Dreadhead i never said it was a fair comparison. I was simply saying if you want the very best possible ipod transport then go with the msb. The msb can replace your hi end cd transport and you would never miss it. Msb deals with the jitter with fifo buffers and the jitter output is very low. The wadia is a good piece of gear don't get me wrong. I own wadia gear, wadia i170 and wadia 521 gns mods. I am sure their will be better ipod transports in the future from other companys. I don't use a cd of any kind in any of my systems. My main 2 ch system is where i use my msb. I have a few other systems, in one of them i have the wadia i170. I hate it when people say wadia ipod dock, its an ipod transport.
msb Ilink vs. wadia 170i ipd docks
I have finally gotten a weeks worth of critical listening of the msb ilink and the wadia ipod docks and I must say that the msb is truely better in every way and it's not subtle. I am running them both directly to the benchmark dac/pre and through atc scm20-2 active speakers running balanced with an analysis plus gold coax cable. The detail is much higher in the msb, the bass is not as tubby, and it's almost like a blanket was lifted off the speakers after I switched to the msb. I know there is a huge difference in price but I know alot of people were on the fence about this one so I wanted to help them put and give my 2 cents worth. This ipod dock is pretty killer and I can't even imagine what it's going to be like when I hook it up to a great dac.