pure ipod dock

I finally landed one of these and I am very impressed both with the quality of construction and design as well as sound quality. The internal DAC/output stage sounds much, much more transparent than the stock ipod. I will now start doing some A/B testing with other high end DACs.

Apple lossless files played through the ipod/Pure dock combo sound as good as a high end CD player.

sorry craig.lost track. nice system btw. i,ve got a question and a comment. i use murrow audio cables thruout my emotiva/magnepan system. i am using the entry level ics. did u start that way and step up to the 2's? if so i am assuming they are more musical.i am thinking of getting some or the 3s. i have the sp2 also and had 8 ft and because of my set up only needed 3 ft per side. so to save a few bucks [per mike's ok btw. he recommends sp3 anyway with my 500 watts per ch] i cut them in half and reterminated them. mike estimated this would put them somewhere between the sp3 and sp4. as you can predict i am saying this is the best move i,ve made in a while. not a minor improvement but one of those why didn't i think of this a year ago moments. i am still enjoying my pure dock and am suprised i don,t read about it more because it is a great value. thought you might find this anecdote interesting. john

Hi John,

I am using the Pure I-20's internal DAC. I'm using the I-20 in my small NAD integrated system, I am yet to take the unit downstairs and run the digital signal through the DAC in my main rig. I was previously using the HRT Music Streamer II+ to listen to itunes via my laptop (I now only use it to stream internet radio from my laptop since buying the I-20). I am using Morrow Audio MA2 Interconnects between the PURE and my NAD Integrated.

craig , are you using the pure's internal dac or the hrt 11+? also what cable are you using? just curious. thanks john

Sorry, I meant to write "HRT Music Streamer II+" in the above post.

I'm thrilled with my I-20. I had been running itunes from my laptop through an HRT II+ DAC into my dining room integrated system. Running my ipod through the I-20 blows the HRT away in sound quality, and the convenience factor seals the deal. I took the I-20 on vacation last week, and hooked it into the stereo at the house we had rented, it's small and easy to transport. The I-20's internal DAC produces good sound on it's own, but I wonder if upgrading the power supply would help improve things even more?

Pure replaced the I-20 remote for free when I replaced the battery-upside down!

Mine sounded great for 20 mins and then stopped working. I emailed the folks in the UK so we will see if they make good. I am sure they will.

So just so I'm clear...if I hook up my ipod touch to the Pure i-20, I will be able to control volume remotely using tango or some other remote app on my ipad in the next room? And if so, will this volume control through the ipod touch still work when connecting a separate DAC? And... is the remote for the Pure i-20 an rf remote?

05-19-11: Badwisdom
Bombaywalla,

i know that Accuphase and Wadia players have this kind of digital control, but whats weird on the Pure dock is that only latest iPod generation allow for that volume control, its completely disabled on ipod touch and iphone...

And unless im mistaken, other docks also disable volume control when using digital out (wadia & onkyo for ex)

OK, I see.
Nevertheless, here's the thing - once you extract the digital stream from the iPod/iPad/iPod Touch, you can play bit increase/decrease games with it on your own outside the iPod/iPad/iPod Touch environment. This is particularly true since the Pure iPod dock has its own DAC outside the iPod/iPad/iPod Touch chassis so they/Pure must be already inc/dec the bit width to suit their own DAC. At that point it becomes relatively simply to supply the user a digital volume control.
The situation is diff in the Wadia as they do have their own DAC outside the iPod/iPad/iPod Touch chassis - they merely buffer the analog output from the iPod/iPad/iPod Touch. They could have provided a digital volume control off the digital bit stream but they chose not to. Would have been really nice if they did....
In Onkyo the situation is still different - Onkyo made their iPod dock product specifically to mate to their HT receivers (I have an Onkyo iPod dock hence I did read the manual) - that's why there's only a digital out. I believe that the volume control is done thru Onkyo HT receiver's main volume control.

Badwisdom, it's not only the latest generation. My iPod Touch is the last generation ( the third ) and the i-20's volume control function works with it.

Bombaywalla,

i know that Accuphase and Wadia players have this kind of digital control, but whats weird on the Pure dock is that only latest iPod generation allow for that volume control, its completely disabled on ipod touch and iphone...

And unless im mistaken, other docks also disable volume control when using digital out (wadia & onkyo for ex)

Cheers

The PURE i-20 has several outputs: analog stereo from its internal DAC, digital coax, digital optical and component video. The most interesting one is the digital coax because it allows you to set up a high-quality connection with an external DAC. It bypasses the iPod's internal converter and headphone amp and delivers a signal that sounds just as good to me as my best Redbook transport's.

Of course the Wadia unit has been able to do this for a while now, but at a higher price. There is news of a Cambridge Audio dock with a digital output as well.

The i-20's internal DAC's output is not as high-quality as the coax digital output but it is respectable enough, sounding at least as good to my ears as an Oppo 970 player.

Sorry, yes you are right, the Wadia doesnt have a DAC,it only allows you to hook up to a DAC and avoids the use of the inboard Ipod DAC. I could have just looked up at my set up to have seen that. Its been a while since I hooked it up.

05-18-11: Badwisdom
Can anyone explain how the pure dock allows volume control on a supposedly all digital signal ???? How is that possible ???

your mind is stuck in the analog domain method of volume control which you are trying to attach to a digital signal & are getting totally confused!! ;-)
Digital volume control has been done by Wadia since they were founded back in 1988! You do digital volume control by increasing/decreasing the bit width of the digital signal - longer bit length = higher volume, shorter bit length = lower volume. Hope that this helps.

Can anyone explain how the pure dock allows volume control on a supposedly all digital signal ???? How is that possible ???

the pure i-20 dac has sound quality that is superior to the ipods internal dac. if you have ripped your cds to your computer and synced your ipod using the best quality settings then the i-20 will perform very well when compared to a good cd player. i am not capable of using all the descriptive language to describe what "better" sound quality means. self explanatory ha. good luck. i am still waiting for a comparison between the wadia and pure [with digital out setup] if anyone who is familiar with both can help....

What are folks thoughts on using this pure i20'dac with a tube headamp? Is it going to perform better than the iPod?

Bomb you are correct, the Wadia does NOT have a D/A converter onboard it outputs only a digital signal.

.....The Pure has its own internal DAC, so it takes the pure digital feed from the Ipod and runs it through a better DAC. Only the pure and the Wadia do this as far as I know.

I believe that your sentence is not true - the Wadia only buffers the analog output from the iPod on its analog o/p RCA jacks. On its digital output, it is buffered digital stream. To the best of my knowledge the i170 does not have an on-board DAC.

The ipod doc uses the ipod's internal DAC to put out an analogue signal that you can hear. The Pure has its own internal DAC, so it takes the pure digital feed from the Ipod and runs it through a better DAC. Only the pure and the Wadia do this as far as I know.

How does this improve upon the actual iPod dock? I've been using the iPhone compatible dock and can only imagine the possibilities for improvement.

interesting. i'll look into this. thanks.

The sound check feature reduces sound quality to my ears. I just deal with having to adjust volume.

i think in playback in preferences there is a "sound check" option that makes all output volume equal. still researching this so i,m not saying it is the final word. i would call an apple store about where to go about solving your question concerning the ipad. good luck.

Most of what I listen to on the ipad is copies of my vinyl, ripped to cd and then to Itunes at apple lossless resolution. I didnt know there was a way to have everything at the same volume. Of course, now somehow my entire itunes library disappeared from my computer, and itunes will not sync with my ipad because it says it is synced to another version of itunes. Havent figured out what to do with that yet.

Disappointed Pure supports the Classic, but not my Gen 5 Ipod. Sniff sniff.

thanks, i was just wondering if the wadia had enough of a measure of superior construction, or other technology to make it a lot better. the only complaint i have had so far is some songs come on much louder than others and i always
assumed i had the preference itunes set so everything was supposed to be the same volume. have you noticed this? probably something i did.... this occurs in shuffle because in cds it is fine

I havent had enough time with side by side comparison of the two since I hooked the pure into a different system,but I would say the pure is at least the equal of the wadia so for the price it is a real bargain.

manitunc, how did the sound quality of the pure compare to the wadia? thanks

Put the pure in my car system and its even better then in the house. WOW. Running the video to my monitors killer

I would recommend approaching this company with caution. I purchased a Pure dock and when it didn't fully live up to my expectations, I contacted them to return it. They have proven to be the absolute worst company to deal with in this respect. It takes them days and multiple emails to respond, and when they do respond they are just giving me the run around. A truly amateur group of people...if you buy one, make sure you plan on keeping it.

Very interested in this as I just sold my ONKYO digital dock. I have read that the built in DAC is excellent too. g

ok, ordered one up. I'll hook it up alongside the Wadia and see what I hear.

Manitunc Here's the U.S, site http://store.pure.com/store/pure/en_US/list/Products/categoryID.53512600/?resid=TZhtMwoBAlUAACvkQ@QAAAA0&rests=1302310888648#accessories

the techradar article leaves out the fact that the i-20 does not work with the 30g. does fine with my 80 and 160g classics tho. i tried my 30g as a test and it would not work.

I will definitely have to try one out. Here's a 5-star review from TechRadar:

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/audio-visual/av-accessories/pure-digital-i-20-921473/review

i dug thru all the paperwork and they can be reached at 415 566 3875 . pure, 2269 chestnut st. san fran., ca. 94123. i am not sure what is going on with their web site. maybe this will help.

Cant seem to get on to Pure's website in US. Is there somewhere else I can order it from?

Mine came today. Coax digital output works very well. There's even a remote. Basic RCA cables are supplied.

Note for Canucks: delivery is via UPS. "Tax" amount applied at purchase, plus more at the door, brings total cost to slightly under $140.

This is the best $100 I spent in years, except the fisher 500 I bought with 3 extra sets of brand new factory tubes for $40 at a garage sale. The video output is great too

I stand corrected. It's $100. No brainer.

This looks like the real deal. Digital out, a built in DAC that punishes the sound of a typical docked Ipod, looks cool and costs about a third of the new Wadia. I want one!

pure.com/us/ . then look for the crossbar with products, store etc. i bet you can have one working in your system by tue or wed.

i got mine with free shipping from georgia. the georgia in north america. pure.com. 99 bucks and 2 days it was here deep in the ozarks.

OK, I found an answer to my question, it can be ordered online from Amazon UK. Shipping is not cheap.

Hotmailjbc, the Pure online shop won't let me order for shipping to any country outside the UK. Their store finder won't do any other country than the UK, Germany or Switzerland. So, Coffee2, how do I order one for a North American address ? Do I have to email a British retail store ?

tobias,, they are available online from pure.com

we must have typed it in at the same time. exactly ha

How do you order one of these things in NA?