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Wadia 170i Ipod Dock Vs Onkyo ND S1 Ipod Dock

I had both the Wadia 170i Ipod dock and the Onky ND-S1 Ipod Docks which both take pure quality digital sound directly off the Ipod/Itouch and bypass poorer sounding analog output.

I found that I didn't like the lack of an on light with the Wadia and the way it seemed to stop working with even a slight transient variation in current such as caused by changing the output downstream on my preamp, etc.

I found that the Onkyo sounds every bit as good and has an on light and a superior remote, and all of this for about half the price.

The Onkyo is hard to find but can be imported from Japan as it is not yet marketed in the US yet. The power supply that comes with it works perfectly with out USA 110-120 60Hz current.
128x128plangco
dne
141 posts
 
Sounds good but the only remaining question I would have is what about the warranty? Is it U.S. or Japan? And, if there is a problem does Onkyo U.S. fix it or does it have to go back to Japan?
plangco's avatar
plangco OP
158 posts
 
As a side note, my Onky Ipod Dock produced much better soundstage and seperation of instruments and less compressed sound than my Squeezebox Touch. I really wanted the touch to sound better as it would relieve space considerations coming off my computer through my wireless router. However, the sound from the touch is still very good and I probably wouldn't have noticed much if I didn't have the two to compare. However, having heard them both, I had to stay with the iPod feeding into a digital iDock like the Onkyo or Wadia.
plangco's avatar
plangco OP
158 posts
 
Got my Onkyo ND-S1 iDock upgraded by Talking Dog Transducer company in Tucson. The sound was already better to me than the Wadia iDock, and now it sounded dramatically better than the stock unit. It even made the stock unit sound dull in comparison. Kudos to Steve Sank. Didn't cost much at all either.
mhedges
180 posts
 
The onkyo looks like a good unit. Anyone know why they won't sell it in the US? I emailed onkyo USA but they didn't really answer.

I want to ask for one of these for Christmas but I don't want my wife to have to deal with the hassle of importing one.

Mark
plangco's avatar
plangco OP
158 posts
 
A guy from Japan on ebay sells them and they work fine with the switching power supply with USA 120V/60Z current. No import problem.

Mine right out of the box sounded better to me than the Wadia. And, with some reasonably priced mods by Steve Sank of Talking Dog Transducer Co, Tucson, my itouch/Onkyo ND-S1 combo into a Kora Hermes DAC managed to best a friend of mines reference CD player.

It is only a matter of time before someone comes out with a good flash memory player which will best all but the very best CD players.
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