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Wadia 170 iTransport owners club

post #1 of 330
6/19/08 at 3:30pm
Thread Starter 
Got mine today!! WhooHoo!

Since the other 170 thread is so long and is mostly filled with speculation about what this little gem can do. I thought I would start a new one dedicated to what it can actually do.
Thoughts, impressions, etc etc.

The first spot for me will be in my headphone rig. Then once I'm used to it I'm going to put it right up against my Esoteric P-03 and see how it holds up.

check ya later.
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post #2 of 330
6/19/08 at 3:34pm
need pics!
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post #3 of 330
6/19/08 at 6:15pm
Thread Starter 
WOW!

It took very little time to conclude that the 170i easily bests my older Wadia WT3200 transport. Despite my transports age it is still a very very good unit and better than a majority of what is out there. Which is why I have kept it all these years.
Still, not as good as the iPod/170i.

This leads me to believe that the Wadia 170i (and similar products that will no doubt start popping up everywhere) is going to change the way we listen to digital. I know servers have already made a significant mark on digital front ends. But now, having heard it myself I have to believe that it wont be long at all before we see the end of the high end cd transport.
Hard drive based systems are inherently better. And when you consider that for under $800 (160g iPod+170i) you can put together a front end that is better than cd transports in the thousands of dollar range, there is no reason why companies wouldnt want to develope this technology.

Bottom line, I'm a little afraid to compare it to my Esoteric now.
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post #4 of 330
6/19/08 at 6:29pm
does it just output digital, or analog too?
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post #5 of 330
6/19/08 at 6:56pm
It outputs analog but you are using the ipods internal DAC, so that is a limitation in a non-portable application.
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post #6 of 330
6/19/08 at 8:05pm
i thought it output digital and you had to run it through a DAC??
Maybe im mistaken but is that not the point of it??
To skip the ipods DAC!!
And allow you to use one of your own choice
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post #7 of 330
6/19/08 at 8:10pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by hatethatgiraffe View Post
i thought it output digital and you had to run it through a DAC??
Maybe im mistaken but is that not the point of it??
To skip the ipods DAC!!
And allow you to use one of your own choice
You can do either.
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post #8 of 330
6/19/08 at 8:13pm
"Hard drive based systems are inherently better." - I'll wait until you calm down and do some serious listening before commenting.

Definitely looks like a cool piece of kit though, I look forward to further comparisons.
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post #9 of 330
6/19/08 at 10:29pm
Mine on the way been months in the waiting hope it's worth the hype...any impressions....
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post #10 of 330
6/19/08 at 11:18pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by philodox View Post
"Hard drive based systems are inherently better." - I'll wait until you calm down and do some serious listening before commenting.
HAHA. good point. I guess what I should have said is that hd based systems avoid some obvious issues that reading a cd with a laser has.

But it is THAT good. I've now listened to maybe 20 songs that I am extremely familiar with. Some of them being ones that I was in the studio during recording. And I am hearing low level detail like I havent heard before.
The most striking is the overall room effect. Individual instrumentation is clearly deliniated not only from one to the next but as it fits its own space within the room. Kinda strange actually.
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post #11 of 330
6/20/08 at 4:46pm
Got mine today Not run in yet so don't want to make full comment yet. But all I can say is that this is clearly the begining of moving toward harddisk/wifi/usb multimedia player; I would never imagine using ipod for headfi usage! Very clear sounding. Will update when iTransport and my stereovox xv2 run in.

I think it is important to compare iTransport vs PC USB interface devise (going to get one very soon) to see which is better performance/value.
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post #12 of 330
6/20/08 at 7:45pm
if you own this product or are planning on ordering it, would you mind sharing how you will typically use it? It's really cool, but I'm not picturing how I'd possibly integrate it into my system. The nice thing about the iPod is it's portable. If I'm listening at home, why wouldn't I just use the computer instead of the iPod? I guess one could have a fancy work setup or maybe it's useful in a second system?
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post #13 of 330
6/20/08 at 7:48pm
For me, I'm planning on plugging it into an external DAC to feed my Singlepower Extreme. My computer is noisy and detracts from the listening experience at times.
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post #14 of 330
6/20/08 at 7:50pm
My ipod is unused so in a way this is recycling! My PC is physically too cold and even with silent fan I could hear it in my AKG, so perfer PC off. At this moment in time there isn't much option for proper pure harddisk/wifi/usb transport so iTransport has to serve as a stop gap solution until companies start to pruduce the product I want - I am now too lazy for CD etc lol!
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post #15 of 330
6/20/08 at 7:53pm
How decent a DAC do i need to fulfill this babies potential?
Have Predator.... would this do in the meantime??
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