Wadia 170i and Benchmark Dac1 - anyone try it?

My question is why would people want to use an ipod doc instead of their computer as a transport? If you have music on your ipod then it must also be on your hard drive and your hard drive can contain your entire collection and your computer has a better interface.

I've used only CDs for years. I'm looking for a good transport at a reasonable price (<1K) with a digital output to feed the Benchmark Dac1. I could take an Ipod in the car & work if I hand one.

Again, does anyone have a comparisons on the quality of the Wadia digital output?

Thanks!

I have no experience with Wadia 170i but if your Benchmark DAC1 does its job in eliminating interface jitter then the digital source will not affect the sound. Digital is Digital and provided the source reads the bits correctly then it should sound the same - just like digital copies. Clock jitter is the only distortion inherent in digital interfaces.

Thanks for the responses. I never gave much thought to the transport feeding the Benchmark Dac1 until I purchased a Sony 350 Blu ray player. Even after much breakin it sounded like the Sony Blu ray was introducing something bad into the sound. Using the coax output from the Sony Blu ray the sound lacked focus, the bass was muddled and the sound stage flattened. My older, cheaper Dvd player sounded much better. I tried a CD player as I transport and that seemed to sound even better in the bass area with better focus.

As much as the "Wadia" name is a factor in audio, I'm looking for anyone who's had experience with the Wadio 170i (good or bad).

Thanks,

Perhaps your player is doing some kind of conversion or compression (44.1 to 48Kz or to 96Khz or to compressed Dolby or something like that). Perhaps it is doing a poor job at converting. Check your settings.