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Onkyo ND-S1 Digital Media Transport Review
| Author | Hugo Jobling |
| Published | 26th Oct 2009 |
| Manufacturer | Onkyo |
| Supplier | Sight and Sound UK |
| Price | £125.22 (Exc VAT) |
| as reviewed | £144.00 (Inc VAT) |
| Latest Price | Click here |
| Design & Features |  |
| Performance | |
| Value |  |
| Overall | |
14 comments
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TrustedReviews NewslettersYou'd never know from how 'little' we harp on about it, but iPods aren't exactly the best sounding media players on the market. As a result, if you care about quality reproduction of your audio you'll probably be inclined to sacrifice their admittedly impeccable user interfaces in favour of a player better suited to do justice to your music collection.
While Apple might not make much effort to improve the iPod's audio processing itself, the company does seem happy for third parties to do something about it by way of the iPod dock connector.
For instance, the dock on the Onkyo ND-S1 Digital Media Transport can tap directly into the digital files stored on an iPod thereby bypassing the player's DAC and amplifier so they can be decoded elsewhere. As such you could plug in an iPod classic, fifth gen iPod, any gen of iPod nano, iPod touch or even an iPhone (in flight mode) into the ND-S1 and the quality of the audio available will be dictated not by the version of iPod you're using, but by the quality of the digital files stored therein, and the system to which you are sending them.
The ND-S1 isn't just a one trick pony, though. A quick peak at its rear shows not only a power input and both coaxial and optical digital outputs, but also a coaxial video-out and, more interestingly, a USB-B port. You might expect that this makes it possible to connect any docked iPod to a PC and sync with iTunes and indeed it does. There's even a button to toggle this mode on or off should you desire.
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Jay Werfalli said on 30th October 2009
Riyad said on 30th October 2009
@ Peter Jones – Yes, Hugo does know what he’s doing, but I’m not sure that you do. Saying that this device can ONLY (thanks for the caps, that really helped) be used with an AV rec... more
Mike Owen said on 2nd November 2009
Some of you seem confused as to what this device does. It essentially turns your iPod into a CD transport that holds WAY more music than any jukebox ever could. Previously, docks... more
Tristan Summers said on 9th November 2009
I have this dock and it SUCKS. I have it connected to an onkyo 876. The receiver takes over the display of the ipod so you have no idea what you are playing. You cannot navigate ar... more
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Where does Hugo mention that it has a DAC? As far I can tell from reading the review he never says it does? The iPod has a DAC, yes, but this device is not a dock in the traditiona... more