Wadia PowerDAC

[richidoo]

Companion piece to the Wadio iPod dock.  Looks very cool!!



http://redir.nextscreen.com/a65abd95471e4478e8d711bfa5e91cab/0e70aeabf8a2be270bf4f78eb477d116
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcNudU0ftsk

[dragan]

Rich, I just got a Wadia iTransport and an iPod Classic. Have started ripping CDs (.wav format) yesterday. Don't have it hooked up yet but will soon. Any experience with this?

The DAC looks pretty good so I may just get that sucker too. I love Wadia stuff, their 861 in my opinion is a great sounding piece and have been thinking about the new 381. I forget what it'll sell for but it was a hell of a lot more reasonable (to me) then the rest of their products. Sonically, I think, it cannot be too far behind.

Any thoughts?

[richidoo]

I don't know how it will sound, but if it's like like the big brothers it should be good. I think they smart to want to reposition themselves into younger and lower priced markets. This 151 is intended for the itransport and computer speakers so it's probably all ICs, but in the hands of a good designer they can make nice sounds.

What are the 381 and 861?

[dragan]

861 is their older and now discontinued CD player. I think this particular one has been replaced by 781. The 381 is their newest CD player, probably cheapest one Wadia ever made.

I agree with you on what they are trying to do. Smart folks, good designers. Their business seems to be pretty stable now.

[JLM]

That would (with the 170i) make for a nice smaller/second system, but not cheap.  The ideal application would be for the really classy/cozy weekend get away place where you'd take enough music on the iPod for a couple of days.  But with only 50 wpc into 4 ohms you'd could be limited on the speakers (especially when considering that smaller speakers are naturally less efficient).

[richidoo]

Here's a little review from TAS

http://www.avguide.com/blog/first-listen-wadia-151-powerdac-mini