Wadia iTransport iPod Dock Gets Bit-Perfect Digital from iPods!

[SR-71Panorama]

Glad to see there is finally proper ipod dac circumvention. But its too little too late for me; I need hard drives larger than what Apple offers. So it'll be a 500 GB drive and a Pico for me.

[guzziguy]

Originally Posted by jp11801

while this looks interesting and is a good value at $349 you can buy a mac mini for $599 and essentially be at the same place and have a platform that provides greater storage and additionally its a computer. Krell has the IPOD kid that I feel similarly ambiguous about.
The market for something like this is relatively small, take the ipod market then slice that into someone that wants to use it at home, then slice that by the people that don't want one of the trillion all in one devices all ready out there, then look at IPOD owners that also are outboard dac customers and there you habe your potential market. The item is probably manufactured off shore in China in order to meet this price point so they probably have made a lot of them.
While I have had my share of ups and downs with Wadia certainly I wish them sucess with this recent product line and hope it will provide the revenue stream they really need to meet the customer service needs of their high end customers.

I agree that the business model here is very shaky. If it turns that there is a market, Apple can take it at any time by offering a digital out on their iPods and asking for another $50-$100 for it. Among other things this would solve the portability issues. This works with the existing iPods so there is that market, but I agree with JP in that the market here is very small.

[bhd812]

WEll then...

I may be up for such a product...may be up indeed!

the analog out on this thing, is that from the ipods dac or is there a internel built in dac on the dock from wadia?

[blessingx]

I don't the market is any smaller than several of other iPod accessories. How many Fatman iTubes were sold? If the product does as claimed I think it could be very successful.

Also there was a thread if the portable forum in case you want to merge.

[ezkcdude]

Meh. I'll stick with my Squeezebox, if I want to stream music (and BTW, iPod still doesn't do FLAC AFAIK) to my stereo.

[ZephyrSapphire]

I'd use this for home audio. As for an iMod, it'll still be in demand well for one reason. It's portable. I wouldn't want to be carrying the iTransport around everywhere I go.

[lextek]

Waida and Krell offering iPod docks. Who would of thought.........

[biglakerider]

How would this device differ from using the optical out of an Apple TV sent to a quality DAC? The Apple TV would be cheaper and you could leave your ipod in your pocket/backpack/briefcase etc.

[bhd812]

I could see this product fit nicely with people who want a high quality playback at their job of office.

I was looking around for something like this awhile back and the only way I could use my dac1 was having my itunes Library on a external hard drive going threw my laptop. the problem was how often was i updating the hard drive? needing a computer and external hard drive when i always had my Ipod on me in the first place.

[fkclo]

If Wadia delivers what it claims I am in for one.

But I am not sure if we all understand this correctly, as I may have been brain-washed to assume that the iPod needs some internal modification in order to extract the digital signal out, and I guess Wadia may have acquire something proprietary from Apple to do that without touching the iPod.

Or there may be something new in the 2008 version of the ipods that make this possible ?

If this is the case, the days of more expensive solution, like the iLink, will be numbered .. iLink did say it accomplish "Mission impossible" on the iPod.

iLink

Who else will be paying US$1,995 if US$345 will do the same job ?

F. Lo

[ZephyrSapphire]

Originally Posted by fkclo

If Wadia delivers what it claims I am in for one.

But I am not sure if we all understand this correctly, as I may have been brain-washed to assume that the iPod needs some internal modification in order to extract the digital signal out, and I guess Wadia may have acquire something proprietary from Apple to do that without touching the iPod.

Or there may be something new in the 2008 version of the ipods that make this possible ?

If this is the case, the days of more expensive solution, like the iLink, will be numbered .. iLink did say it accomplish "Mission impossible" on the iPod.

iLink

Who else will be paying US$1,995 if US$345 will do the same job ?

F. Lo

x2. Couldn't agree more. I would definitely be getting the iTransport if it actually does what it says.

[milkpowder]

This is great news. The price is very reasonable and the fact that it requires no tampering with the iPod itself makes it multitudes more attractive than the iMod option. I for one am anxious to read the iTransport + DAC vs iMod/VCap comparisons

The iLink is a total joke and they know it. It's vastly overpriced and also requires modification of the unit.

[d-cee]

if it works on existing ipods as claimed...

then all this time digital output has been available through the dock connector

someone will figure out the pins surely...

[MASantos]

Originally Posted by jp11801

while this looks interesting and is a good value at $349 you can buy a mac mini for $599 and essentially be at the same place and have a platform that provides greater storage and additionally its a computer...

Originally Posted by poo

If only it were portable...

...Back on topic, I agree with jp11801 comments above - Mac mini is a far better choice for the price difference.

Yeah, but a Mac Mini isn't portable and requires being started, a screen, etc.

This allows you to keep the ipod's portability and have high quality sound at home too.

[ezkcdude]

Originally Posted by MASantos

Yeah, but a Mac Mini isn't portable and requires being started, a screen, etc.

This allows you to keep the ipod's portability and have high quality sound at home too.

I guess none of you guys play FLAC.