Wadia at AKFest 2010
Greg Weaver: Positive Feedback
May/June 2010
The Wadia room featured a real treat, with Wadia President John Schaffer personally on hand to present the newest group of Wadia innovative and trendy “i” products. The heart of this “mini” system featured the new Wadia 171i transport/dock ($599) and the identically appointed and sized 151 PowerDAC mini ($1195). This was an exceedingly impressive system, rounded out by an equally impressive performance from a pair of Dynaudio Exite X12 ($1270/pr in white) monitors. Cabling was UltraLink/XLO throughout.
Wadia’s latest “i” series compact components, the 171i and 151PowerDac
Most iTransport lovers are familiar with the beautifully styled Wadia 170i Transport, the industry’s first certified “Works with iPhone and iPod” dock, allowing the revered smartphone and iPod to perform as a high-performance media server. The 170i has made a remarkable penetration at the $380 price point.
Wadia’s new 171i builds on its success, offering overall higher performance thanks to improved power supply components and step-up audiophile grade connectors that easily couple to a DAC, A/V receiver or other audio component with a D/A converter. In addition, the 171i passes High-resolution video signals through the dock’s component video connections. Finally, a new, feature-rich infrared remote control allows convenient navigation through Playlists and Albums. The 171i will also recharge your iPhone or iPod when either device is docked. Pretty cool, no?
The Wadia 151PowerDAC mini is a sophisticated and compact combination of high performance DAC with a robust 50-watt (into 4 ohm) Class D amplifier. The 151 includes a remote control, a polarity inversion switch (how freakin’ cool is that?), and four selectable digital inputs (USB, Toslink, and a pair of coax S/PDIF), allowing for connectivity for a computer, games, streaming audio sources, and/or your iTransport. With a heritage traced back to Wadia’s original Reference PowerDAC, the 151 uses a scaled-down version of Wadia’s proprietary DigiMaster and DirectConnect technologies.
John was gracious enough to allow me to play my own AIFF files from my iPod Touch, and the results were, in a word, staggering. Most of those who know me know what I think of iPods in general, but this diminutive and reasonably priced Wadia rig was truly impressive. Granted, the Dynaudio Excite X12s roll off very quickly below 60 Hz or so. But everything else was remarkably well fleshed out, dynamic, and so well balanced, I could EASILY have been convinced I was listening to an optical disc and a MUCH pricier system. A tip of the hat to John and Wadia for a job extremely well done.
Positive Feedback Online, Issue 49: AKFest Show Report