Wadia 170i and Benchmark Dac1 - anyone try it?

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.

Adasilva,

I was thinking of doing exactly what you are doing above. S350 into Benchmark. Can you tell us more about your settings? Are you forcing 2-channel downmix? Have you verified what is being sent in terms of 16/44.1 or 24/96 and all that? I am very curious about this.

Theoretically, as someone else mentions, if you have 16/44.1 or 24/96 on a disk and play it through the Benchmark it should sound exactly like the same file from an IPod or hard drive.

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.

Yeah, and all CD transports sound the same

What are you comparing? CD or DVD or BD as your music source?

Perhaps it is a software bug for your player. Perhaps it is using the DRC processing to reduce dynamic range. The other possibility is that you are not sending redbook CD 16bit/44.2Khz to the Benchmarkl but PCM 24/96 or 24/48 which opens the door to errors in upsampling conversion.

Also - one other thing - most Sony devices do something to the digital output to prevent copying. If the source is copy protected then it limits coaxial/optical output to 16 bit 48 Khz. If you were playing a DVD with good 24 bit/48 Khz sound then it was truncated to 16 bit - thta may be your problem right there.

Check DTS setting, Dolby Digital Setting,48Khz/96Khz setting, Audio DRC setting, - default is normally "Auto" which means you get a compressed audio signal NOT wide dynamic range (no compression). Also check Downmix setting - there are a lot of ways you may NOT get what you want. In some cases the HDMI connector to the TV will be enough to set the audio settings so that it is compressed for TV!

Sony are a PAIN with their hard to use and understand manuals...