Wadia ITransport

i just added a 170i and am very impressed. followed this thread's advise regarding tweeks and couldn't be happier. picked up a used audioquest nrg-1 pc and a vdm-5 rca on the cheap. feeding the i170 to my ps audio perfect wave dac. the pw dac is doing a fine job of sorting things out. can't even begin to describe all of the improvements compared to the crap $59 doc i'd been using =). for about $600 total... i'm back to enjoying the ipod at home again.

have not had a chance to a-b compare disc's via my pw transport but judging from my current enjoyment levels, the 170i can't be too far off. we'll see.

great thread fella's!. thanks for turning me on to the 170i + tweeks.

had a chance to do a little A-B comparo last night. the 170i is an very nice sounding piece of gear but could not best my perfect wave transport. given their price points ($400 vs $3000)....i would have been shocked if it had.

the PWT provided better detail and imaging. i also noticed better extension up high and down low. sound-stage sounded deeper as well with the PWT.

that being said, i don't mean to imply the 170i sounds bad in any way. it sounds great!. i think it's more to do with just how good the PWT is.

regardless....i really like this 170i. had a krell s-300i for while, which had a pretty good ipod interface. it was much better sounding then any run of the mill doc hook-up i've tried. have not been able to enjoy my pod tunes since getting rid of the krell. until now that is. this 170i smokes the krell's ipod performance and can not even be compared to a standard doc system. great sound quality along with features/convenience make this little box a keeper in my book.

great piece of equipment imho and a slam dunk value wise.

thanks again for turning me on to this thing.

i agree Rpg. the 170i is very cable sensitive. had been running an audioquest vdm-5 co-ax for a while and enjoying it. hooked up a wireworld silver starlight co-ax last week and could tell an immediate difference. can't say it sounded "better" but the difference was obvious. richer/fuller bass and smoother midrange jumped out at me. so did slightly less detail up high and a somewhat shallower soundstage.

if you're gonna hook it up to a decent DAC, it's worth trying some different cables. depending on your gear, you could be one cable away from outstanding sound from an ipod.

still not sure which cable i'll be using. after hearing such a dramatic difference between the 3 i've tried, my search may slowly/leisurely continue. no hurry really. when hooked up to a decent DAC with a decent cable.....the 170i sounds fantastic.

i do believe "the right cable" could trigger great synergy with ones system and the 170i. this of course will depend on "ones system" and what "one" likes their music to sound like

cheers
Lev

i did get the nrg-1 on your recommendation. thank you for the good advise.

would still like to hear a pure copper co-ax connection before i settle on one. cables i've used have been silver core and silver clad. if a nice used 100% copper line pops up for sale cheap....i''ll give it a listen. have flipped many cables in the past so selling a couple more won't be a big deal.

i too refuse to hunt endlessly, looking for the perfect line. spent many month working on the primary ic's and won't go there again. just want a feel for a few major types of digital lines and how the interact with my gear.

cheers
Lev

Rpg: did the noise develop/progress or has it been there from the start?. i don't hear any distortion on mine?.