Customer Reviews

Wadia 170iTransport iPod (White)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This product does what it claims: It turns my iPod into a top-quality stereo component. I listen to music at bedtime on system that costs about $5,000 including a Creek Amplifier, AR speakers, a Rega Planet CD player and a Chroma HDCD DA convertor.

I'm somewhat picky, but not as crazy or rich as some audiophiles. For the most part, this unit is indistinguishable from the Rega Planet, which is a huge, huge step up from just plugging an iPod into an amplifer.
It doesn't have the punch of an HDCD, which I miss on the relatively few discs that use the technology.

But for bedtime music, it's perfect. I hear the instruments wafting through my room with textures that are deep and rich.

The main reason I got it was to clear up clutter of bedroom CDs, and it solved that problem. The sound is good enough so that I can listen to the music without losing the enjoyment in criticizing the sound quality.
That's a huge plus for an iPod, right? And I get the functionality of choosing music by genre, album, performer, from my 10K song 160 gig Classic.

I didn't compare it to its locally produced competitor...but that company sells the same function for $2,000..and you have to send them your iPod so they can rework it. I'd be curious to hear the difference, but can't imagine it's worth five times more.

The purpose of the Wadia 170i Transport is to bypass the iPod's cheap internal digital-analog converter (DAC) and headphone amplifier, and to extract and deliver a clean digital signal through a standard S/PDIF coaxial cable (included with the 170i). This cable can be plugged into any receiver, amplifier, or stand-alone DAC with an S/PDIF input.

This capability allows the iPod to become a source for really great sound, provided that (i) the music files stored on the iPod are high quality, such as WAV or Apple Lossless and (ii) that the DAC and other components being used downstream of the 170i are high quality also.

I plugged the 170i into a Grace m902 reference DAC/headphone amplifier and was impressed by what I heard - true audiophile sound coming from an iPod.

It is important to note that not all iPods are compatible with the 170i, although most of the newer models are. So check first!

By the way, Wadia is one of the most renowned manufacturers of high-end (meaning ultra-expensive and ultra-high quality) digital audio equipment. They know what they are doing.

Before you buy this, check out the 170i iTouch "forums" on Wadia's website. I emailed Wadia to make sure it would be compatible with my new I-Touch, and got no answer. But the local dealer where I bought the rest of my system carried it, and assured me it would be compatible. WRONG. Turns out the latest Apple "upgrades" had some bugs in it that affect the most current models when used with some Docks, including this one. Every few minutes, the music cuts out, like a record skipping. Sounds great between skips though...

Hopefully the next "upgrade" will fix the problem, but right now, THIS DOCK DOES NOT WORK WITH GEN4 I-TOUCH. NOT SURE WHICH OTHER IPODS HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM - Wadia isn't saying.

I've always considered Wadia a reputable company. But read the forum for yourself at Wadia.com - Wadia simply went silent when users experienced the problem, then when users got angry, it gave a lame excuse for having ignored the growing problem. I have invested very substantial money in very high end equipment, and I've never seen a high end company ignore customer problems the way Wadia did with the 170i - they usually bend over backwards to service customers. Yes, the problem appears to have been caused by Apple, but should you buy from a company that simply ignores you when there is a problem with its product?

I don't think so. This is the last purchase I will make from Wadia. Fortunately, there are more good options coming out pretty regularly, and a lot of other very good high end audio companies out there.

I have a high-end high-fi. That means over $10 000 with only one source. I mention that so you have an idea what I am comparing to. This product acquits itself well compared to CD players in the $2000-$5000 dollar range. You need a good DAC to get the most out of it but if you have that then you are in for a treat. For those of you not familiar with Wadia, they make some elite CD players ranging into the tens of thousands of dollars. They wouldn't put their name on something that wasn't up to snuff. This is a ridiculously good value.

This is a unique product. If you want to run your iPod through an external DAC, this is the only game in town.

I have a Trends TA10.1 class T amp and Axiom M3v2 speakers. Adding the iTransport and a $50 Muse NOS DAC with 4 parallel Philips TDA1543 chips made a dramatic improvement in the sound quality of my system. Mp3s, Pandora and streaming web radio all sound better. In fact, Pandora and some web radio now sounds better than over the air FM HD broadcasts did when I had the Sony XDRF1HD hooked up to the system. I can't see much reason to listen to over the air radio now that I can get so much more through the iPod touch.

I did some A/B tests with a skeptical neighbor, and he admitted it was a big improvement, though he remained skeptical if it was worth over $400 (including the price of the DAC).

Doing the A/B tests revealed some annoying aspects of the iTransports design. The remote is a joke. I wouldn't care, except that you are forced to use the remote to switch back and forth between the digital and analog inputs. One press of the cryptically labeled "mode" button switches from digital to analog mode. To switch back to digital, you have to remove the iPod, return it to the dock and press the mode button again. The only time you'd do this is to A/B the digital and analog outputs, or to enable video output on some iPods, but it's a pretty clunky operation. I also noticed some hum on the analog side when the iPod is out of the dock.

If you just leave it in digital mode, you can lose the remote and everything is great. The important thing is that it sounds great. And combined with the external DAC, the output is quite a bit louder than the iPods internal DAC and amplifier. That's good for me, since it compliments the meager 15 watts of my class T amp. I can really fill the room with music well before the 12 o'clock position on my volume control now.

There's no power switch or light, but there isn't on other iPod docks either. The footprint is much larger than a standard dock, which is probably fine if you are hooking it up to standard sized audio components, but both my amp and DAC have a footprint that is not much larger than a deck of cards, so I'd prefer it was smaller.

Not only does it dwarf my other equipment in size, it is the single most expensive piece of gear in my system. This is probably my biggest reservation. If you are an audiophile with a system that cost thousands, then you probably won't find the price that high. I'm not an audiophile, I just wanted to bring the iPod up to the "Hi-Fi" level. The iTransport delivers the sound quality, I just wish it were smaller, cheaper and had a decent built in DAC.

As an audio enthusiast (the presumed target market for this higher end niche component), I find written reviews and the author's "perspective" to be of greater value than a simple star rating. My background as an "enthusiast" is as follows. I'm 29 years old engineer who has been at this home stereo hobby since the age of 18 (without no real interest in video, car audio, etc since that time). I've owned turntables, vacuum tubes, integrated amps, pre/power amp systems, receivers, integrated amps, bookshelf monitors, floor standing speakers, subwoofers, etc. I've compiled pure stereo systems, home theater systems, and even a small vacuum tube based system for my office desk. I am not an expert compared to some online guru's that I've met, but I have tinkered with enough setups to offer (I beleive) a useful opinion on this product.

For the sake of my wife and house guests, I've recently made efforts to simplify my primary home audio system. I have integrated this Wadia 170i into the following setup (only audio-relevant items are listed):
- 80GB iPod (all songs Apple lossless)
- Pioneer BDP-51FD Blu-Ray Player
- Denon DVD-757 for SACD/DVD-A playback
- Music Hall CD25.2 CD Player
- NAD T747 Receiver (used as pre-amp only)
- NAD S250 5 channel amp (NAD's "Silver Series" amp with 5 x 125w and 2 x 200W with 2 channels driven)
- APC H-15 Power Conditioner
- AudioQuest Type 4+ Speaker Cable
- Cardas Power Cables (ashamed to admit that I forget which ones)
- Canare Digiflex Coax Cable (from the 170i to my receiver/pre)
- Wharfedale Opus 1 Floor Standing Loudspeakers
- Dayton Audio T1203K Subwoofer (rarely used for stereo tracks)

My verdict: The sound quality is "great".
Regardless of how perfectly or imperfectly this unit gets the digital datastream to your outboard gear, it's one of 3 (to my knowledge) iPod products that allow an external DAC to be used. The other products are from Cambridge Audio and Onkyo. Some technical gurus have advised that the components in this unit could be improved and that the data output isn't as "steady" (my paraphrased term) as one would expect from Wadia gear. In my opinion, the sound quality of this unit is good enough that I'm willing to take the low hanging fruit and not worry about marginal improvements that I might have spent months chasing down in some previous systems I've owned.

Problems:
- Although much (much much) cheaper than traditional Wadia gear, the build quality of this unit is really a mixed bag. The aluminum chassis is nice, as are the vibration isolating feet. However, the output jacks are even worse than I expected after reading some unflattering comments online. I'm using a Canare Digiflex coax cable to connect this dock to my receiver and, though this cable is somewhat stiff, I had to make several efforts to reposition the dock in order to minimize deflection of the digital output plug! I make efforts to avoid residual stress in the hookup of all my gear, but I really couldn't believe that the (poor) quality of the connections on this dock exceeded all of the online hype that I dismissed before.

- The remote is, by the standards of sub-$100 iPod docks I've used, awful. I don't mind the small/thin/cheap remote that is included in the box (though a more robust one might have been nice), but I can't believe the limited functionality that this remote affords. The instruction manual (I believe) advises not to operate the iPod directly from its control wheel when docked (I am sure to prevent damage to the connector). However, use of the remote is so cumbersome when compared to the iPod control wheel (or other dock remotes), that it almost mandates the playing of a playlist/album stored on one's iPod simply to avoid interfacing with the device. Granted, listening to a full album is my favorite way to enjoy music, but this seems irrelevant when considering that the Wadia interface hamstrings one of the iPod's inherent benefits and selling points (i.e. your whole music library with any song you want a couple clicks away).
I've uploaded a comparative photo of my Pioneer IDK-01 (non-digital) dock remote shown beside the Wadia 170i remote. The are similar in quality (both only "adequate", though the Pioneer seems slightly better and has withstood years of use while the Wadia is basically unproven, but likely to be similarly reliable).

- This isn't a true "problem" as it's reportedly a consequence of the units design, and may be considered unfair given that (1) I'm making a comparison to analog iPod docks and (2) I've excused some imperfections in the name of achieving digital output but have chosen to highlight others here (judge for yourself)....
However, some design limitations make using this Wadia unit more cumbersome that other docks (such as my Pioneer IDK-01). One such limitation is the inability to reliably use the iPod's "album cover scrolling" browsing mode when docked. Wadia blames this on processing limitations of the iPod, which I have no reason to doubt, but which I find frustrating given the limited control that the remote affords over iPod operation (I noted above that playing a massive list or full album seems to be the most appropriate configuration with this unit). Other minor, but perhaps unforeseen, annoyances exist such as a ~10 second "handshake between iPod and dock, and inability to switch from analog to digital mode unless the iPod is re-docked (though I'm not sure why one would bother going to analog mode with this unit). One final issue, though I also understand this to be an iPod limitation that is NOT exclusive to the Wadia is the lack of an output menu to one's TV display. Several manufacturers have reported that the iPod menu is simply not available via the iPod's video output. While I have no reason to doubt this claim, I also have read that Onkyo makes a proprietary dock that outputs a navigation menu to compatible Onkyo receivers (although it's not the same view present on the iPod's screen, it is basically functionally equivalent and does make use of the much larger TV screen).

I would have given this unit a 3.5 star rating if available, but will lose no sleep in giving this unit 3 stars rather than 4. Wadia are known for top notch quality, support, and digital innovation via their other products. In the case of this iPod dock, I feel like it has achieved its minimum purpose of allowing digital output fromt the iPod, but has achieved nothing beyond this minimum. I am satisfied to own this unit, but I wouldn't have even considered the purchase if I owned an Onkyo receiver or had the option of buying a Cambridge iD100 for less money (which, in fairness, came a few years later to the party).

I have used this product for about 7 months. As for the sound, you will find it equal to a CD transport of reputable quality. You really cannot hope for more, especially for the price. You have best of both worlds: superb sound quality at the legendary ease of Apple I-pod. This is one of the very few products in the market (as of today, Meridian and Peachtree are the only two products that come to my mind) that extract digital source from your I-pod so that you can use a better DA converter than the poor one inside your I-Pod.

The coax cable supplied with this product was of superb quality but the connection was too tight and caused loose coax jack after a while (ie the jack was moving around with quite some room for free play), the result of which was sound interruption. When I contacted Wadia about this issue, the company told me that they would fix it at no cost if I produced a proof of purchase with date that falls within warranty period, even if I lived in Korea. And they did.

The product was sent back to me within one week of my shipping to where I purchased in Korea, neatly packaged and restored to original condition. I am very very impressed, not only with this product but with this company. I would buy again and again from a company like this.

I am using the Wadia 170i connected with its own digital cable to a Polk audio Surround Bar 360 DVD and connected with Audioquest copperhead rca cable to Audioengine A5, the sound of the mp3 at 320 Kbps, are really good in those systems, and the Wadia add a real plus to the sound of the mp3, the sound is clear, transparent and vivid, also you can use the Ipod and a music server.

Comparing the sound of the Ipod touch 2G and Wadia 170i with the CD player of the SurroundBar 360, the Cd player of the SurroundBar 360 sound is more punchy has better bass definition, but for casual listening the sound of the Ipod touch 2G and Wadia 170i is more than enough.

Comparing the sound of the Ipod touch 2G and the Wadia with a really cheap Sony DC/DVD player both connected to a couple of Audioenginee A5 speakers, the sound is almost equal, both have great bass, perfect to listen to Iron Maiden, Metallica and Judas Priest.

Conclusion, if you want to connect the IPod to other sources, use the Wadia makes the difference.

Many audiophiles have avoided hooking an iPod to their upscale systems because the sound quality was not up to their listening standards. They just ran out of excuses. The Wadia 170i Transport, played through a Music Fidelity Digital Analog Converter (both pieces cost about $675 and are available from Amazon) gives you iPod sound that's so close to the original CD you'll be pressed to hear a difference. Mine is played through Rotel two channel gear and output on Martin Logan ReQuest speakers. The sound, simply put, is extraordinary. Once I transfer all my 500 or so CDs to iTunes I'll likely sell the CDs and use nothing but the iPod/Wadia/Music Fidelity input.

this is a wonderful product. at this price, it can't be beat. add a nice DAC, and you're ready to go... even as an audiosnob. enjoy