Krell KID vs. Wadia i170.

Hey Bombaywalla,
First off I bought 2 krell kids if you must know. I am not implying that more expensive gear is better because it costs more but what I amsaying that if a 350.00 piece of gear which traditionally has a 30-40% dealer markup and also has profit for the company really doesn't have that much to it. Have you ever looked inside the wadia? I have and there is nothing to it. It does nothing to control jitter and is ony as good as the dac you attach it to. Since I own both and have spent numerous hours a/b ing both units I can honestly stand by my opinions. Why do you take this so personally? Are you a wadia dealer? This is a public forum so if you don't like someones opinion, keep it to yourself or buy both units like I did and do a comparison for yourself. If you go by reviews than you are dumber than you sound. If I told you sushi was the best food in the world and you hated fish would you still buy it? I would hope not. Open forums are meant for discussion, not to bash people because you have a different opinion. FYI mr. review lover, the wadia got panned in the HIFI plus issue so if you go by reviews your statement is useless!

Hey Optarchie,

>> I am not implying that more expensive gear is better
>> because it costs more but what I amsaying that if a
>> 350.00 piece of gear which traditionally has a 30-40%
>> dealer markup and also has profit for the company
>> really doesn't have that much to it.
Then, I wish that you had said it just so in your original post.
Please go back & read your original post dated 08-26-08 (3rd post) & see how it starts off. Many would think that you are implying more expensive gear sounds better due to its cost...

Yes, I have looked inside the Wadia. You are correct, there's a lot of air in it. Most of the cost of the unit (despite machining the metal in China is in the royalty costs Wadia has to pay Apple since it is a "Made for iPod" product. Apple started this "Made for iPod" program. You can thank Apple for the cost structure!).

>> Since I own both and have spent numerous hours a/b ing
>> both units I can honestly stand by my opinions.
And you should! I am *not* asking you to change them. I was objecting to the way you commenced you post insinuating expensive gear = better performance. Later in the post you incorrectly stated Wadia being cheap plastic made in China. How could you say that given that you claim to have owned both units. When you held the Wadia & opened the top lid, it was plastic to you????
IMHO you would have come across *far* more professional if you had praised the Krell KID *without* uncessarily bashing the Wadia.

>> Are you a wadia dealer?
Nope, not by a long shot.

>> This is a public forum so if you don't like someones
>> opinion, keep it to yourself
As I wrote a few line above, your opinions do not bother me. You are entitled to them & I seek no attempt to over-turn them.
Yes, this is a public forum so don't write crap about another product that is not true. That's my objection.

>> If you go by reviews than you are dumber than you sound.
No, I do not go by reviews. I have not in a long time. I do read them but take them w/ a grain of salt (size of grain depends on which magazine I'm reading). However, I pulled that snippet from Stereophile merely to show you that, as a matter of public record, the unit is made from metal. That's all.

>> the wadia got panned in the HIFI plus issue
yes! I saw the post from Elberoth2. I wonder why?? I might have to check out the review to see what upset the reviewer. From all that I have read & as you correctly stated, the i170 is a mere digital pass-thru. What could it botch up that would piss a reviewer off?
(I already know that the output digital jitter is unusually high probably due to a sloppy buffer stage hence performance is external DAC dependent. Wonder if this set off the reviewer who had his/her hopes high????)

I have both the krell kid and the wadia i170. My wadia i170 has been modded by steve at gns co. and it is hooked up to my wadia 521 dac gns mod also. I can tell you for a fact that the wadia i170 is better than my krell kid. You get what you put into the wadia i170 ie meaning it all depends on the dac you are using. I love my krell kid it a great unit, i have it hooked up to paradigm active 40v2. The jitter from the wadia can be lowered by using empirical audio new pace car 2. I plan on getting one in the next week to further better the sound from the wadia i170. The cost of pace car 2 is around 1,800 with all the opt. I think it great that we have a lot of options to choose from for making the ipod a good source.

As important as a DAC is in the chain thru the Wadia 170i, the coax cable election is also critical - I ended up spending more in this part than in the Wadia, but it paid for itself.

The custom coaxial cable that comes with the Wadia unit is crap, I tried at least a dozen from Audioquest to Kimber to SIltech, and found peace with an HT10 G5 Siltech. Using this combination (Wadia 170i-Siltech HT10 and Reimyo DAC) I do not miss my Reimyo CDP777 at all.

Hope this helps,

Has anyone heard any more on the Wadia 171i? Supposed to have shipped this summer. Heard Wadia was upgrading jitter and a few other internals to enhance digital output signal.

JCC