Wadia Ipod Transport VS Squeezebox Duet

robster · « **on:** 10 Apr 2008, 03:38 am »

Howdy- I just bought a squeezebox duet,but I just found out about the Wadia Ipod Transport,MD Music Direct shows availability April 30th on the Wadia Ipod Transport.
If you had to guess which would sound better the Wadia Ipod Transport with my 160gb Ipod classic loaded with lossless files and connected to my benchmark dac1 ...sound as good or better than my Squeeze box duet sending my lossless music files from my pc hard drive to my benchmark dac1 to my stereo?

The return privelage ends in a few days on the squeezebox. Plus the squeezebox remote can be very slow when my wife is on the computer.
All I need is a quality sounding ..low cost digital source,other than spinning cd's to feed to my stereo.

Many thanks in advance,
Robert

TONEPUB · « **Reply #1 on:** 10 Apr 2008, 06:28 am »

Sounds better and no wireless hassles....

The iDock is awesome. Full review in two weeks
in the new issue!

Steve Jobs got ser# 1 and I got #2, it's a great product.

Tell em I sent you....

robster · « **Reply #2 on:** 10 Apr 2008, 12:34 pm »

Thanks! enough said. My squeezebox duet goes back to logitech today!! and I'm ordering a wadia Ipod Transport from MD Music!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here's a uTube video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHn2y4YETyo

Cheers,
Robert

Quote from: TONEPUB on 10 Apr 2008, 06:28 am

Sounds better and no wireless hassles....

The iDock is awesome. Full review in two weeks
in the new issue!

Steve Jobs got ser# 1 and I got #2, it's a great product.

Tell em I sent you....

robster · « **Reply #3 on:** 21 Apr 2008, 01:05 am »

Howdy- I placed an order for a Wadia Ipod Transport from MD Music Direct,should ship May 1st. I've been ripping my CD's using ITunes and ripping into Apple Lossless for my 160 gb Ipod Classic. Is this the best sound quality? Apple Lossless? I prefer to keep it simple.
I'll hook up my Wadia Ipod transport to a Benchmark Dac1,Transcendent grounded grid preamp,Transcendent SE OTL amp and Horn Shoppe 98db single driver speakers.

Many thanks,
Robert

TONEPUB · « **Reply #4 on:** 21 Apr 2008, 01:26 am »

Robert,

While I've been hearing arguments about lossless vs uncompressed, I'm using the same iPod you are
with the Wadia dock and their 521 DAC in my main system and I can't really hear a diff between
lossless and uncompressed.

I know there is a lot of controversy surrounding this right now, but if it makes you feel any
better, I'm just going with lossless myself.

However, I do not plan to get rid of my cd's, so if there is any change in this i can
always re-rip!

robster · « **Reply #5 on:** 21 Apr 2008, 02:20 am »

Quote from: TONEPUB on 21 Apr 2008, 01:26 am

Robert,

While I've been hearing arguments about lossless vs uncompressed, I'm using the same iPod you are
with the Wadia dock and their 521 DAC in my main system and I can't really hear a diff between
lossless and uncompressed.

I know there is a lot of controversy surrounding this right now, but if it makes you feel any
better, I'm just going with lossless myself.

However, I do not plan to get rid of my cd's, so if there is any change in this i can
always re-rip!

Thanks Jeff! holler when you have the Wadia Ipod Transport review ready.

Best wishes,
Robert

ajzepp · « **Reply #6 on:** 21 Apr 2008, 02:29 am »

I love my Duet and don't have any interest in getting rid of it, but one of the reasons I chose it over the Wadia product was the remote. How do you navigate through your music on the iPod when it's in the dock?

ASi_TEK · « **Reply #7 on:** 21 Apr 2008, 03:58 am »

The Wadia 170 iTransport comes with a remote now, they added that and the price went up from $349 to $379. Connect it to your monitor via component cables and you'll be all set!

ajzepp · « **Reply #8 on:** 21 Apr 2008, 06:59 am »

Quote from: ASi_TEK on 21 Apr 2008, 03:58 am

The Wadia 170 iTransport comes with a remote now, they added that and the price went up from $349 to $379. Connect it to your monitor via component cables and you'll be all set!

Unless your monitor is a front projector and you can't really justify firing it up just to navigate your music...lol That's definitely a cool product, though...I'm glad that we have such neat options for accessing our music collections nowadays

GloP · « **Reply #9 on:** 21 Apr 2008, 09:08 pm »

I jsut ordered a duet ! I'll let you guys know

Pneumonic · « **Reply #10 on:** 28 Apr 2008, 07:05 pm »

Quote from: robster on 10 Apr 2008, 03:38 am

Howdy- I just bought a squeezebox duet,but I just found out about the Wadia Ipod Transport,MD Music Direct shows availability April 30th on the Wadia Ipod Transport.
If you had to guess which would sound better the Wadia Ipod Transport with my 160gb Ipod classic loaded with lossless files and connected to my benchmark dac1 ...sound as good or better than my Squeeze box duet sending my lossless music files from my pc hard drive to my benchmark dac1 to my stereo?

The return privelage ends in a few days on the squeezebox. Plus the squeezebox remote can be very slow when my wife is on the computer.
All I need is a quality sounding ..low cost digital source,other than spinning cd's to feed to my stereo.

Many thanks in advance,
Robert

I would have connected your computer to your Benchmark and saved several hundred $ if the goal was low cost, quality, digital source. Would have cost you $0.

If you wanted your IPOD as the source then I can understand why you'd want the Wadia (which is nothing more than a docking station that outputs your IPOD files) over the Duet. But the Duet is a much more functional and flexible piece of technology than the Wadia is.

robster · « **Reply #11 on:** 3 May 2008, 03:30 am »

Howdy- the Wadia Ipod 170 Transport review in Tone Audio is available. I can't wait to get one! Wadia sales dude sez they plan on shipping first week in May,Yeehaw!!

http://www.tonepublications.com/images/pdfs/TA_015.pdf

Cheers,
Robert

michaelv · « **Reply #12 on:** 3 May 2008, 05:35 am »

check this out
http://cryo-parts.com/dlo_ipod_dock.html

it said that it has pure digital out.....

noshortcuts · « **Reply #13 on:** 13 May 2008, 03:13 am »

The dlo may be "pure digital" out, but I think it still uses the Ipod DAC.

I ordered the Wadia which bypasses the Ipod DAC.

I am burning all my discs to Apple lossless (only the songs I like) and will run two Ipods. One 160 gb for my car and the home stereo and one Nano (with MP3 files) for my wifes car.

I have a 2000+sq.ft. home with three levels but have no real desire to stream music to all the rooms. If I did, I'd go with the squeezebox I guess. Down the road I may get one more Wadia for one more location in the house and I'll be set to play anything, anywhere. And it should all sound great.

cryoparts · « **Reply #14 on:** 13 May 2008, 04:31 am »

Yeah, I just put that page up the other day and took the specs directly off of the manufacturers site. I'm going to e-mail them to see if it bypasses the internal iPod DAC or not, I'll let everyone know.

FYI--I'm expecting a couple of these DLO's to arrive early next week, hopefully, if my distributor gets them in late this week as planned. I'll report the results on my "news" page, I'll also try to remember to post here as well.

FWIW--I was VERY impressed with the Wadia at CES.

Peace,

Lee

Quote from: michaelv on 3 May 2008, 05:35 am

check this out
http://cryo-parts.com/dlo_ipod_dock.html

it said that it has pure digital out.....

chadh · « **Reply #15 on:** 13 May 2008, 01:51 pm »

I don't understand at all.

Maybe I would understand if I had read the Tone review - but, for whatever reason, I couldn't open it (I think the cafe I'm in has a dodgy wireless network).

The Wadia is just a dock. It can only take a direct digital signal from the iPod if the iPod delivers a digital signal to one of the pins in the connector. When Vinnie started modding the iPod, I'm certain he looked into this option and concluded that there was no digital signal at all that was sent to the pins. So, what's happening? I can see only a few options:

1. The Wadia takes an analog output, puts it through an AD conversion process, and sends out a digital signal. This seems to be explicitly what they claim NOT to be doing. I should probably take them at their word.

2. The Wadia houses some sort of alien with a really long tongue that reaches into the iPod, past the connection pins, past the DAC inside the iPod, and latches onto an SPDIF signal. This seems pretty unlikely, as nobody could market a box inclusive of long-tongued alien for that little money. Long-tongued aliens are pretty rare.

3. Newer iPods are now manufactured with an SPDIF or I2S signal sent directly to one of the output pins.

Are there any other explanations?

If, as seems likely, option 3 is true, then the Wadia would seem to be a particularly unremarkable item. Everybody should be able to do this, and probably for a lot less than $350.

But I'm probably missing something important.

Chad

TONEPUB · « **Reply #16 on:** 13 May 2008, 02:05 pm »

What you are missing is that the wadia DOES not run the analog signal through an A/D.

It takes the discrete digital data stream from the iPod. At this point in time no one
else does this and that's what makes this device remarkable.

No aliens involved.

Current iPods do not have a direct digital pinout, there's more to it than that.

Wrong on all counts.....

chadh · « **Reply #17 on:** 13 May 2008, 02:08 pm »

Quote from: TONEPUB on 13 May 2008, 02:05 pm

What you are missing is that the wadia DOES not run the analog signal through an A/D.

It takes the discrete digital data stream from the iPod. At this point in time no one
else does this and that's what makes this device remarkable.

No aliens involved.

Current iPods do not have a direct digital pinout, there's more to it than that.

Wrong on all counts.....

Then what happens? The point is they have to take SOMETHING from SOME pin. What is it? It's either a digital signal or it's not. I'm happy to believe that it's not an analog signal, and that there is no AD conversion. But that means that it must be a digital signal.

At least, that's the way it seems to me.

I'm happy to be wrong. But if I'm wrong, please explain. Just saying "there's more to it than that" doesn't really help.

Chad

Wayne1 · « **Reply #18 on:** 13 May 2008, 02:09 pm »

Chad,

#3 is correct.

The latest generation iPods do offer the ability to output the signal digitally, bypassing the internal DAC, when used with "authentication" Here is a quote from "stereophile"

" I thought it was impossible to bypass the iPod's DAC. "So did we," said Wadia president John W. Schaffer. "Then we discovered the little-known fact that Apple had a process called 'authentication' that allowed mobile electronics companies to bypass the iPod's internal DAC."

"Authentication" refers to Apple's authentication chip, which essentially tells the iPod that it's okay to output raw digital audio or video data to the chip-enhanced component. The authentication chips are only available in Apple products or from products made by Apple-licensed third-party developers. After Wadia first began developing what became the iTransport, Apple opened up the authentication program to more third-party vendors. The iTransport may be the first audio product of its kind, but it probably won't be the last. "

Update: John Schaffer has passed along additional details concerning iTransport compatibility with iPods, iPhones, and iTouch players. He stresses that compatibility, even for the following models, is only guaranteed if the iPod/iPhone firmware is up to date. iPods manufactured before the models listed don't shake hands with the authentication chip and do not output digital or, obviously, video. Each of the individual models, Schaffer notes, has its own "interface characteristics" (quirks, I calls 'em) in the way they work with the Wadia iTransport.

Supported models:

Nano G1: Does not support video and can only output digital audio in the "extended interface" mode. Translation: The iPod click wheel interface is not available while the Nano attached to the iTransport using digital audio out.
Nano G2: Does not support video. However, it does output digital audio without the click wheel interface being disabled.
Nano G3: Supports component video out and will allow digital audio out while still allowing the iPod click wheel interface to function normally.
iPod Video: Supports S-video out (no component video). It only outputs digital audio in its "extended interface" mode. The iPod click wheel interface is not available while the player is attached to the iTransport and using digital audio out.
iPod Classic: Supports component video out and enables digital audio out while still allowing the iPod click wheel interface to function normally.
iPod Touch: Supports component video out and enables digital audio out while still allowing the iPod click wheel interface to function normally.
iPhone: Supports component video out and enables digital audio out while still allowing the iPod click wheel interface to function normally. However, when an iPhone is docked in the iTransport, it will state that the accessory is not designed for the iPhone and will query whether or not the user wants to switch into "airplane mode" (essentially switching off the cell phone). Since the iTransport does work with the iPhone in either mode, either answer is appropriate."

There are at least two other companies going to offer docks with digital audio and video output.

Creative has announced the XDock which offers HDMI output, upsampling video and optical digital audio output $400.00

DLO will be offering a HomeDock HD with HDMI, upsampling video and digital audio out for $200.00.

chadh · « **Reply #19 on:** 13 May 2008, 02:11 pm »

Thanks Wayne.

It would have been cooler if there were aliens.

Chad