ifi Units Deliver for Me.

[Liam]

The system configuration in my signature below is working very well for me with regard to integration of the iFi hardware.

 

The first iFi unit added was the iUSB, initially used with the stock USB cables supplied by both iFi and m2tech. The benefits of lower noise floor were evident in soundstage portrayal.

 

Next came the two IFi Gemini cables. Better resolution, tonality and dynamics. Unlike with some other boutique USB cables I have had no issues using these both sides of the iUSB PSU, I conclude due to the attention that IFi have paid to maintaining the USB 90 ohms impedance standard throughout.

 

Next came the iTube. This brought yet more natural tonality. An obvious beneficiary being piano. The 3D HiFi setting expanding the soundstage and allowing instruments establish a 'personal' space and bass became better defined and ballsy without bloating. All that without adding artifice. The 3D HiFi is nothing like what is sometimes served up with TVs to simulate multi channel audio....forget that.

 

I find Fidelia to be a very musical player. However, understandably if using a very shallow filter slope in iZotope it is possible to detect an element of digital hardness in some high frequencies in my system. However, the iTube Digital Antidote eliminates that thus restoring enjoyment. If you don't have any other options, that is a useful facility to have. However, another option, if using the likes of Audirvana +, or Fidelia is to adjust the settings in Izotope, if up sampling. So there is both a hardware or software solution for 'digititis'. Overall the iTube does not introduce any tubelike adverse softness nor any hint of looseness in the base, or noise, nor reduction in resolution.

 

In the last week I added the iLink in place of the Hiface2 converter, preferring to use the spdif input in the m2tech Young dac over the USB input. The iLink brings further soundstage clarity, space, and depth, divorcing elements that tended to locate nearer the speakers more into what I accept as their more rightful place in the recording further back with a perception of space around. Again gains in the likes of piano tone and naturalness of voices, noticeable in choirs. Base articulation and tunefulness is improved. At one stage I noticed subtle element of thinness in high frequencies which I found difficult to fully eliminate. I eventually decided to try the digital cable supplied by Ifi with the iLink, instead of the Nordost Silver Shadow normally used. Low and behold problem solved. I concluded that the JET option for treating jitter in the entire spdif link may have been 'tuned' using the supplied cable, thus making it the best option (open to correction). Initially I was using the low digital output from the iLink and the RCA adapters on both ends of the cable. I subsequently ended using the high output and with the RCA adapter on the dac end removed and using the BNC input into the m2tech, perceiving that configuration best.

 

Being a believer in the concept that everything makes a difference in setting up a hifi system, it came as no surprise to me that spending some time configuring the system with each unit addition paid dividends, even revisiting previous configuration preferences. The result is very satisfactory for me using reference to various systems digital and analogue going back to late 1970's.

[DM]

thanks for the excellent reviews.