My Wadia 170iTransport has finally arrived! It is a cute little thing. The product has now been registered, installation is complete (after attaching a bayonet extension to the supplied RCA-ended digital cable to accommodate the connections in my DAC) and sound checks confirm all is working as designed.

For the uninitiated, the 170i is a 'transport' or iPod dock which bypasses the Digital-to-Analog conversion (DAC) and analog output stage of the iPod and offers pure digital audio output from an iPod (or iTouch or Nano). It is designed to feed a bit-perfect audio stream to an external DAC. The performance of the 170iTransport is therefore only limited by the resolution of the content stored on your iPod. First impressions? Having never listened to an iPod without headphones I have no real point of reference for an iPod driving a two channel audio system. But so far, so good and none of the RFI / EMI noise issues from the power supply that have been reported by some users overseas.

Wadia i170 Transport sitting on the Wadia 861 SE - 2008

I will be testing the 170i as an audio source versus the Wadia 861 SE transport, and sharing the 861's DAC. The usability factor of the iTransport is high, delivering convenience (custom playlists etc with playing time only limited by hard disk size) and decent sound quality in the one small package. Video output is also available, but I won't be testing this functionality as its use as a video streaming device is not in my plans.

However my primary use for the iTransport will be as a front-end to my headphone system. So I require another DAC to enable separation of the 170i and Yamamoto HA-02 / Headroom Cosmic amplifiers from the current audio system.

From my readings on the internet, there is a great 'buzz' around this product and a cottage industry has sprung up for board modifications, clock enhancements, integrated DACS, upgraded power supplies, 'off the grid' battery power supplies and probably more that I haven't seen. As a long time Wadia customer and fan, I am pleased to see the brand now more in the mainstream. Also rumour has it that Wadia themselves will be releasing complimentary product(s) at CES in early 2009. Can't say any more .........

I will post a detailed review after the i170 has run-in and I take a bit more time to analyse.

PS - For all you eagle-eyed viewers who spotted the 860 on the front of the Wadia CD Player and all of my references to the 861SE.......... I had the 860 upgraded to full 861SE specification by the local Wadia agent in 2007!

wadia: Audio