Krell KID vs. Wadia i170.

Wadia i170 just got a review from HiFi Critic (add-free mag from the UK run by Martin Colloms). A very, very bad one.

I just found a review for the Bose soundock, not the Wadia one - but in my search I found some other reviews (all positive) atother UK magazines.

12-12-08: Dazzdax
"How can an analog signal from a simple Ipod be better than the it's digital signal converted to analog through a high quality D/A converter?I How good the Krell might be, the bottleneck is still the Ipod derived analog signal. The built in DAC inside the Ipod is quite good (Wolfson?), but of course an external high quality D/A converter is still better (better power supply, better internal parts, etc.)."

I trust my ears !the Krell is still better against Wadia 170 after 2 months of listening.The Krell KID should be connected with XLR connection wich i prefer against RCA.The Krell KID DOES NOT SOUND GOOD if connected straight to amplifiers so it needs a very good preamp.LOCK the volume control of the KID.The worst connection is RCA straight to amps.I dont know exactly how Kid reads the Ipod signal,i tried to find technical papers but didnt succeed.Its not as simple as just reading the dac, the KID takes command over all iPOD functions.The result is by all audiophile criteria an overall better sound quality against Wadia.
KID +xlr+preamp= huge soundstage very colourfull(TUBELIKE)
very detailed 3 dimensional.I use MAC /I tunes/ Wav files /Apple Classic 160Gb.
(Krell Kid,Wadia 170i,Krell Kps25sc 24/96 ,CAST,Krell 350mc,
Audiophysik MedeaII)

>> 08-26-08: Optarchie
>> How could a 350.00 dollar "dock" compare to the krell
>> kid?
well, I think that it is nincompoop people like you who have run this audio industry into the ground by subscribing to the view that a $1200 Krell KID *has* to be better than a $379 Wadia iPod merely because it is more expensive!!!???

>> The other thing I might mention is that the wadia is a
>> cheap piece of plastic made in china, so I quess you
>> get what you pay for.
The only truth in this statement is that the Wadia i170 is made in China. The part about "cheap piece of plastic" is total BS!
Here is a snippet from Stereophile's review (S'phile might be accused of never writing a bad review for any component they audition but I do not think that Stereophile would call plastic cast aluminum!):-
"What hours of transport we shall spend
The 170iTransport is made in China. Its cast-aluminum body measures 8" W by 2.7" H by 8" D and sports a slot on top in which you dock an iPod. (The slot can be fitted with the ubiquitous Apple clamshell adaptors for all compatible iPod products.)"

And, Optarchie, after all the praise you have heaped on the Krell KID, why are you selling your unit????
http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?preatran&1235056836&/krell-kid-Ipod-dock-with-160-g

(maybe I should never have bitten & replied to Optarchie's post but idiot posts like this always get under my skin!

And, no I'm not biased against Krell gear. Most of the gear they made in the 1985-1989 time-frame was the best ever in the market & way ahead of its competition. I liked that sound. Their FPB-600, FPB-450 units were not as good, IMHO. I have not kept up w/ their other gear as today I think of them more of a HT company than a 2-ch company that they used to be & HT is not my primary focus).

Hey Bombaywalla,
First off I bought 2 krell kids if you must know. I am not implying that more expensive gear is better because it costs more but what I amsaying that if a 350.00 piece of gear which traditionally has a 30-40% dealer markup and also has profit for the company really doesn't have that much to it. Have you ever looked inside the wadia? I have and there is nothing to it. It does nothing to control jitter and is ony as good as the dac you attach it to. Since I own both and have spent numerous hours a/b ing both units I can honestly stand by my opinions. Why do you take this so personally? Are you a wadia dealer? This is a public forum so if you don't like someones opinion, keep it to yourself or buy both units like I did and do a comparison for yourself. If you go by reviews than you are dumber than you sound. If I told you sushi was the best food in the world and you hated fish would you still buy it? I would hope not. Open forums are meant for discussion, not to bash people because you have a different opinion. FYI mr. review lover, the wadia got panned in the HIFI plus issue so if you go by reviews your statement is useless!