iFi micro-iDAC2 question

[Delbert]

I recently purchased an iFi micro-iDAC2. I have it attached to a Mac Mini running JRiver. With all the iDAC2 capabilities I’m having a difficult time deciding what would be the best strategy to get the best sound.

 

 

So, with the iFi’s micro-iDAC2's design, what do you feel is the best strategy to get the best sound?

 

 

1. Have JRiver convert everything to 2xDSD (or 4xDSD)?

 

 

2. Have JRiver send everything to the micro-iDAC2 in the audio files native form (44/16 as 44/16, 96/24 as 96/24, DSD as DSD etc.)?

 

 

3. Have JRiver upsample all PCM to maximum kHz, and DSD to 4xDSD?

 

 

4. Some other strategy?

 

 

Thanks for you input,

 

 

Delbert

[likethesoup2]

Here's a novel idea -- why don't you try them all, and see which sounds best to you.

[XP9433]

With the iDSD Micro I prefer your option 3. Upscale all multiples of 44.1kHz to 705.6 kHz and multiples of 48.0kHz to 768kHz. Don't have any DSD files.

I found converting everything to 4 x DSD or more was harder on system resources, without any consistent gain in SQ.

[Monte Verdi]

I upsample everything to 4X DSD on my iDSD Nano and most of my files are FLAC 16.44 and some hi res files to and it sounds incredible! iFi recently did a firmware upgrade and everything runs smooth as silk with only 4 gigabytes of RAM on my laptop, I suggest you try it!