Wadia 170i and Benchmark Dac1 - anyone try it?

I've used only CDs for years. I'm looking for a good transport at a reasonable price (<1K) with a digital output to feed the Benchmark Dac1. I could take an Ipod in the car & work if I hand one.

Again, does anyone have a comparisons on the quality of the Wadia digital output?

Thanks!

Thanks for the responses. I never gave much thought to the transport feeding the Benchmark Dac1 until I purchased a Sony 350 Blu ray player. Even after much breakin it sounded like the Sony Blu ray was introducing something bad into the sound. Using the coax output from the Sony Blu ray the sound lacked focus, the bass was muddled and the sound stage flattened. My older, cheaper Dvd player sounded much better. I tried a CD player as I transport and that seemed to sound even better in the bass area with better focus.

As much as the "Wadia" name is a factor in audio, I'm looking for anyone who's had experience with the Wadio 170i (good or bad).

Thanks,

Brian, thanks for the feedback on the Wadia 170. Looking at the components in your system I'm sure you'd be able to identify any weakness in this transport.

I also have never owned a portable music player. I considered trying something like the Squeezebox but am concerned about some of the issues Agons members have mentioned. I'd also would rather not deal with computer driven audio if the Ipod capcity is sufficient.

With regard to using the Sony 350 Blu ray player as a transport, yes I have tried all of the different audio settings. I currently using the Optical output from the Sony Blu ray to the Benchmark Dac1 just so I can get 2.1 for movies. I have the Coax output from my old Dvd player (Cardas digital 15 cable) going to the Dac1 and it sounds much better for music.

I've tried both the Coax and Optical output from the Sony Blu ray to the Dac1 and I've tried changing the Audio settings. The Sony 350 Blu ray used as a transport sounds flat, unfocused, and just sounds bad as compared to my old Dvd player or a Cd player. If you have better luck using the Sony 350 Blu ray then let me know what you did with the settings.

Any other feedback on the Wadia 170 transport is welcomed.

I've gone back to the Audio settings on the Son 350 Blu ray player and made sure that everything was PCM no digital. Through either the coax or optical output feeding the Dac1 the results are about the same for the Sony 350, lack of focus and blurry details. Again using either an older DVD player or an older CD player's digital out to the Dac1 the results are noticably better than using the Sony 350.

I'm glad to hear that many folks are having good experiences with the Wadia 170 (and Ipod) as a transport.

Follow up on the Sony 350 Blu ray player as a transport to the DAC1. Looks like the 2 ch audio issue has been resolved.

The Sony 350 has a number of detailed Audio Settings which require the on screen menus to adjust. I've set all of the detailed Audio settings to 2ch, down-mix, no compression because I don't use 5.1. The digital output goes to my Benchmark Dac1 via a Cardas 15 digital cable. After setting all of the detailed Audio settings I usually turn OFF the TV to play a 2 ch music CD using the Sony 350 as a transport.

Here's where the problem was. In addition to the "detail Audio" settings there is also a "audio" button on the front of the remote that cycles the Blu ray player through 3 different audio settings. These audio settings do not show up on the "detailed Audio" settings and do not show up on the front display of the player. When I turned the TV back on during CD Music play I could see that the audio button on the remote had kicked the playback out of "Stereo" mode. Turning stereo mode back on fixed the problem.

I have not had any problems with the Sony 350 playing Blu ray or standard DVDs. The Blu ray DVDs don’t take very long to load and the music CDs take just a little longer to load than a regular CD player. I would now recommend the Sony 350; paid under two fifty for it at the Sony store.

Interesting review on 6moons for the Wadia 170 connected to the DAC1. The reviewer suggests he heard a difference between the Apple Lossless format and full WAV files.

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/wadia2/dock.html