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msb Ilink vs. wadia 170i ipd docks

I have finally gotten a weeks worth of critical listening of the msb ilink and the wadia ipod docks and I must say that the msb is truely better in every way and it's not subtle. I am running them both directly to the benchmark dac/pre and through atc scm20-2 active speakers running balanced with an analysis plus gold coax cable. The detail is much higher in the msb, the bass is not as tubby, and it's almost like a blanket was lifted off the speakers after I switched to the msb. I know there is a huge difference in price but I know alot of people were on the fence about this one so I wanted to help them put and give my 2 cents worth. 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.
billyg1
usarmyvet91
83 posts
 
Nrostov i also have an ipod touch 32gb with only itunes plus and it sounds great hooked up to my krell kid, better than my ipod classic. I guess the solid state hard drive is better like you said.
nrostov's avatar
nrostov
199 posts
 
Usarmyvet,

Am I correct that MSB can't modify the iTouch? I think it's too thin too put their DSP in but I am not sure. Just wondering if you knew.

Justin
usarmyvet91
83 posts
 
They only modify the ipod classic, i called them and ask if they could modify my ipod touch to work with my msb ililnk.
nrostov's avatar
nrostov
199 posts
 
I spoke with Wadia today to get their side of the story.

First let's clear up some misconceptions:

1. The Wadia re-clocks all signals before digital output.
2. The Wadia is not just a bunch of wires inside. It actually has 2 very large circuit boards inside. The reason they used such large boards was to isolate the video, digital, and analog sections from one another to prevent any leakage.
3. The difference between the MSB and the Wadia is that the Wadia let's the Apple chip convert part of the apple loss-less data into a format that a DAC can understand(no dac would understand the apple lossless signal. The Wadia finishes the process. MSB does the whole process thru it's DSP.
4.The engineer at Wadia laughed when I told him how much jitter they claimed the Wadia is producing. I will have the exact specs in a couple of days of what the actual amount of jitter the Wadia is producing but it is no where near 10,000ps which is = to 10ns of jitter.

It's only fair that we get the correct information to members of audiogon so that they can make an informed decision.

I am in no way putting down MSB. They make a great product. I just don't like propaganda. People shouldn't be lazy. Call companies and find out both sides of the story. Most companies appreciate people who take interest in their products and are glad to give out information.
usarmyvet91
83 posts
 
Nrostov i agree, i would like to know what the exact amount of jitter the wadia i170 produces. My question is why didn't the wadia engineer give you the jitter levels of the wadia i170 then? you would think he knows. I called msb and they told me the msb ilink has 7ps of jitter.
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