A Wadia for £350.00 - we must be dreaming!
22/07/08 12:04
In what is being seen as a major coup'
Wadia have produced the worlds first digital
dock for the iPod. The Wadia 170i iPod
transport.
The biggest problem presented by the iPod as a musical medium is that, even if you store your music without compression, it has a very poor - by audio standards - DAC (digital to analogue convertor). Plugging in via a dock still uses the analogue out of your iPod, but does at least bypass the output device of the headphone socket, but this still leaves something to be desired to say the least.
The best was round this would be to get access directly to the digital stream stored on the ipod and then pass this on to a separate DAC, something that Apple have not licensed anyone to do...........until now.
Now the first thought is the exciting prospect that you can release a considerable amount of potential from your iPod by running it into a separate DAC in something like your AV Receiver, or even better a stand alone Hi-Fi DAC. This will give you the opportunity to make this small wonder into a serious audio device only limited by the quality of DAC you can afford.
After this initial thought though is who do we trust in the digital domain to be able to produce something that is able to grab and handle this digital stream. Top of just about everyone's would almost certainly be Wadia. This is a company that has produced some of the very best digital audio circuitry the World has had to offer.
One problem............ One big problem............. When have you ever seen an item of Wadia's that didn't involve a small mortgage to buy. OK, it was worth it, but even so, it was out of the reach of most peoples budget. That was why the biggest surprise by far was that this great looking and exceptional devise is £350.00.... and no, I haven't put the decimal point in the wrong place.
So now not only should you buy one if sound quality is your number one goal from your iPod, but you should buy one because, lets face it, how else can you say to your mates that "I've got a bit of Wadia kit at home"
The biggest problem presented by the iPod as a musical medium is that, even if you store your music without compression, it has a very poor - by audio standards - DAC (digital to analogue convertor). Plugging in via a dock still uses the analogue out of your iPod, but does at least bypass the output device of the headphone socket, but this still leaves something to be desired to say the least.
The best was round this would be to get access directly to the digital stream stored on the ipod and then pass this on to a separate DAC, something that Apple have not licensed anyone to do...........until now.
Now the first thought is the exciting prospect that you can release a considerable amount of potential from your iPod by running it into a separate DAC in something like your AV Receiver, or even better a stand alone Hi-Fi DAC. This will give you the opportunity to make this small wonder into a serious audio device only limited by the quality of DAC you can afford.
After this initial thought though is who do we trust in the digital domain to be able to produce something that is able to grab and handle this digital stream. Top of just about everyone's would almost certainly be Wadia. This is a company that has produced some of the very best digital audio circuitry the World has had to offer.
One problem............ One big problem............. When have you ever seen an item of Wadia's that didn't involve a small mortgage to buy. OK, it was worth it, but even so, it was out of the reach of most peoples budget. That was why the biggest surprise by far was that this great looking and exceptional devise is £350.00.... and no, I haven't put the decimal point in the wrong place.
So now not only should you buy one if sound quality is your number one goal from your iPod, but you should buy one because, lets face it, how else can you say to your mates that "I've got a bit of Wadia kit at home"
What's it all about - 'Alfie'
01/05/08 16:09
The new Roth 'Alfie' has arrived, and it's
great fun.
This very attractive little unit has a wealth of features making a convenient one stop entertainment unit for those short on space.
It features a slot loading DVD/CD Player which also plays CD-DA, VCD, DVCD, CDR, CDRW & MP3, an iPod dock, an FM/AM Tuner with clock alarm function, Auxiliary input, touch sensitive controls, Remote and to cap it all off is endowed with a 40 Watt on board amp and a 2.1 built in speaker array.
I'm almost out of breath just typing all that.
The sound is well up there with the rest of the pack and the wealth of extras is above.
At £399.00 it's not a bank breaker either
But is does look gorgeous and would make an ideal bedroom system without the mass of wires.
This very attractive little unit has a wealth of features making a convenient one stop entertainment unit for those short on space.
It features a slot loading DVD/CD Player which also plays CD-DA, VCD, DVCD, CDR, CDRW & MP3, an iPod dock, an FM/AM Tuner with clock alarm function, Auxiliary input, touch sensitive controls, Remote and to cap it all off is endowed with a 40 Watt on board amp and a 2.1 built in speaker array.
I'm almost out of breath just typing all that.
The sound is well up there with the rest of the pack and the wealth of extras is above.
At £399.00 it's not a bank breaker either
But is does look gorgeous and would make an ideal bedroom system without the mass of wires.