[elrod-tom]

Wadia does digital IMHO better than anything else I've heard. If they were to take something along the lines of their old 830/301/302 without the expense of transport and casework, and sell it for a reasonable (for what you get) price, I'm thinking it would be quite a product.

 

[penger]

I emailed Wadia, and the rep did confirm that something is in the works and that they are trying to keep it under $1000. He mentioned it might be released at the end of the year, but my guess is early next year.

He was not able to provide me with any other additional details.

 

[SleepyOne]

Interesting, I wonder will wadia really going for Benchmark, Larvey territory or going for something cheaper to avoid the fight. I got a feeling the letter is more likely. However, if they do go the challenging option, it will be very exciting news indeed!

 

[spraggih]

yes coming after the Stellos and Lavrys of the world is scary.

Also at the $1,000+ price point they would be competing with network media/audio servers because anyone with over $1,000+ to spend on a transport and DAC might be willing to spend $500+ more on a network server that supposedly ends the transport dilemma by transferring the data via ethernet/Cat5 cable or wi-fi.

But as said, 'exciting news indeed!'
</div>

 

[Champ04]

Quote:

Originally Posted by penger /img/forum/go_quote.gif I emailed Wadia, and the rep did confirm that something is in the works and that they are trying to keep it under $1000. He mentioned it might be released at the end of the year, but my guess is early next year.

Despite how much I like them. Given history I'd put my money on sometime in 2010.

 

[penger]

I'd say your guess is as good as any. Perfectionists they are.

 

[mrarroyo]

Just in case this has not been posted.


Playback - August 2008

 

[lisnalee]

Has anyone managed to source one of these from the UK?

I've tried a few places but no one has them in stock and wont' be getting them in for at least 3/4 weeks.

 

[SleepyOne]

Yes, I got mine as soon as it was released - for once UK actually has stock same time as USA and before a lot of other countries! Try Guildford Audio, an authorised Wadia dealer:

Item Details

The only bad news is price, which is double comparing to USA, but you do get a warranty as a consolation.

 

[lisnalee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SleepyOne /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yes, I got mine as soon as it was released - for once UK actually has stock same time as USA and before a lot of other countries! Try Guildford Audio, an authorised Wadia dealer: Item Details The only bad news is price, which is double comparing to USA, but you do get a warranty as a consolation.

Thanks for the link, I spoke to Trevor this evening and ordered one.

The price is very steep compared to across the water, but as you say the warranty is a big plus as well as not having to fill the customs & excise pockets.

 

[SleepyOne]

Well enjoy!

By the way, the burn in time for itransport is around 2 weeks (depending on usage) just to let you know.

 

[lisnalee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SleepyOne /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well enjoy! By the way, the burn in time for itransport is around 2 weeks (depending on usage) just to let you know.

Thanks for the heads-up. Now i just need to get a 160gb ipod and i'll be sorted

 

[lisnalee]

The wadia arrived on sat and i have to say i'm very impressed with it so far.

I am definitely getting a lot more low end detail now, than i was when using optical from the mac.

At the minute i'm using an old $30 ixos 75 ohm cable i had from years back. I was wondering if anyone has found an improvemnent in using a high end digital cable. I know there a lot of opinions of digital is digital and so there no difference but i'd hate for the cheap cable to be a bottle neck in the system.

 

[SleepyOne]

You could consider Stereovox XV2 (£99 free delivery). Takes 2-3 weeks to run in.

Stereovox XV2 digital interconnectl cable - High end cable

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lisnalee /img/forum/go_quote.gif The wadia arrived on sat and i have to say i'm very impressed with it so far. I am definitely getting a lot more low end detail now, than i was when using optical from the mac.

I took half an hour composing this reply so it wouldn't look terribly insulting or as a challenge to you, but I can't seem to make it sound as diplomatic as I feel. Another career that I need to avoid... Sorry. I hope you understand, I really want to know why you would observe what you have. perhaps you meant to say "low-level" detail and not "low-end" detail?

I'm not trying to "bust your chops here" with my post, but I really find this confusing. If you are using digital out from Mac vs digital out from Wadia, with the same source files and the same external DAC, I don't understand how that is possible to get more low-end detail. Not unless your optical cable out of Mac is dropping data bits vs the $30 coax which is not, which can happen because my understanding is that digital-audio is one-way and does not use checksums to guarantee bit perfect like with hard drive data and such.

But, I always thought your digital cable would have to be exceptionally bad for dropped data bits to happen. I would expect dropped data-bits to similarly decrease the resolution in the high-end more than the low-end. I would guess that since low freq are longer sound waves, that there are more data points captured at 44.1Khz and losing one or two data points to a cable should have less effect in the low-end vs high-end. I am not an expert, so I welcome anyone's feedback about this phenomenon.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lisnalee /img/forum/go_quote.gif At the minute i'm using an old $30 ixos 75 ohm cable i had from years back. I was wondering if anyone has found an improvemnent in using a high end digital cable. I know there a lot of opinions of digital is digital and so there no difference but i'd hate for the cheap cable to be a bottle neck in the system.

I'd be interested in knowing what others have found too. I have just started trying to do some comparisons with optical input into my Apogee mini-DAC with a generic $6 cable vs a $35 sysconcept.ca made optical cable, then switching to a $60 silver plated digital coax cable vs my $250 Synergistic Research Coax with active powered shielding to see if they make a difference - but it could take me a while, so in the meantime I'm all ears (pun intended). I will also look at unplugging the power to my Synergistic Research cable and plugging it back in to see if I hear a difference, but my understanding is the change with "power or not" will be more audible if I have a lot of electrical interference in my environment.

The problem with doing this digital cable test on the Apogee is that I can't turn up-sampling off, so it will be very hard hard to hear the changes. The Apogee sounds about the same with a 16/44.1 USB input as it does feeding it a 24/96 optical signal. I might have to do it with my Headroom Micro DAC instead, but I don't have a coax adapter to fit the Micro DAC 3.5 mm input.