Nice stuff, Jeff, but I've got to admit I was a little disappointed with the Wadia 170i review.
I get that you liked it and think that it compares with and beats many similarly priced transport options, and that it didn't beat the more expensive ones. But how, and in what ways? What were it's deficiencies compared to the Wadia, Meridian and Naim CD players when used as transports? How bad is the jitter and what is its sound signature (and would it benefit from a jitter box)?
Also, what about the remote. I'm guessing it doesn't have a screen. How do you see and access songs if your dock is 15-20 feet away? What options are available so that you can access this from the listening seat? I use a RWA Olive Musica and access the display using a Nokia -- anything similar for the ipod/wadia?
Sorry for all the questions, but this thing has me really intrigued.
Sorry you are dissapointed, its a 379 dollar box that does some pretty amazing things.
First off, you can't use any Naim CD player as a transport, they don't offer that functionality.
No, it doesn't have a screen, again, note the price.
The iDock is not meant to be a full blown music server because it has obvious storage
limitations. In terms of sound quality though, as I said in the review it is dependent on
the DAC that you use it with. However, I found the combination of the Wadia 170 and the
$599 Channel Islands DAC to be equal or superior to anything I've heard from the majors
for less than $2500 and it holds it's own with quite a few of the players costing even more.
I really see the iDock as a great way to make more use of your iPod in a high end system
and allow your kids and friends to join in the fun. The fact that it's a serious high end component
for that kind of money is a tremendous bonus.
I didn't expect it to compete with my 15 thousand dollar Meridian 808 or the 32 thousand dollar Naim 555, but it DID perform very admirably. What this combination lacks is just the same as what a state of the art analog deck has when compared to a lower priced one:
Less resolution, transparency, dynamics, etc.
But again, with the 170/channel islands combo plugged in to my reference system, it's awfully good.
For 379, go buy one! If you don't like it, I'm sure there will be someone on Audiogon that will buy it back from you.....
It's supposed to be fun.
