Quote:
i played an acapella song and i was surprised that my system clipped on high notes of sopranos. any idea?

what is your system? you are probably driving it too hard.

Where is the volume on the iPod? If it's at 100% try backing off 2 or 3 clicks. You might be over driving the inputs.

Wadia makes the 170i which got a great review from Wes Philips a couple of months ago. Wadia has long had a reputation for cutting edge digital. In addition to the analog outs it also has a digital out (the first true digital out allowed by apple for such a device) so that you could improve the sound in the future by adding a DAC.

I own the Wadia 170i, but it's only as good as the DAC your run it into. With my Playback Designs it's stunning, but YMMV.

Dave

ok..well, if your loudspeaker presents an impedance curve at high frequencies that the amplifier is very unhappy with, then you might get clipping on high notes. Many "high notes" have fundamentals well down into the midrange region. Again, I would suspect a nasty-looking impedance curve.

Also, sometimes an amplifier is fine on transients (like most music) but "chokes" on sustained notes (like a capella vocals). Most amps can deliver a lot more power short-term than sustained.

By your definition of high notes, do you mean high in frequency, or high in amplitude?

Limitations of an iPod. No different than the Walkman had limitations. Call me old fashioned.

The Walkman Family

Not in my experience. Connect the iPod to any dock, even a cheap one, and you'll then get access to the iPod's line-out. No more headphone output in the way. The Wadia, Pro-Ject or some other high-end dock may eke out more, but you certainly don't need them for a clean line-out.

From there, if you hear clipping, it's not your iPod. It's your sound file or something aft of the iPod.

Good point. What is the file format and the resolution? Does the same thing happen when you play the original CD (assuming that you have the original CD)?