You want killer iPod sound, here it is..

Just announced on Gizmodo today and at CES next week:

http://gizmodo.com/340518/itransport-is-worlds-first-purely-digital-ipod-dock

It will be in my hot little hands the following Monday after CES. Pure digital output from your iPod. The only one that does it (for now) All the others take the analog output and go back to digital first.

160gb iPod and uncompressed files (not apple lossless) and you have about 200 albums at CD quality resolution that you can put in your shirt pocket! Plug it into your DAC and go!

Very exciting and you will see a full review in the Feb 6 issue of TONEAudio!

 

Very interesting Jeff. Thanks for the heads up.

 

very cool jeff.

your job must really suck!

;o)

 

I wonder why Apple don't make one?

Maybe it's just lack of sufficient demand for a mass marker manufacturer?

 

Although the picture is too small to see much, looks like a Wadia design.

 

How is this possible w/o modifying the iPod?

Monitor Audio claimed to be able to do that, but it was later shown they could not.

And was there not a high end dock that, along with a modified iPod, did do a digital out? I know that was in TAS, or Stereophile...just can't recall who did it.

Brian

 

It is indeed a Wadia product.

 

Vinnie at red wine audio does a modded iPod, which is the best one I've heard so far, but it's still analog out.

This one grabs the digital info right out of the iPod, just like a CD player or transport, bypassing all the cheapie caps in the analog signal path. Now the iPod can work like any other hard disc based music server.

I think that with it only costing 350, it allows you to now use your iPod as a true audiophile quality source but even better for all of us wondering how to get young people into the world of high end audio, you can always tell your kid's friend to plug his iPod into your system. Granted, if their iPod is full of MP3's it's not as good as if the tunes were uncompressed, but still way better than what's in an iPod.

It also gives you another opportunity to show said young person how great uncompressed can sound...

Last but not least, it's certainly a great way to share your system with your friends.

I have to believe that with a decent 1000 dollar DAC and your iPod full of uncompressed music this will be a major success....

I'll have more to report right after CES when I have this baby in my hot little hands!

 

Finally, an iPod accessory which is useful in terms of audio playback ! I only have a 5th gen video, (which my iRiver H120 trumps) but it's also ROCKbox'd which means I can use it to stream FLAC and such... It's just too bad that my Outlaw RR 2150 receiver doesn't have an optical In on it.

 

I wonder why. DRM, duh. I wonder why You can't use DVI, or component connectors for your HD tv...

Its pretty sad when you need to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars of accessories to do something you could have done if you don't use products whose design was to bend over for the draconian drm scheme.

 

This is the device I was trying to recall...

http://www.msbtech.com/products/iLink.php

I still wonder how Wadia can do this w/o a mod to the iPod. To the best of my knowledge, there is no digital out present on an iPod dock connector.

Brian

 

Sorry, but that is insane:
"iLink with RF link and iPod Upgrade (Generation 5 only) - $1995
iLink with RF link and Generation 5 80MB upgraded iPod Video - $2349. (white or black)
additional iPod upgrades - $199."

That is just NUTS.

 

No argument from me!

Just pointing out that there IS another device that claims a digital out from an iPod, but it requires an iPod mod.

Brian

 

Jeff, is this for real? There's no mention on Wadia's web site. I'm hoping it's true, because this would be truly awesome, at a very awesome price point. I also tried calling Wadia but got nothing but voicemail. There is also no mention is the Exhibitor News section of the CES site.

 

It's real. I've known about this for six months, but have been under NDA and could not say anything.

Wadia is premiering this at CES, so if you are going, stop by the booth and check it out. I have a Wadia 521 DAC and digital inputs on my Meridian 808i, so I'm really curious to see how this setup stacks up to a 10-15 thousand dollar CD player.

I think this is a very exciting product on a lot of levels and it is a true digital output that does not need a mod to your iPod.

Wadia spent a lot of time and money to get Apple's blessing and tech help on this.

It will be on their website shortly. For me, this is going to be one of the most exiting products at CES...

 

it's kind of like people i have know who have cars that are worth $300 and they put $2000 wheels and a $2500 system in it.

 

Very important.
The world is waiting for that

 

Playing Devil's Advocate, if you have a PC or Mac, which you likely do if you have an iPod, wouldn't you be as well off with an Airport Express or Squeezebox still?

Don't get me wrong it looks like a nice piece of kit, and the price isn't bad at all, I'm thinking purely in terms of flexibility?

 

Ahem, hate to be a stinker, but I don't see the point.

If its still an at home source, you're better off saving yourself $750 (iPod + iTransport) and just running a DAC straight from your computer, where you can store terabytes and terabytes of lossless files.

What benefit does the iTransport + iPod offer over computer-as-source?

 

The ipod looks "cool" and when your friends see it, they will know what you are doing. LOL

 

My first impression is that Wadia just put a computer inside a box, plays back the iPod files through the mass storage interface, and uses some secret Apple NDA kung-fu jazz hands to make the iPod UI still work with a USB interface, and has a special license to internally decode FairPlay.

I'd figure that there isn't any sort of SPDIF interface coming out of the iPod, nor is there a USB sound interface, so they are improvising using the only well-known digitial interface: USB Mass Storage. Otherwise, perhaps they hacked in and discovered a USB sound interface, and got the OK from Apple to sell it?

 

Makes sense if it's using some form of the USB transfer from the line-out to digital out.

 

Bravo but what does that accomplish though?

It's a nice toy and congrats, Tone but I really don't see the point either. Trying to get as close to well-engineered sound (in the purest and perhaps strictest way) this ain't.

Why not play the file from the PC and achieve exactly the same thing? Use speakers with a coax-out if you really wanna be that nuts.

Then someone might pipe in and say "what about apple lossless" and I'd possibly reply, "What about just playing the CD and save money and get more CDs?? You might have a few $20 bills left over to set fire to!"

Sorry. Enjoy anyways.