Monarchy Audio DIP 48/96 upsampler

[Themis]

and I thought the MA DIP would just bring it up to the mark of my CDPs.

Hard to say... I've serious doubts, though : usually imperfections with interfaces like the Wadia are multiple : various noises, clock... The DIP will certainly fix the clock part, but will not clean the signal of the (already) embedded noise.

For sheer convenience the Wadia is a great bit of kit with my 160 GB iPod classic holding 4,700+ songs ripped in apple lossless, most of the time we will have it on shuffle and have re found some great albums that we haven't played for years

I know. I also have a 160GB iPod (with 400AAC VBR), although I use it only for headphone listening, as I went the Squeezebox route a few years ago.
My wife uses shuffle, too. Very convenient, indeed !

[bigmarty]

Hard to say... I've serious doubts, though : usually imperfections with interfaces like the Wadia are multiple : various noises, clock... The DIP will certainly fix the clock part, but will not clean the signal of the (already) embedded noise

I know you are right Dimitri, rather spending the money on the Monarchy Audio DIP 48/96 upsampler I might get in touch with Mark at Audiocom and order a level-2 upgrade

"The level-2 upgrades install every conceivable improvement to the i170. We replace the internal clock of the PCM2706 chip with a ultra-low jitter external clock, the Superclock 4. This removes jitter and noise at all digital processing and analogue levels of the PCM2706 enabling more accurate, error free processing. We add a WBT NextGen cu RCA phono for digital output to provide the best possible signal transfer. To finish we further upgrade Tantalum decoupling with the S-CAP capacitors."

It's expensive at £453 but it should have big improvements to the Wadia.

Marty

[Themis]

Yes. This looks MUCH better, to me too (although the WBT plug is... ahem... not very useful) . Yes, it is expensive, indeed.
What is the price of the DIP ?

[bigmarty]

Yes. This looks MUCH better, to me too (although the WBT plug is... ahem... not very useful) . Yes, it is expensive, indeed.
What is the price of the DIP ?

I'm glad you agree the asking price for the DIP is £160 including postage (it is about four years old). My real worry was would it make any real difference to the sound..... I was even thinking about getting a Benchmark DAC which is supposed to get rid of the jitter but what a price but in the end I got the Caiman DAC (audio file bargain) which I must say I'm very pleased with and sounds superb . I suppose if I look at it this way the saving I made not getting the Benchmark and getting Stans Caimam DAC with the rest of the money can go towards the upgrade a win win situation, but please don't tell my wife....

Marty

[Themis]

There are cheaper dacs than the BM with anti-jitter circuitry. But then, again, they won't fix other (than clock) imperfections...
Yes, if you already saved the money, then it's a win-win situation.

Have a look at the Denon ASD-51W and ASD-51N as well. I don't know how it compares to the Wadia bit (but I plan to get one next month).

[John]

The Audiocom upgrade should push things a lot further, there a few of us here who used Audiocom can vouch for how well they work, just be paitent it can take a few weeks before you get it returned and then a few weeks for you to hear its true potential

[trailer]

I've got a MA DIP upsampling into a Wolfsoned 7520 from an Apple TV.
I didn't notice as a big a difference using it in NUS mode. It did make a difference in the upsampling mode (it's a jumper you need to move on the PCB inside the actual unit). I guess theory says it shouldn't but hey, when did theory come into things?

There's one going on eBay too for £170 at the moment too.