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Wadia 170i and Benchmark Dac1 - anyone try it?

I noticed that some Agon members have replaced their CD player with the new Wadia 170i and a dac. I've been look for a transport for my Dac1 to replace the DVD player I'm currently using. I've demoed some CD players acting as transports to the Dac1 and have definitely noticed an improvement in sound especially in the bass over my five year old DVD player. Interestingly my new Sony 350 Blu ray player sounded much worse as a transport (coax) than the cheap Dvd player which cost one fifth as much.

Any feedback on the new Wadia 170i (as compared to other transports) would be welcomed.
adasilva
bongofury
1,160 posts
 
I have it with a Bryston DAC. Really incredible sound.
dcstep
1,518 posts
 
If the DAC in question upsamples the digital inputs, then you'll benefit from that with the Wadia.

Dave
shadorne's avatar
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shadorne
7,467 posts
 
When I turned the TV back on during CD Music play I could see that the audio button on the remote had kicked the playback out of "Stereo" mode.

That was my fear - just the HDMI communication to the TV is enough to make some changes to the audio settings.

I hope this example helps explain why there are so many "audio myths" about what works and does not work. As an engineer I always look for a root cause when something does not do what is expected. Like when you change a cable and it is like a magic veil is lifted from the sound - you can either assign the observation to the cable or you can conclude something is overall not right about how the equipment is fundamentally functioning together.
adasilva OP
57 posts
 
Interesting review on 6moons for the Wadia 170 connected to the DAC1. The reviewer suggests he heard a difference between the Apple Lossless format and full WAV files.

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/wadia2/dock.html
dcstep
1,518 posts
 
I don't hear any difference between the source CD played directly from my Playback Designs MPS-5 CD/SACD player and same files in Lossless played through the iPod/Wadia/Playback Designs trio. Perhaps that's due to the upsampling routine of the Playback Designs' DAC, which upsamples both CD and the coax digital input to DSD prior to the analog output.

Dave
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