msb Ilink vs. wadia 170i ipd docks

My God, this is the Squeezebox, Empirical Audio, Wavelength Altmann thread all over again, jitter figures, lowest jitter ever, direct connection vs spdif, internal conversions mods mods etc. etc.
I got an early version of the Squeezebox, then got the best modded version and when the excitement cooled down I compared the highly modded Squeezebox running direct with only WAV files harvested with EAC, against my old Musichall cd25 the cd player was sooo much better as a transport it was ridiculous.
I finally got a Forsell transport....
Dont get me wrong I am all for playlists and downloads and computer or Ipod. I always said after listening to the Forsell transport, When I find something that is better then I will get into computer audio again...
I have kept my eye open!
Turntables have had trouble beating the Forsell.

There were sooo many threads, squeezebox replaced my DCS rack, Wadia etc..

I will try the Wadia against the Forsell soon...

I guess the ultimate will be when we can download high resolution files directly into a memory player (like the Ipod 32mhz) or maybe a one box internet player wich connects downloads stores and plays high resolution files is the answer.
Something like the Altmann, high resolution direct from internet with no upsampling...but firewired to the DAC, without spdif which seems to be the devil!!!

Vinny modified the Squeezebox, a very nice job but ultimately... IMHO it is a technological shortcoming, not the modders fault.

The digital output was also modified but compared to my outboard DAC it was useless.

I havent got a Forsell TT, but maybe in the near future... I tried a couple of mid level TTs with no luck, I guess I need to spend a lot more to start comparing.

I hope the Lector transport is better, but for the moment the Forsell does an almost magical job in my set up... I hope my next transport will be a computer-ipod-thing one!!

Kana813

Full Mods at the time, dont get me wrong it is a nice playback, but it is not better than a very good transport and DAC. Personally I found that the battery used limited dynamics in a critical way. I dont remember what was done (I have the emails somewhere) but yes regulation at a certain point but with batteries remember than is not so important, some changes to the clock but not a new clock....

Nrosotv

Nice playback you have, a couple of friends have the same speakers but with Chord electronics and Halcro, we listened to them with a Hovland tube amp (2 el34 about 40 watts) but it didnt have the power to move them properly, I did like tubes with those speakers but there was an Accuphase integrated amp that almost made me cry... the blend was that good!

The Forsell has a certain magic that blends wonderfully with my Non-upsampling DAC, I traded a CEC TL1 for it. I guess my curiosity with CD playback stops here. I am putting together a TT, right now I am waiting for the final protoypes of a very special tonearm!