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On 9/1/2017 at 11:12 AM, rickca said:

@AMR/iFi audio many CA members buy the micro iDSD BL because it does DSD512 with HQPlayer.  To us, MQA support is pointless.  In any event, it's really important that MQA support can be disabled so that it has absolutely no influence on the way the BL works today.

 

It depends on what you are looking for.  Like you, I'm not waiting for MQA to be offered on the iDSD products.   But for those who are looking for high-resolution PCM recordings that have been through the MQA data reduction process, there may indeed be some market interest in such an option.

 

As you probably know, the iFi iDSD portable DACs have been streaming Stereo DSD 128, Stereo DSD 64 and 24/96 FLAC since late 2015 with the PrimeSeat streaming service developed by IIJ, Sony, Korg and Saidera. 

 

I recently tested PrimeSeat's new Stereo DSD 256 (also known as DSD 11.2 MHz or Quad DSD) streaming with the iFi Audio iDSD Micro BL DAC.  Works great.  

 

Now that's real high-resolution audio streaming!  :)

 

59b2ef5265fe1_5-iFiAudioiDSDMicroBLPlayingDSD11.2MHzStereofromPrimeSeat.thumb.jpg.65e399983cdf46af31c4a8f34e22ac57.jpg

 

https://positive-feedback.com/audio-discourse/primeseat-launches-dsd-streaming-audio/

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Girls and guys, just a short announcement:

We will be at RMAF !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

19030531_1366831173352621_2973889792545364358_n.jpg.0c42f07e695e98ce619e812fa10a31b6.jpg

On our several stations we'll have lots of currently available iFi audio stuff with us, namely Pro iESL and Pro iCAN, iCAN SE, iTube2, iDAC2 micro iDSD BL and a bunch our accessories too!

But there we will also show nano iDSD Black Label !!! 

Be sure to visit us at the atrium - CanJam 24!

Our PowerStation is here: click me!

 

Check out our Tidal MQA Set-up Guides below. 
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  • 3 months later...

GE5670 reserved for flagship AMR and iFi

Press release

 

We have some mixed news for lovers of the GE5670.

 

It is our understanding that we have tracked down and acquired the last known large-scale stockpile of GE5670 tubes.

 

1.thumb.jpg.b36607f576db1426f0da5c82b8041e0d.jpg 

 

The good news is that we have amassed a respectable inventory for AMR to use in their machines and for iFi to use in their flagship ‘Pro’ series for the foreseeable future (read: years).

 

The bad news is that once units in the supply chain of iTUBE2s and NOS6922s are all gone, there will be no more. The recent rise in the price of the GE5670 makes it even more the right decision to not continue with using the GE5670 in this product. Given that we need to reserve 2 pcs of the GE5670 for each Pro iDSD and Pro iCAN and for the AMR 777 machines too, priority must be given to these flagship products.

 

History of the venerable GE5670

 

For those wishing to delve into the history of the GE5670 and why we chose it over its ‘lesser’ cousin the 6922:

 

https://ifi-audio.com/portfolio-view/accessory-nos-6922-2/

Our PowerStation is here: click me!

 

Check out our Tidal MQA Set-up Guides below. 
Android (Renderer) Mobile
Desktop (Decoder) via USB
Desktop (Decoder) via SPDIF

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On 9/1/2017 at 8:22 PM, Totsipaki said:

MQA is the most honest digital format and the only one that garrantees the provided quality

You drank the kool aid.

 

Nothing honest about it - it claims to be a hi-res master but is actually a 15-17 bit file that only goes above 96K through upsampling. Any MQA file telling you it is 24bit and 176k or above is lying to you.And this is after all the unfolding etc. 

 

Authenticated? By whom? In many (probably most) cases there is bulk conversion of albums to MQA format and the  "authentication" is done by a record label bureaucrat, not an artist, producer, etc. 

 

It's mostly marketing speak designed to fool the consumer. If you like how it sounds, that's fine. Just don't claim it's something it isn't. 

 

 

Main listening (small home office):

Main setup: Surge protector +>Isol-8 Mini sub Axis Power Strip/Isolation>QuietPC Low Noise Server>Roon (Audiolense DRC)>Stack Audio Link II>Kii Control>Kii Three (on their own electric circuit) >GIK Room Treatments.

Secondary Path: Server with Audiolense RC>RPi4 or analog>Cayin iDAC6 MKII (tube mode) (XLR)>Kii Three .

Bedroom: SBTouch to Cambridge Soundworks Desktop Setup.
Living Room/Kitchen: Ropieee (RPi3b+ with touchscreen) + Schiit Modi3E to a pair of Morel Hogtalare. 

All absolute statements about audio are false :)

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Dear Firedog. I can see you are pretty passionate about disliking MQA but..

 

First and foremost we are off topic. Last but not least I have personally been convinced by how obviously superior than ANY other format It sounds and please spare me the tech I’d rather listen to music. 

 

I would rather believe a respectable company with a very impressive pioneering portfolio in digital sound than any hater or blogger who Thinks otherwise. 

 

So please lets keep focused on this very interesting dac by Ifi many people have been waiting for so long. The nice people of Ifi are listening very carefully and work hard to give listeners the choice to completely bybasss It so no worries. 

 

There is a specific topic for MQA debates in the forum for anyone interested. 

 

Thank you. 

 

I apologise for the off topic break. 

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3 hours ago, Totsipaki said:

Dear Firedog. I can see you are pretty passionate about disliking MQA but..

 

First and foremost we are off topic. Last but not least I have personally been convinced by how obviously superior than ANY other format It sounds and please spare me the tech I’d rather listen to music. 

 

I would rather believe a respectable company with a very impressive pioneering portfolio in digital sound than any hater or blogger who Thinks otherwise. 

 

So please lets keep focused on this very interesting dac by Ifi many people have been waiting for so long. The nice people of Ifi are listening very carefully and work hard to give listeners the choice to completely bybasss It so no worries. 

 

There is a specific topic for MQA debates in the forum for anyone interested. 

 

Thank you. 

 

I apologise for the off topic break. 

I am not passionate about disliking it; as a listening format I'm just not interested, because I haven't heard anything compelling when I listen to it.


I am passionate about correcting misinformation about it, especially misinformation designed to fool people. You can "believe" whatever you want, as long as you are willing not to deal with the facts that contradict your belief. 

 

And BTW, you were the one who seemed compelled to write a post saying it is "the most honest digital format"....

Main listening (small home office):

Main setup: Surge protector +>Isol-8 Mini sub Axis Power Strip/Isolation>QuietPC Low Noise Server>Roon (Audiolense DRC)>Stack Audio Link II>Kii Control>Kii Three (on their own electric circuit) >GIK Room Treatments.

Secondary Path: Server with Audiolense RC>RPi4 or analog>Cayin iDAC6 MKII (tube mode) (XLR)>Kii Three .

Bedroom: SBTouch to Cambridge Soundworks Desktop Setup.
Living Room/Kitchen: Ropieee (RPi3b+ with touchscreen) + Schiit Modi3E to a pair of Morel Hogtalare. 

All absolute statements about audio are false :)

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You seem guite active for someone not interested. 

 

Please do not misunderstend me I respect your opinion. However. Please respect that I am not interested in It because I have allready made my mind and It is my right to publicly write It .

 

You dont have to agree you know but you have to live with the fact that other people think otherwise. 

 

I will not continue this. Surely not here. 

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Really?

Just keep away from intensively debated controversies ... if you have nothing to contribute to said debate.

macmini M1>ethernet / elgar iso tran(2.5kVa, .0005pfd)>consonance pw-3 boards>ghent ethernet(et linkway cat8 jssg360)>etherRegen(js-2)>ghent ethernet(et linkway cat8 jssg360) >ultraRendu (clones lpsu>lps1.2)>curious regen link>rme adi-2 dac(js-2)>cawsey cables>naquadria sp2 passive pre> 1.naquadria lucien mkII.5 power>elac fs249be + elac 4pi plus.2> 2.perreaux9000b(mods)>2x naquadria 12” passive subs.

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On 1/20/2018 at 2:03 PM, AMR/iFi audio said:

GE5670 reserved for flagship AMR and iFi

Press release

 

We have some mixed news for lovers of the GE5670.

 

It is our understanding that we have tracked down and acquired the last known large-scale stockpile of GE5670 tubes.

 

1.thumb.jpg.b36607f576db1426f0da5c82b8041e0d.jpg 

 

The good news is that we have amassed a respectable inventory for AMR to use in their machines and for iFi to use in their flagship ‘Pro’ series for the foreseeable future (read: years).

 

The bad news is that once units in the supply chain of iTUBE2s and NOS6922s are all gone, there will be no more. The recent rise in the price of the GE5670 makes it even more the right decision to not continue with using the GE5670 in this product. Given that we need to reserve 2 pcs of the GE5670 for each Pro iDSD and Pro iCAN and for the AMR 777 machines too, priority must be given to these flagship products.

 

History of the venerable GE5670

 

For those wishing to delve into the history of the GE5670 and why we chose it over its ‘lesser’ cousin the 6922:

 

https://ifi-audio.com/portfolio-view/accessory-nos-6922-2/

 

Hello @AMR/iFi audio

 

I was reading the thread over at Head-Fi, specifically about tube availability and warranty period, etc.

 

My question:  Can the tube be bypassed in the iDSD Pro?  I would probably bypass it on day one, eliminating the concern for finding replacement tubes in the future.

 

Thanks in advance

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Just now, Samuel T Cogley said:

 

Hello @AMR/iFi audio

 

I was reading the thread over at Head-Fi, specifically about tube availability and warranty period, etc.

 

My question:  Can the tube be bypassed in the iDSD Pro?  I would probably bypass it on day one, eliminating the concern for finding replacement tubes in the future.

 

Thanks in advance

 

It can. Via a knob on the product's front, its output stage can be set to be purely solid-state J-FETs based circuit of fully-discrete Class A topology. Tubes will always glow once the device is powered on nonetheless.

Our PowerStation is here: click me!

 

Check out our Tidal MQA Set-up Guides below. 
Android (Renderer) Mobile
Desktop (Decoder) via USB
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Just now, AMR/iFi audio said:

 

It can. Via a knob on the product's front, its output stage can be set to be purely solid-state J-FETs based circuit of fully-discrete Class A topology. Tubes will always glow once the device is powered on nonetheless.

 

Whew!  Thanks!

 

Any chance the manual will be released soon so that curious people like me can read this kind of information before 2/15?

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Pro iDSD - The easygoing perspective The enclosure and front panel – part 1/2

Introduction

Our latest and greatest DAC – the Pro iDSD – is just around the corner. We’ve already tackled several technical matters related to this device, and all these are to be found via links in the first post of this thread:

 

·         https://www.head-fi.org/threads/ifi-audio-pro-idsd-the-official-thread.869144/

 

In short, we’ve explained in our regular fashion why this product is very unique. Since there’s still some time left to the official launch of our upcoming flagship DAC’s, we thought we’d describe in a less techy and more easygoing, newbie-friendly way what our Pro iDSD is all about. First stop is its enclosure’s front, back and - later on - also innards.

 

The Pro iDSD – what is it exactly?

7.thumb.jpg.1c73b452ea1f69f09e90c7605c44e0a1.jpg

 

This machine, in short, is a DAC, also known as a d/a converter and quite commonly as a source. This means that its main purpose is to receive a digital signal either via cable or wirelessly, convert it to its analogue form and then pass it on to devices such as a preamplifier, a stereo power amplifier, a pair of mono amplifiers, a headphone amplifier or directly to various headphones. Yes, all these devices operate in the analogue domain, which leads us on to this statement:

 

·         The Pro iDSD won’t pass digital signals to a different DAC and yes, this is on purpose

 

The Pro iDSD was primarily built as a high quality digital to analog converter and this is how it should be used. It’s already function packed as it is and - instead of making it operable as an S/PDIF converter - our goal was to use the space normally reserved for this in a more useful way. Basically, using the Pro iDSD to feed a similar device with a digital signal is a big waste of its potential.

 

The enclosure

E.thumb.jpg.bf48ff339cd8af73727da4290ff77457.jpg

 

Now, we have all that out of the way, let’s focus on the Pro iDSD’s enclosure. This machine is the same size as the iFi audio Pro iCAN and both products look very similar. The enclosure is made out of aircraft grade aluminium and its main purpose is to dissipate heat from the devices inside as they will get hot when powered on. In order to further improve on this, the chassis has many venting holes on its sides and on top. These align in a pleasantly rounded shape with a magnifying glass with a pair of fabulous vintage JAN GE5670 valves underneath. (Quick note – these class act valves are now reserved ONLY for our Pro series products but that’s another story). Anyway, we reckon that the Pro series chassis looks very cool.

 

The front panel – LED diode and standby/power switch

Let’s start with the upper left corner. There’s the iFi Pro logo based on a LED diode. Once the Pro iDSD is powered on, this lights up with one of four different colours. Each indicates a different operational status:

 

·         Green: warming up

·         White: solid-state mode

·         Orange: tube mode

·         Red: protection mode

 

3.thumb.jpg.3c7d2584f1670506d34eac473d14242d.jpg

 

Moving on, there’s a small, flat button in the lower left corner. This turns the product on or puts it in standby mode if you are not shutting it down completely.

 

 3b.thumb.jpg.ba291534c45d42cc27425cade128ed1f.jpg

 

The front panel – input selector

Let’s now go a bit to the right. A large and endlessly rotating aluminium knob is next in line. It handles several jobs with its main one being digital input selection. You can cycle through the following options:

 

·         Ethernet/WiFi/Hard Disk/Micro SDHC (Network Bridge/Streamer)

·         Host USB

·         Coaxial/Optical Digital Input

·         XLR Digital Input

·         BNC Digital Input

 

5.thumb.jpg.fbc88ed4ef6f4f28fa1d1910f905a208.jpg

 

There are also two additional adjustment options available via the input selector:

·         Brightness (adjustable via a three second press)

·         Polarity (adjustable via a long press)

 

The front panel – digital filter selector

The smaller knob located a bit to the right from the input selector is the digital filter selector. It enable two things.

 

2.thumb.jpg.7dc36029e5f6354fdfdeb84c8a1cf57a.jpg

 

The first feature (available via pressing the digital filter selector) is our proprietary DSD remastering. You can choose whether you’d like to have your music:

 

·         Normal – where DSD signals are passed directly to the DAC. For PCM you may choose between a set of digital filters or bit-perfect, unprocessed PCM

·         Upconverted to DSD512

·         Upconverted to DSD1024

 

The second feature allows you to cycle through these five different filters on the fly via the rotary action:

 

1.       'Bit-Perfect' - No digital filtering is applied, one tap

2.       'Bit-Perfect+' - No digital filtering is applied, one tap, SINC roll-off @ HF is corrected

3.       'Minimum Phase' - Minimum filtering, no pre-ringing, minimum post ringing, 32 taps

4.       'Apodising' - Modest filtering, no pre-ringing, modest post ringing, 128 taps

5.       'Transient Aligned' - Max filtering, max pre-ringing, maximum post-ringing, 16,384 taps

 

Please think of these filters as different flavours. Each trades off frequency response flatness, transient response and suppression of ultrasonic images in a different way. There is no “perfect” filter option, such a thing is not possible, so select the filter that offer the right set of compromises for you.

 

We’ve already covered in detail how our proprietary digital filtering works in the Pro iDSD. Please take a look here:

 

·         https://www.head-fi.org/threads/ifi-audio-pro-idsd-discussion-thread.702376/page-127

 

What’s important is that the Pro iDSD is equipped with a FPGA chip that runss on iFi audio’s custom firmware and is responsible for all filters and remasters listed above. It’s worth noting that in this DAC, these operations are hardware based.

 

 

 

Our PowerStation is here: click me!

 

Check out our Tidal MQA Set-up Guides below. 
Android (Renderer) Mobile
Desktop (Decoder) via USB
Desktop (Decoder) via SPDIF

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Folks, iFi will attend Canjam NY. Come&see us! We'll showcase our upcoming Pro iDSD, we'll have Pro iRack on display, there's going to be a press conference at 12:00 on Saturday (17th of February) regarding launch of Pro iDSD and pro iRack.

 

See you there!

Our PowerStation is here: click me!

 

Check out our Tidal MQA Set-up Guides below. 
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As a veteran of the audio wars, no need to thank me

for my service, when something sounds too good to

be true I'm eager to try it from dealer/distributor who

offers a reasonable satisfaction guarantee trial period

with no restocking fee a la musicdirect or similar.

Will this dac be broadly offered by current iFi USA

distributors.

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18 hours ago, photonblur said:

As a veteran of the audio wars, no need to thank me

for my service, when something sounds too good to

be true I'm eager to try it from dealer/distributor who

offers a reasonable satisfaction guarantee trial period

with no restocking fee a la musicdirect or similar.

Will this dac be broadly offered by current iFi USA

distributors.

 

It will, but at the very beginning stock available will be limited.

Our PowerStation is here: click me!

 

Check out our Tidal MQA Set-up Guides below. 
Android (Renderer) Mobile
Desktop (Decoder) via USB
Desktop (Decoder) via SPDIF

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@AMR/iFi audio you are going to get a lot of technical questions at launch, similar to the really long micro iDSD thread on head-fi.  Are you prepared for that?  My recent experience with your tech support people on the iGalvanic was very disappointing indeed.

Pareto Audio AMD 7700 Server --> Berkeley Alpha USB --> Jeff Rowland Aeris --> Jeff Rowland 625 S2 --> Focal Utopia 3 Diablos with 2 x Focal Electra SW 1000 BE subs

 

i7-6700K/Windows 10  --> EVGA Nu Audio Card --> Focal CMS50's 

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We'll leave it here... 

 

The Sound & Vision Bristol Show 2018 is in the past now. Things happened there, oh yes they did!

bris2.jpg 
 
Yup, that's our full Pro rig on the Pro iRack.

 

bris1.jpg 

 

Some people were impressed more than just 'mildly'....

bris3.jpg 

And we had someone (aka The Cap'n) in there to answer the most technical questions there are.

Our PowerStation is here: click me!

 

Check out our Tidal MQA Set-up Guides below. 
Android (Renderer) Mobile
Desktop (Decoder) via USB
Desktop (Decoder) via SPDIF

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  • 2 weeks later...

Never saw a company so in love with its own shtick.

Pareto Audio AMD 7700 Server --> Berkeley Alpha USB --> Jeff Rowland Aeris --> Jeff Rowland 625 S2 --> Focal Utopia 3 Diablos with 2 x Focal Electra SW 1000 BE subs

 

i7-6700K/Windows 10  --> EVGA Nu Audio Card --> Focal CMS50's 

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7 hours ago, rickca said:

Never saw a company so in love with its own shtick.

Schiit seems to be very in love with theirs, also. 

Main listening (small home office):

Main setup: Surge protector +>Isol-8 Mini sub Axis Power Strip/Isolation>QuietPC Low Noise Server>Roon (Audiolense DRC)>Stack Audio Link II>Kii Control>Kii Three (on their own electric circuit) >GIK Room Treatments.

Secondary Path: Server with Audiolense RC>RPi4 or analog>Cayin iDAC6 MKII (tube mode) (XLR)>Kii Three .

Bedroom: SBTouch to Cambridge Soundworks Desktop Setup.
Living Room/Kitchen: Ropieee (RPi3b+ with touchscreen) + Schiit Modi3E to a pair of Morel Hogtalare. 

All absolute statements about audio are false :)

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 7.03.2018 at 9:55 AM, firedog said:

Schiit seems to be very in love with theirs, also. 

 

What can we say, we honestly like how and what we do. But this aside, the 2018 Audio Video show in Lisbon just ended and here are some pictures our staff did during short breaks they were fortunate to have.

 

There were some peculiarly looking audio products showcased in there, that's a given!

a.thumb.jpg.1be10f5490038677bdfba8b43a24cdc8.jpg

b.thumb.jpg.e2e0f45d86755c97bd8d95cd0797f6fe.jpg

 

The place itself was beautiful, in comparison to the weather in UK right now it seemed like a real paradise!

d.thumb.jpg.9dd555f6f8404dbd3266c8694bc9bedd.jpg

e.thumb.jpg.cb77047311665a1b5459225438c285ef.jpg

 

We had a listen to Sennheisers HD820 for the 1235423123123 time and yes, we like these.

c.thumb.jpg.8a02c67b378548869f078e30d571efcf.jpg

 

Some of us couldn't keep up with the pressure and had to rest for a bit whenever and wherever possible. That's the official version. The unofficial one? It's very easy to be intimidated by TOTL Gryphon floorstanders...

f.thumb.jpg.4e3b6727411a802440d8b13d2f4a604c.jpg

 

Our PowerStation is here: click me!

 

Check out our Tidal MQA Set-up Guides below. 
Android (Renderer) Mobile
Desktop (Decoder) via USB
Desktop (Decoder) via SPDIF

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Cue Sir David Attenborough  narration . . .

 

Very rarely seen, much less filmed, due to its long 4 year gestation time, the elusive iDSD Pro is for the first time ever filmed here in the wilds of New York City (apparently prior to the headphone jack size change):

 

:D

 

https://youtu.be/7bsMhFPhGHk

 

---------------

Rich Brkich

Owner, Signature Sound

Liverpool, New York USA

Website: http://www.sigsound.com

FaceBook Page: http://www.facebook.com/Signature.Sound.HiFi

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23 hours ago, RichB said:

Cue Sir David Attenborough  narration . . .

 

Very rarely seen, much less filmed, due to its long 4 year gestation time, the elusive iDSD Pro is for the first time ever filmed here in the wilds of New York City (apparently prior to the headphone jack size change):

 

:D

 

https://youtu.be/7bsMhFPhGHk

 

 

Yup, that's our man Owen in acton! Cheers!

Our PowerStation is here: click me!

 

Check out our Tidal MQA Set-up Guides below. 
Android (Renderer) Mobile
Desktop (Decoder) via USB
Desktop (Decoder) via SPDIF

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Folks, Salon Audio Montreal Fest is the place to be this weekend.

 

Over 100 exhibitors, over 300 brands! And yes, iFi audio is there as well. Montreal's Hotel Bonaventure during this weekend is yet another place to witness what our Pro iDSD is capable of. If you're around, please visit us!

 

The show starts on the 23rd of March 2018 at 11:00 local time and ends on the 25th of March 2018 (17:00).

 

0.thumb.jpg.bf9f9563d4a9198f68d6b5405a1a88fa.jpg

2.thumb.jpg.b6ecd2c852387a4ad29b62076986a55b.jpg

1.thumb.jpg.20d113b641269115dcaf6909ca568800.jpg

3.thumb.jpg.c2b34296a5e557ec3d7a5cace4dfc1b7.jpg

Our PowerStation is here: click me!

 

Check out our Tidal MQA Set-up Guides below. 
Android (Renderer) Mobile
Desktop (Decoder) via USB
Desktop (Decoder) via SPDIF

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