Wadia 170i and Benchmark Dac1 - anyone try it?

With regard to using the Sony 350 Blu ray player as a transport, yes I have tried all of the different audio settings. I currently using the Optical output from the Sony Blu ray to the Benchmark Dac1 just so I can get 2.1 for movies. I have the Coax output from my old Dvd player (Cardas digital 15 cable) going to the Dac1 and it sounds much better for music.

I've tried both the Coax and Optical output from the Sony Blu ray to the Dac1 and I've tried changing the Audio settings. The Sony 350 Blu ray used as a transport sounds flat, unfocused, and just sounds bad as compared to my old Dvd player or a Cd player. If you have better luck using the Sony 350 Blu ray then let me know what you did with the settings.

Any other feedback on the Wadia 170 transport is welcomed.

Yeah, and all CD transports sound the same

What are you comparing? CD or DVD or BD as your music source?

Perhaps it is a software bug for your player. Perhaps it is using the DRC processing to reduce dynamic range. The other possibility is that you are not sending redbook CD 16bit/44.2Khz to the Benchmarkl but PCM 24/96 or 24/48 which opens the door to errors in upsampling conversion.

Also - one other thing - most Sony devices do something to the digital output to prevent copying. If the source is copy protected then it limits coaxial/optical output to 16 bit 48 Khz. If you were playing a DVD with good 24 bit/48 Khz sound then it was truncated to 16 bit - thta may be your problem right there.

Check DTS setting, Dolby Digital Setting,48Khz/96Khz setting, Audio DRC setting, - default is normally "Auto" which means you get a compressed audio signal NOT wide dynamic range (no compression). Also check Downmix setting - there are a lot of ways you may NOT get what you want. In some cases the HDMI connector to the TV will be enough to set the audio settings so that it is compressed for TV!

Sony are a PAIN with their hard to use and understand manuals...

Let me try to make it more clear: If the two audio transports are reading the CD or DVD or BD in a "bit-transparent" manner then it should sound identical coming out your DAC1 (no matter which player or which digital connection is used). If it does not sound identical (which you have reported) then something is being done to modify the bits!

That is also my understanding.

TeddyBear - the thing is that re-clocking is relatively new. What people are saying is that if the DAC re-clocks the data at its input, then it is independent of transport.

I don't know 100% if this is true, but this seems to be where things are heading. The Bryston also re-clocks.