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Wadia 171i Digital Transport Sound Issues

I enjoyed my 170i so much I decided to upgrade to the 171i, in retrospect I think I should have saved my money to spend on music. The 171i has proven itself to be a "tweak" and I'm having a tough time getting what I believe could be a more musical experience closer to the sound of CD. At the moment the unit is powered by the CIAUDIO VDC9 power supply using a run of Nordost/Magus power cord, on the digital side I tried both Toslink and 75ohm cable and settled on Kimber's D60 75ohm cable. All of this is feeding my Cambridge AZUR 840C CDP which I am using as a DAC. The problems I'm having with the sound of the 171i is the introduction of too much base and lack of top end detail (I'm using WAV files) Any suggestions that might help? Thanks!
rpg

Showing 1 response by nglazer

nglazer
846 posts
 
I use the i170 with a 160gb iPod Classic, and find it very sensitive to PC and digicable. With a Kharma Grand ref digicable (which I had lying around) and a Nordost Brahma PC connected to an adaptor for the Wadia electrical input, I get very near CD quality sound, especially with a FLAC download converted to iTunes.

It may not make much sense to use a PC and digicabkle that cost multiples of the i170 itself, but I had the wires anyway and the convenience and reliability is worth it! And a lot simpler, cheaper and more reliable than (ugh!) computer audio.

Neal
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