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February 19, 2011 - 11:02am
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Onkyo ND-S1 digital ipod dock
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Obviously I'm not an expert on the subject (see my question above about the Wadia) but it seems to me in your first set-up you were hearing your music from the Ipod's internal DAC since the Wadia is the only product I know of that bypasses the Ipod's less than a dollar DAC, hence it's popularity. I'm not familiar with the product you mentioned from Japan but hopefully it is working like the Wadia iTransport does. Happy listening!
Thanks for the info.
I'm part of the Ipod generation and original Napster user from way back. The last 6 months I've been getting more into Hi-Fi and it's been a great journey so far, especially with vinyl.
Anyway, I've been looking at the Wadia i71, but looking for something a little cheaper like you posted about. In the mean time I can plug my Ipod in directly to an Aux input on my Yamaha and for my daughters music it's just fine. But with about 15,000 songs I'm looking.
I bought the Oppo BDP-93 and purchased a Seagate External 1TB HD to plus in (eSATA). But I forgot to buy an external power supply for the HD, and it should be here today at the door. I have no idea if it will work well, but I can always use another HD to back up music and stuff.
If this doesn't suit my tastes (very simple tastes at this point) I will go back to your post and reference it.
Thanks again
The Wadia i70 is plug and play? Or do you need a DAC for it to go through, or is that just recommended?
I'm not very knowledgable except what I've read on it (some of it's Greek to me)...so hope this question makes sense.
There are only three consumer products, that I have found so far, that output a digital signal, at 16 bits and 44.1kHz ("red-book"), from the ipod or iphone - which is what my post is about, because I like the DAC in my CD player. There may be other devices that convert the signal to analog, or that output a proprietary (analog or digital) signal for decoding in a specific make or model receiver, but those devices are not the three I have found.
The three are:
1. the Wadia itransport 170 - $329 to $379 (plus tax and/or S&H)
2. the Cambridge Audio iD100 - $299 (plus tax and S&H)
and
3. the Onkyo ND-S1 - $196.80 (delivered)
I have never heard the Wadia or CA units, so I can't comment on what they do or sound like. I can say that I think the Onkyo is a great deal, and that it does what I wanted it to do. BTW, it has a USB port for synching the ipod to a computer, as well as composite video and the s/pdif out (coax or Toslink). I have no idea if the USB port can be made to output music files from a computer, and I'm fairly sure it would not be asynchronous, at this price.
But speaking of vinyl, one of the albums I have loaded into my ipod is a red-book CD recording I made on a Harmon-Kardon CDR30. itunes recognized it as the correct album and let me treat it like any other digital file. It sounds sweet, and just as fine, as the original CD I burned - just not as good as the original album, played back on my analog rig.
I was never looking to replace any form of playback (not even CD). I was just looking for convenience, basically the ability to make up playlist of albums or genres, and play them back, using a superior DAC, on my system. I found it with the ND-S1.