ear. His experience and opinion carries some weight in my opinion.

I have no problem with those that say it is an excellent product...I'm sure it is. To say it is the death of the CDP is a totally different thing. Ever heard of vinyl and turntables? They were pronounced as a dead format as well.

We had dinner with the author of the Stereophile article, Wes Phillips, AFTER that was written and he mentioned the Wadia and we talked about new music formats the direction of Hi-Fi etc. He had the opportunity to announce the death of the CDP because of the new technology...but he didn't. Different strokes for different folks.

Want to start a fight...or heated discussion...come in and state your opinion as fact. Works every time.

adam2434

I wasn't specifically referring to F1nut's comparison and I have no doubt that a high end CD player would sound better than the Wadia/Entech combo.

Hell, I owned one of the Entech's (back when the new old stock ones were being sold cheap on eBay a couple years ago) and I didn't care for its sound and sold it. I preferred the analog outs from my entry-level model Sony ES. However, I attribute my dislike of the Entech to "its" sound, rather than the digital signal it was getting from my Sony.

Anyway, I agree that stating one's opinion as fact is where problems usually arise. I was trying to make that same point. Maybe it didn't come off that way.

dudeinaroom

I have found the best solution for a digital media server, It's a multi disc SACD player:).

Systems

adam2434 wrote: »

In my mind, the only valid test of the Wadia as a transport (playing lossless or wav) is to compare it to other transports (a CD transport, Squeezebox, etc.), all playing the same track through the same DAC.

I completely agree, in this way you are comparing apples to apples and not to apples oranges.

shack wrote: »

F1nut has stated on several occasions that he HAS compared the Wadia played through a high end DAC to a high end CDP and found the Wadia not up to the CDP.

IMO the Entechs can't be considered Hi -end by any means,they where decent budget units from the mid 90's.

SEH

SolidSqual wrote: »

Does anyone else think it's funny he's sighting from Wikipedia?

Not as funny as when the first guy did it. At least BlueFox was quoting the relevant entry.

SEH

heiney9 wrote: »

I don't believe that Apple Lossless files are ever ripped using EAC. It's a 2 step process.

1) Rip the .wav file in secure offset mode w?EAC.
2) convert to lossless format.

There's nothing to stop people from using EAC in step 1 and Apple Lossless in step 2, if that's even necessary with a decent drive and an undamaged CD these days.

I for one say Apple Lossless is not bit for bit exact because they typically aren't created using EAC or similar bit for bit perfect ripping software.

Perhaps this is pure semantics...................

It is somewhat semantics. But the errors you're describing don't come from Apple Lossless. Those are just a "feature" of CD audio. When decompressed an Apple Lossless file will be identical to what you started with. If you give it a bad rip, you will get that back exactly as it was before it was compressed. If you give it a good rip, then what you get after decompression is identical to the CD. Saying it isn't lossless compression is just factually incorrect, period.

BlueFox

Since the post count is at 99, I had to add this post to hit the 100 mark.

I was just reading in the February 2009 issue of "stereophile", page 130, that Bel Canto Design is developing an iPod dock for a mid 2009 introduction. They will also be accessing the digital data on the iPod, adding their own DAC into the docking station, and incorporating technology from Sonic Focus that supposedly improves the sound of compressed music. This can be bypassed for uncompressed and lossless files.

While I have no need for the Sonic Focus technology, it will be interesting if this dock improves on the sound as compared to the Wadia. Hopefully, it will be in the same price range which will make it easier to justify a purchase.

Bel Canto Design
http://www.belcantodesign.com/

Sonic Focus
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2008_March_18/ai_n24926536

lakesailor

Keep in mind the Wadia does not improve the sound one iota. All it does is extracts a pure digital bit stream as it by-passes the Ipod’s rather lame onboard dac’s The “improving”is only going to be as good as your DAC is.

Having said that; it only makes sense that someone will take the Wadia one step forward and offer an upgraded built in DAC converter. Conversely you might also see some current DAC manufacture’s offer up a built in dock that does what the Wadia does.

Either way I expect this segment of the market to be a developing one. I am personally surprised that Wadia has maintained this monopoly for as long as they have had.

SolidSqual

"Authentication" refers to Apple's authentication chip, which essentially tells the iPod that it's okay to output raw digital audio or video data to the chip-enhanced component. The authentication chips are only available in Apple products or from products made by Apple-licensed third-party developers. After Wadia first began developing what became the iTransport, Apple opened up the authentication program to more third-party vendors. The iTransport may be the first audio product of its kind, but it probably won't be the last. But however you slice it, being firstest is a great coup.

http://www.stereophile.com/news/010408wadia/

I think Wadia is the only manufacturer licensed by apple to do what the iTransport does.

adam2434

MSB also has a product that will do this (post #11), but it is a lot more expensive than the Wadia and requires mods to the iPod IIRC.

BlueFox

Wadia update; 5/28/09. The Wadia dock and iPod Classic have to be one of the best things I have ever bought in regard to music. I now have 1600 classical “songs” on it, and still have 70GB of space left. Since it sounds so good at home, I bought another Wadia iTransport, iPod Classic, and Sennheiser HD650 headphones to go with my original Benchmark DAC1, and took it all to work. Now I can listen to tunes at work that are as close to being as good as at home as possible.

If there are any marketers out there a product I would buy is a music server that follows the standard 19” wide form factor design, with an LCD display, and an Ethernet and wireless connection. The iPod is a great product, assuming you store lossless or uncompressed files, but there is something to be said for a solid piece of equipment providing good music.

Emlyn

Agreed it's a solid piece of equipment for what it is. I use a couple of 120GB Ipods with mine (all files Apple Lossless format) and run it into the DAC on my Cambridge 840C CD player. On my home theater system I can't tell a difference between the CD player and the Wadia, other than having hundreds of CD's in the palm of my hand. But, Stereophile recently did a reassment of the Wadia and downgraded it to Class B because of relatively high jitter levels out of its digital output. This problem can be reduced with a good DAC that eliminates timing errors like the Benchmark DAC. I ran the Wadia straight to my pre-pro digital input and found it didn't sound so good, but was still certainly listenable.

BlueFox

Just a quick Wadia update on 8/29/09, I now have 1,731 classical ‘songs’ on my iPod 120GB Classic, with 64.3GB free. Many of these songs are 10, 20, and 30 minutes in length, so I am very happy with Apple Lossless compression, and storage space.

I upgraded my original DAC, Benchmark DAC1 Pre, with a Bryston BDA-1 DAC, and the improvement in sound was obvious. Music was more open, clearer, and precise. Although I have been very happy with the Wadia/iPod combination at each stage of use, I keep on being impressed with how the overall sound can improve with upgrades anywhere in the chain.

My latest upgrade replaces the stock Wadia external 9V power supply with a CIAUDIO VDC 9.0 High Current power supply. Who would have thought 9V DC could make such a difference? As with previous upgrades, the sound becomes even more open, with increased clarity, more precise, and seems to be quieter between songs, and even within a song.

All in all, I love the concept of a music server. The unrivaled playback ability, with the power and flexibility of control over selections, is addicting. I think my next upgrade is going to be from the iPod to a bigger, more powerful music server platform. Something that will allow me to play my Apple Lossless files, along with 24/192 downloads. Hi-rez files are my next step.

CIAUDIO VDC 9.0: http://www.musicdirect.com/product/83276

SolidSqual

BlueFox wrote: »

Just a quick Wadia update on 8/29/09, I now have 1,731 classical ‘songs’ on my iPod 120GB Classic, with 64.3GB free. Many of these songs are 10, 20, and 30 minutes in length, so I am very happy with Apple Lossless compression, and storage space.

I upgraded my original DAC, Benchmark DAC1 Pre, with a Bryston BDA-1 DAC, and the improvement in sound was obvious. Music was more open, clearer, and precise. Although I have been very happy with the Wadia/iPod combination at each stage of use, I keep on being impressed with how the overall sound can improve with upgrades anywhere in the chain.

My latest upgrade replaces the stock Wadia external 9V power supply with a CIAUDIO VDC 9.0 High Current power supply. Who would have thought 9V DC could make such a difference? As with previous upgrades, the sound becomes even more open, with increased clarity, more precise, and seems to be quieter between songs, and even within a song.

All in all, I love the concept of a music server. The unrivaled playback ability, with the power and flexibility of control over selections, is addicting. I think my next upgrade is going to be from the iPod to a bigger, more powerful music server platform. Something that will allow me to play my Apple Lossless files, along with 24/192 downloads. Hi-rez files are my next step.

CIAUDIO VDC 9.0: http://www.musicdirect.com/product/83276

http://spatialcomputer.com/

Check this out.