Krell KID vs. Wadia i170.

The Wadia i170 allows the streaming of digital info from an ipod to an outboard DAC and the Krell doesn't. Using analog outs on the Wadia gives you what the Krell does (i.e., the pleasure of listening to music using the crap ipod DAC).

The Wadia. No contest.

How could a 350.00 dollar "dock" compare to the krell kid? I suppose you can make the same argument that the wadia's performance is as good as the dac you connect it to. I have heard the kid in a friends system and I can honestly say it makes a huge difference. He is using the quad 12l actives with the krell kid plugged into balanced interconnects. He has downloaded all his cd's onto his imac in apple lossless ( I think that's what you call it) and this little system cranks! It made a huge difference when he plugged the ipod in directly than he connected it with the kid and I was astonished. The build quality is awesome, top notch and after doing some research myself have found out that the ipod has a pretty good dac. I quess my point is that you would have to spend a lot more money on a dac and the wadia to outperform the krell as well as an amp and a preamp. The other thing I might mention is that the wadia is a cheap piece of plastic made in china, so I quess you get what you pay for. I have no ties with krell and I am not affiliated with them in any way but I have to give credit where credit is due. The kid is awesome

I was surprised when I discovered that the Wadia was plastic.

I have the krell kid and the wadia i 170. They are really good however the wadia i 170 is better. MY wadia was sent to steve at GNS co for mods. The wadia bypasses the i pods dac and the krell kid does not. The wadia sound depends on your dac that you are using. I had mine hooked up to ensemble hi dac and the sound is great it blows the krell away as is should. I really dont use a cd transport anymore the future is in ipod transport and music servers. I am now using the MSB ilink transport to my dac. Its cost 2300 however its worth every penny i cant tell the the difference between my ensemble transport which cost 4 times as much as the MSB ilink. I take that back the MSB has better mid and highs to me. I would not spend mega bucks on cd transports you will just be wasting your money.