I am a Newbie here, so please excuse me if this has been covered before...
I have been looking at ways to setup a digital streaming system, as I am tired of swapping CDs - I want to pick and mix my own tracks as I please (you all know the story). Anyway, initially I was going to use my PC with an SPDIF or Toslink connection to a DAC and go from there. Then I found out about the Wadia I170 transport.
I bought one and have it playing now. WOW. Just WOW. This thing does exactly what it says it will - rip the digital stream right out of an IPod bypassing the rubbish DAC that comes standard. I am getting sound as good as a mid-range CD player would deliver, together with the convenience of an IPod storage device. This frees up my PC for other duties. I just love this thing. The Wadia is the Bollox.
Now that I am getting digital streaming from an IPod, is there any advantage to hooking up my PC up to my system? My 160GB IPod is all the storage I need (using M4A format).
Here is my system:
Wadia I170 transport -> SPDIF -> Moon 100D DAC -> Cambridge Audio 650A Amp -> Monitor Audio BR5 speakers.
The weakest link in this setup is probably the CA Amp - it is a tad bright in the treble, but is otherwise excellent. After that the speakers could be upgraded perhaps. Anyway, the point is that I am getting sound out of this system that I never thought would be possible using an IPod as the source.
Anyone else out there using the Wadia I170? Any comments on the results?