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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
nrostov
199 posts
 
Bombaywalla,

You are correct that jitter rates of 7ps or 2ps are silly in the sense that at that low of a rate I am not sure you can hear a difference in noise, resolution etc. At the end of the day I am paying for a much better clock that will reduce jitter. This is worth it for me.

Jsadurni,

The Forsell turntable smokes the Forsell transport. In fact the Lector transport smokes the Forsell. The Forsell was top of the line when it came out, but there have been a lot of tech. changes since then.

Usarmyvet91, I will let you know when they are done.

Justin
kana813
956 posts
 
"I got an early version of the Squeezebox, then got the best modded version and when the excitement cooled down I compared the highly modded Squeezebox running direct with only WAV files harvested with EAC, against my old Musichall cd25 the cd player was sooo much better as a transport it was ridiculous."

Who modifed the digital output of your Squeezebox?

IMO, The Duetta by www.analogresearch-technology.net, turns a SD Duet into a world class transport.
jsadurni
210 posts
 
Vinny modified the Squeezebox, a very nice job but ultimately... IMHO it is a technological shortcoming, not the modders fault.

The digital output was also modified but compared to my outboard DAC it was useless.

I havent got a Forsell TT, but maybe in the near future... I tried a couple of mid level TTs with no luck, I guess I need to spend a lot more to start comparing.

I hope the Lector transport is better, but for the moment the Forsell does an almost magical job in my set up... I hope my next transport will be a computer-ipod-thing one!!
nrostov
199 posts
 
Jsadurni,

My local dealer was a Forsell dealer(before Dr. Forsell retired). He has the Forsell transport and the Forsell Turntable. Trust me the Forsell turntable is the best turntable out there. You can pick them up used but it's a great risk because there are so many parts that can be damaged.

He also carries the Lector digicode and digidrive(which I use for my digital setup) and trust me they are amazing. They produce the most analog sounding digital music I have ever heard. Also, my turntable is better than any digital rig out there. I am not being arrogant it's just I have heard the best and they don't do 50% of what my turntable does.

I hope one day we will have super high rez digital downloads because I love the convenience of my iPod setup but until then, when I want to do serious listening it's analog(unless I can't get the recording on Lp, which is rare now a days).
kana813
956 posts
 
Jsadurni-

If it's not connected to a DAC, the Squeezebox's digital output would be useless.

AFAIK, Vinny's mod did not improve the clock and or voltage regulation feeding the Squeezebox's SPDIF chip.

IMO, there's nothing wrong with the technology. SD has continued to improve their software and firmware.

Has anyone compared the digital outputs of the SD Duet and
Wadia 170i?
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