Wadia 170i and Benchmark Dac1 - anyone try it?

I just installed a 170i, ruining digital coax into the digital-in of my Playback Designs MPS-5 CD/SACD player. My first impression is very, very good.

Hopefully I'll get time this weekend to do some critical comparisons with the original discs vs. the lossless output from the my 160G iPod Classic. If so, I'll post a more in-depth follow up or maybe a Review.

Dave

If the DAC in question upsamples the digital inputs, then you'll benefit from that with the Wadia.

Dave

I don't hear any difference between the source CD played directly from my Playback Designs MPS-5 CD/SACD player and same files in Lossless played through the iPod/Wadia/Playback Designs trio. Perhaps that's due to the upsampling routine of the Playback Designs' DAC, which upsamples both CD and the coax digital input to DSD prior to the analog output.

Dave

11-12-08: Teddy_bear
"Dave, maybe you are getting old :)"

Hah Teddy, I think you're half right, but I think that the reason my Wadia sounds so good with lossless is the reclocking and upsampling routines of my excellent DAC, which is also applied to CD. The Benchmark and Bel Canto are excellent DACs at their price points, but they are not at the very top echelon of performance.

There IS a message here and it's the old YMMV. The subject of this thread is Wadia with Benchmark. There's much evidence here that this combination will not be superior to a good stand alone CD player (I haven't tried to discover the range of CD players we're talking about here) and/or Lossless may not sound as good as WAV. I expanded the thread by throwing in my experience with my Playback Designs player/DAC and Brianmagrarcom threw in his experience with his PS Audio Digilink. We both had very positive experiences with Lossless via iPod.

The cause for the differences might be a number of things, including differences in reclocking and/or the presence of an upsampling routine, or not. I suspect that all the observations here are valid and accurate, demonstrating that different downstream equipment can yield different results with the same sources.

Hmm, I've got an old Digilink in a closet, I wonder...no, I'm too lazy. ;0

Dave

The way I read his question is that he wants to use his iPod in home and car and he has a Benchmark and wonders if the Wadia will be a good iPod transport to interface with his DAC. He mentions CDPs, but his question and his followup clarification seem to be focused on iPod as a transport.

If that is indeed his question, then I know of no device superior to the Wadia for that purpose. I just bought my Wadia and searched for a similar interface that bypassed the iPod's DAC and could find none. (That may change soon). Given the lack of direct competition, I think that the Wadia is the best solution for using an iPod in a high end system.

Some of us attempted to validate that course of action by comparing the output of an iPod/Wadia/DAC trio to the source data played on excellent CDPs, finding it either vary close or, in my case, the same. My experience leads me to strongly endorse the Wadia for the IP's intended use. If he upgrades his DAC later the Wadia will yield further improvement. He seems to like his DAC and I doubt that he'll find something superior without spending a good bit more money.

Dave

Teddy_bear said:
"Dave, I have an old Audio Alchemy DDSv3.0 right by my right hand :-D"

I remember that one and wondering if the extra money for the PS Audio was worth it.

Dave

A separate box for the clock does nothing to assure that it'll outperform a clock combined with another digital device, like a DAC or transport. Generally you'd expect the separate box clocks to be among the best, due to price, but that isn't necesarily the case.

Dave

I'm using the Analysis Plus Digital Oval coax digital cable with good results, but I can't distinguish it from the one Wadia sent with the 170i. I think that the reclocking in the PD is making up for any error introduced by my cable... maybe. I tried an XLO balanced IC owned by a friend and found it very neutral.

Ah... tube/DACs, what an oxymoron in my mind. If you need to add honey, there's something wrong that needs to be fixed rather than covered up, at least IMHO. I like your point of view Teddy.

Dave