msb Ilink vs. wadia 170i ipd docks

Dreadhead i never said it was a fair comparison. I was simply saying if you want the very best possible ipod transport then go with the msb. The msb can replace your hi end cd transport and you would never miss it. Msb deals with the jitter with fifo buffers and the jitter output is very low. The wadia is a good piece of gear don't get me wrong. I own wadia gear, wadia i170 and wadia 521 gns mods. I am sure their will be better ipod transports in the future from other companys. I don't use a cd of any kind in any of my systems. My main 2 ch system is where i use my msb. I have a few other systems, in one of them i have the wadia i170. I hate it when people say wadia ipod dock, its an ipod transport.

I wish I had one.

I had both pieces in my system and I have some thoughts about this post:

2. I did my comparison using an iTouch with my Wadia and the iPod classic with the MSB. The iTouch uses a solid state HD's which has no mechanical noise. This can't help but improve the sound quality. Which begs the question does a solid state drive reduce jitter in any way? As a side note I am not sure MSB could even fit their electronics into my I Touch(I don't know if I showed it to you but it's super thin).

3. I ripped my files with the WAV format(with a slightly higher sampling rate) vs. the apple loss-less on the MSB which also could be contributing to my belief that the Wadia sounded as good or better.

4. Optarchie ended the "comparison" in an odd way: "This iPod dock is pretty killer and I can't even imagine what it's going to be like when I hook it up to a great dac." He spent the whole paragraph saying how the MSB blew it away and then ends it like this?

5. Here is a response from someone else to that thread:"1,- AFAIK, the MSB is an ADAC (it is fed passing thru the iPod's DAC - such as Krell's KID) - not good. The Wadia should be better IF you connect it thru its coaxial digital OUT connector to a good DAC."

6. Is the Re-clocker in the Lector DAC good enough to correct a lot of the jitter produced by the Wadia (if it is in fact producing as much jitter as MSB claims) MSB claims they have reduced jitter to 7ps. My understanding is that 1000ps of jitter is considered good. We really don't know what the measurements are for the Wadia. I mean in fairness to Wadia we haven't heard their side of the story. MSB says the Wadia produces the most jitter they have ever seen right? Why don't they give an actual number so we can understand on what magnitude they are talking about?

7. MSB claims "the wadia grabs the digital stream AFTER apple touches it i.e converts the raw feed from the drive to spdif...etc. MSB modifies the unit and grabs the digital stream DIRECTLY off the hdd before anything is done to it, then with there proprietary tech they convert the signal to spdif and return a signal with a measured jitter of around 7ps. There is a big difference." We actually don't know this is true. That is what MSB says. I want to hear Wadia's side of the story.


7. In both cases I think the Lector transport is the superior transport if I want to enjoy a CD that was not released on LP.

8. The Wadia does have the added benefit of access to the video out in high def which is a nice feature.

9. I am going to call Wadia to day to at least get their side of the story. It's only fair.

10.Both transports produced sound quality that was between 95-98% of what my Lector transport produces. I picked the Wadia for the following reasons: 1.Sound is very close to CD when run thru Lector Digicode DAC and felt closer to analog to me than the MSB(I suspect the MSB's DSP has something to do with this. 2. The Wadia is 1/4 the price. 3. The Wadia allows me to use my iTouch which has none of the mechanical noise produced by a hard drive. 4. For reference listening here is my order: 1. L.P. 2. CD using Lector Digicode/Digidrive 3. Wadia for more casual listening.

Nice post Nrostov! I have the Wadia 170i and without knowing the exact jitter figure, I can state that with the addition of a jitter buster in the shape of a Monarchy DIP Classic ($250), there was a night and day difference - everything from bass taughtness to resolution and a quieter background was immediately noticeable. Full details of the comparisons I did are in my review of the 170i here on Audiogon.

I have not heard the MSB so cannot make any comment on that comparison.

Hens,

Given what you said about the jitter buster I am guessing that the Lector digicode has an excellent re-clocker in it because the sound I am getting is so close to my Lector transport it's amazing.

By the way if you can get a hold of the Yamaha crw-f1e external cd drive for the computer and use it to import your cd's into iTunes the Wadia will sound even better. This is an incredibly well built external drive that does not record any of the noise that the internal drives on the computer do.

I had the MSB and I have to say it had a digital sound to it that the Wadia does not. One of the reasons I went with the Lector DAC and transport is that they are the closest to analog that I have heard from a digital music player.

MSB claims that the Wadia produces around 10,000ps of jitter. I find this hard to believe unless my Lector has the most amazing re-clocker in the world. Also, there was an erroneous post in one of these threads. The Wadia does have an internal re-clocker inside(not just wires) that detects any signal that is not lossless and re-clocks it. For anyone that one who wants to argue about this there are plenty of reviews on the web that point this fact out as well as Wadia(all of whom I trust more than some guy on Audiogon with a screwdriver).

Don't get me wrong. The MSB is a nice piece but it's grossly overpriced. Of course this is all academic because I don't expect them to be in business much longer(I know one of their dealers) while the Wadia is selling like hot cakes.