Wadia 170i transport experience?

I have one too, and it has helped me to rediscover the joys of my California Audio Labs Alpha tubed DAC, which is what I run it through (after the signal has first run through a Monarchy DIP, but it sounded pretty great even before I added the DIP to the mix). All my songs are downloaded/stored in Apple Lossless format (*not* MP3) in my iTunes, and I second what Ejlif says about songs sounding even better through the iPod/Wadia/DAC combo than through his transport/DAC combo (or the Alpha's matching CAL Delta transport in my case).

I see a lot of 'brand new - opened once' Wadia 170i Transports for sale here on Audiogon and it makes me wonder if others gave it a shot and it just didn't do it for them. To me, it is a device that has finally combined convenience and great sound with little compromise (and I'm a tube/vinyl guy who doesn't really mind 'inconvenience'). I love just picking a genre like "Jazz", setting it to 'Shuffle Songs", and then letting it roll (I work from home now and have music playing pretty much all day and evening). I've also had a lot of fun tube-rolling in the Alpha thanks to the addition of the Wadia.

Can't hurt to take a chance on one if you have a DAC. They are still in demand and sell all day long here on Audiogon for $300-$325, so it may cost you $50 or so to give it a shot and then sell it if you don't like it.
Good luck!

Chopper21 let me borrow his for review. ( I was skeptical ) so I hooked it up to my old Threshold DAC2. Long story short, it will make CD's obsolete. That is if you take the time to record in Apple Loss-less or other high end option) Not only was I hearing things never I heard before ( especially in the macro sense ) but the sound-stage was excellent as well. The remote is useful, but this oldie can't see the display screen from across the room. Problem is, now I want my own. R.I.P. CD's. Say, why aren't there other companies offering one besides Wadia?.......... Can anyone suggest a few inexpensive DAC's to mate with it? The Cambridge Audio unit looks like a nice match. Thanks.

Music Hall DAC 25.2 if you dont want to spend too much on a DAC. It's a tube DAC with 4 digital inputs.

06-24-09: Jab
Bombaywalla,
What type of link did you send us to? The question was a general one on how this player performs, not on what type of mods help the unit. I do not think a Nak. person is into mods.
I am also looking at the Wadia and Ejlif your answer helps.

Jab, this question on how a Wadia i170 works is asked again & again.
Altho' the link I sent you talks a lot about whether to mod or not to mod the i170 BUT if you read that thread you will get a lot of info about how the Wadia i170 works, what is good about it & what is not. There are excerpts from very experienced people like Steve Nugent & there is a whole tear-down report from Gordon Rankin who is considered a pioneer in the computer audio arena. You will also read which DACs others used to change/improve the sound.
When people mod certain sections of a product that itself tells you that those sections are most likely compromising the sonics & this itself goes towards answering the question of how well a Wadia i170 works.
So, altho' this might seem like a convoluted answer to a simple question of how well the Wadia i170 works, you will realize the question does not have a simple answer!
Different people have different criteria based on which they select the Wadia i170 (or something else) so different pieces of info have more or less meaning to different people.
I believe that if you read that thread you will be quite well educated on the Wadia i170 & your yourself will be able to the question posed in this thread.
There is a wealth of important info on the Wadia i170 in that thread.
I think that you saw the title which said "to mod or not to mod" & you just blew it off! Let the title not misguide you.

I own and love a Wadia 170i; however, it's only as good as the DAC you send the signal to. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then you probably want one of the many devices available that take an iPod's analog output (as opposed to digital) and sends out a line level signal to a home music system. Teamed with the very best DACs with strong reclocking capacity, it's a wonder.

Dave