Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems i80 Dock for the F80, is it bit perfect?

http://forum.stereophile.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=49152&an=0&page=0#Post49152

The Wadia iPod dock is being critized for over charging for a single purpose device with no DAC that does nothing more than extracting bit perfect data from an iPod. And it claims to be the first and only device doing it.

I have heard the Wadia connected to a ~1/4 million dollars Boulder/Wilson Audio system and the sound was simply stuinning.

Is the i80 at least extracting the digital data directly from the iPod bit perfectly? If it doesnt then it is robbery to charge that much for nothing more than a simple analog replay. And dont forget that the i80 only works with the F80, while the Wadia works with any DAC or analogue amp.

Does anyone know if the i80 extracts bit perfect digital from the iPod?

The i80/i88 is analogue so it won't do bit perfect. The apodizing filters from M show, bit perfect can be bettered so I don't see bit perfect being a big thing.

i80 works with other pieces of kit, not just F80/AD88. You can for example link it to existing analogue kit.

Apparently its got special circuits to clean up the sound. Sounds better than for example the already highly regarded rDock from Arcam but then I heard that from M themselves so I would have expected that to be the case and so it should for the price premium. But it does show that it is more than just a simple iPod dock sound wise.

Great....bit perfect MP3's. Just what I wanted (NOT!)

Bit perfect rocks! I need to see(hear) the new DSP8k firmware to consider something else

Where have you been? iPod plays does not equate with MP3. iPod can play uncompressed AIFF files or Apple Lossless Audio.

Wow, that is a lot of cash for an analogue dock! I think there is a Wadia in my future.

Wadia iPod dock is a nice compliment to a G68/861. Nice if you have visitors as well that want to rock the house for a bit with their portable music. Designwise it looks to hold up pretty well considering it's price.

I Just Had a poor guy demo and iPod dock/player in Curry's.
The first was just awfull, then we moved upmarket to the Bose............
certainly better, But Just awfull.........

These bits of kit cost �150/�180 ish and they are dreadfull, People thinks its good enough.......????

If you have an F80, at least demo the Meridian Dock, They do know what they are doing and they ar'nt looking to sell shoddy goods.

I just had to tell him, where to hear an F80 and his reply was that he had never been in that shop as he feels he would need to dress up!!! Really.

I hope he goes now anyway, who can tell.

Cheers, Chris

Agent Smith,

I know that - but you can't fit ~20,000 lossless tracks on an iPod can you ?

If a user knows the difference between an MP3 and a lossless AIFF then it's highly unlikely that the user will use an iPod to get them into their hi-fi at home.
They will use the host pc/mac and an SB, Sonos, Express etc first as a static setup.
That leaves an idoc as something you need for when your mates come round and party. How likely is the average iPod user to have lossless ? IMHO - not very.
In this scenario, bit perfect lossless isn't so important.

Just thought I'd expand on my earlier comment.

It will make an interesting test to compare a digital MP3 vs an apodized analogue fed MP3. Apart from whatever legal issues they had, I suspect this will be a feature of M's reasoning.

Nick,

I understand that an audiophile iPod dock kind of has very limited appeal. I myself have 30000+ lossless files encoded over the years in a NAS and use a combination of AppleTV, SB3, Benchmark DAC1 and am looking into the Linn DS/Naim HDX solutions.

But I bought an F80 for the purpose of quality bedroom listening. It is a bit over the top for me but it was kind of an impulse buy, which given the market condition I would probably not have done the same today.

Add to that I also have a 160GB iPod which would accomodate close to 5,500 lossless track at 30M each according to my calculation. Putting the two together I actually think it would make quite a nice bedroom system. Having heard the Wadia I was stunned by how good such a seemingly ridiculous system could actually sound.

Being a Naimee, I am one who was crazy enough to fork out thousands for a HiCap and $600 for an NAPSC that does not much more than powering the lights on the pre-amp. But the wee size i80 just seems to be a little excessive for me.

Chris have you tried the i80? It would be interesting to compare that against running a decent cable off the headphone jack of the iPod?

Agent, I dont have an iPod myself so I have not tried the dock. I have not had any problems just using an input cable from other devices.
If your input device is rubbish, the F80 wont do it any favours but it will sound the best it can IMHO.

I, along with many others, would also like to hear an independant honest opinion on the i80 coupled to the F80.

Cheers Chris