Wadia 170i and Benchmark Dac1 - anyone try it?

When I turned the TV back on during CD Music play I could see that the audio button on the remote had kicked the playback out of "Stereo" mode.

That was my fear - just the HDMI communication to the TV is enough to make some changes to the audio settings.

I hope this example helps explain why there are so many "audio myths" about what works and does not work. As an engineer I always look for a root cause when something does not do what is expected. Like when you change a cable and it is like a magic veil is lifted from the sound - you can either assign the observation to the cable or you can conclude something is overall not right about how the equipment is fundamentally functioning together.

Interesting review on 6moons for the Wadia 170 connected to the DAC1. The reviewer suggests he heard a difference between the Apple Lossless format and full WAV files.

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/wadia2/dock.html

I don't hear any difference between the source CD played directly from my Playback Designs MPS-5 CD/SACD player and same files in Lossless played through the iPod/Wadia/Playback Designs trio. Perhaps that's due to the upsampling routine of the Playback Designs' DAC, which upsamples both CD and the coax digital input to DSD prior to the analog output.

Dave

Dave, maybe you are getting old :)

When I knew I was going the route of using an iPod, I researched the "best" way to store files and I quickly learned that there are many opinions on this. This led me to do a couple comparisons myself comparing AppleLossless, WAV and AIFF. In the end, I could hear no difference between them.

Having done this, I am comfortable in my choice of using Apple Lossless and saving space. If others feel there is a difference, it does not sway me.

FWIW, here are a few quotes...

"As expected, the iTransort sounded like the DAC to which it is connected. I store my music on my iPod using Apple Lossless, which provides perfect bit-for-bit accuracy to the original with about a 40% reduction in storage requirements compared wit uncompressed WAV files. In listening comparisons between the iTransport and the CDs from which the music was ripped, I thought the iTransport had a slight advantage" -- Robert Harley, TAS Issue 186

"...You're actually given 3 options in iTunes---Apple Lossless, WAV and AIFF---which preserve digital files losslessly. Any of these deliver CD-quality music." -- Steven Stone, TAS Issue 183