iFi's Pro iDSD (official) - NEW Firmware - MQA and more.

[AMR/iFi audio]

Right, about that PRO iDSD thingy people talk about lately?

 

IT! IS! HEEEEREEEEE!

 

Well, almost. OK, as per usual, we can't give too much specifics, teasers will have to do the trick today... But let's take it one day at a time and dang, things are going to get heavy. Stay with us just a little longer!

 

Juicy details are to be served very soon. In the meantime, ENJOY!

 

UPDATE!!!

We have some major news to share. First of all, the Pro iDSD premiere date:

The 15th of February 2018

We don't expect any difficulties along the road towards this day. Yet if some shifts will occur, we'll update this very post to keep you good CA people properly informed.

And secondly, the Pro iDSD retail price:

 

• $2,499 (ex-tax)
• €2,999 (inc vat)
• £2,499 (inc vat)

 

Additionally, this thread will serve as the official Pro iDSD repository, which means that every publication (or its location link) related to this device will be listed in this thread for as easy access as possible.

1. Our take on digital filters

• How iFi audio sees digital filtering in general.

 

2. Digital filters/options in our Pro iDSD

• Explanation of how and what is upsampled in the Pro iDSD.

 

Tech talk

Part 1:

 

Part 2:

 

Part 3:

 

Part 4:

 

Part 5:

 

Major GE5670 related announcement

 

Pro iDSD front panel 

Part 1:

 

Part 2:

 

Pro iDSD - The GTO filter  

Part 1/4 (and the 5.3C FW release announcement):

Pro iDSD - The MQA firmware 

FW 2.01:

 

 

[AMR/iFi audio]

So we'll be able to get the full rundown this weekend in Denver, right?

 

--David

 

 

We'll show a thing or two there, yes.

 

 

P.S. Brits say "Dang!" these days? Whatever is the world coming to?

 

We sometimes do. That's the effect of running global operation

[AMR/iFi audio]

Pseudo-leak!

 

I see it as an early indication that all shall be revealed, and that all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]29595[/ATTACH]

 

Yessss, that exactly....

[AMR/iFi audio]

And we have some goodies from RMAF!

 

[AMR/iFi audio]

What is THAT on the bottom of that stack of gear??!?!?! I see binding posts on it! Is that a power amplifier in a "Pro" series chassis???? Maybe a "iAmp Pro"????

 

It's our iEnergiser. This is an amplifier dedicated to work with electrostatic headphones.

 

And I guess it's high time to let Pro iDSD skeleton out of our closet!

[AMR/iFi audio]

This is the latest vid from RMAF directly!

 

[video=youtube;y8EN8-9uxsw]

[AMR/iFi audio]

Alright, to make it a bit more clear, this is how it works on our end:

 

Yes, we could be silent about upcoming products, that's one way of handling these. But it was decided long time ago that this is not our approach. We want to involve people and make them interested. Moving on, we share what we currently can. Yes, in a teasing fashion, which might be seen by some of you as childisch and that's understandable to a degree. From one perspective this is a marketing related attitude, but on the other end we share what we can and when we are certain that things in our skunkworks are on required quality level. We want to share small bits of informations because:

 

a.) It makes you guys and girls interested

b.) You know that things are on the move at our camp

 

 

TLDR: we can't give out every detail right away. But we deliver what we can!

 

Stay strong and be positive!

[AMR/iFi audio]

 

...a sound philosophy:

 

 

Yes, that exactly!

[AMR/iFi audio]

Any news or a link to the new mini widgets. The signal cleaners black and red ones? Couldn't find anything...

Apologies off topic...

 

Sent from my SM-G900F using Computer Audiophile mobile app

 

Once we can share ANY informations, rest assured we will

[AMR/iFi audio]

While waiting for some further info (i.e.: when will the product be released......?), I've a question.

 

Is the set of products meant for the electricity purification (iPurifier, iDefender, iSilencer...) going to be needed in conjunction with Pro iDSD, or are their functions already taken into account within the DAC?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

We'll get back to that once official iDSD Pro information afloats, but it's safe to assume that our products usually have our tech inside to some degree.

[AMR/iFi audio]

I am losing interest too. The mytek brooklyn Is catching my eye with the phono input. Apologies if this question has been asked and answered already, but will the idsd pro have this? I see on on the photos what appears to be a phono grounding post. Can someone confirm/deny this? This will be the deciding factor for me.

Vinyl is perhaps the most onerous source of all. It requires precise dialling-in of a multitude of settings. The iPhono2 user manual sheds more light on this. Please feel free to take a look:

http://ifi-audio.com/wp-content/uploads/data/manual/micro%20iPhono2%20User%20manual.pdf

 

Therefore, there are no plans to incorporate the iPhono2 or an iFi phonostage into the Pro iDSD. Neither will it have analogue inputs. It is a pure thoroughbred, fully balanced DAC with Headphone output.

[AMR/iFi audio]

My impressions were even better Listening with the I can pro as well.. In fact if I were a headfier the combination would cause me many sleepless nights..

 

The dac was so good that the ifi guys present had to politely refuse the immediate payment for it a good friend tried to give in order to purchase It on the spot.. (Ok Just joking.. But It could be True..)

 

We STILL aren't totally happy with it! So we aren't letting it out!

[AMR/iFi audio]

 

Thank you, much appreciated!

[AMR/iFi audio]

'Nuff said!

 

[AMR/iFi audio]

The Pro iESL

First among energizers

The Pro series iESL is an unsurpassed energiser for electrostatic headphones (and transformer-coupled stage for flagship dynamic headphones too).

 

The Pro iESL driven by either the iFi Pro iCAN or a powerful amplifier takes electrostatic headphones to an unprecedented level of performance.

 

Its defining characteristic is a transparency and an ultra-wide dynamic range that is totally natural. The Pro iESL works with Stax, Sennheiser Orpheus and many more.

 

Classic & Cutting Edge Technology

 

The Pro iESL’s three key elements combine the very best in classical approaches with the latest in cutting-edge technology AND superb component quality to deliver the ‘perfectly matched’ headphone experience.

 

•      Atypical Pinstripe Permalloy Core transformer

•      Bias voltage generator

•      Capacitive Battery Power Supply

 

Outstanding Component Quality

 

• One-off, hand-wound, Pinstripe Permalloy Core Transformer
• Wima Capacitors 
• Vishay MELF resistors
• Gold-plated silver and sealed-silver alloy contact relays

 

 

Specifications
Maximum Output voltage:	640V RMS (16Ω/20V in) 320V RMS (64Ω/20V in)
Frequency Response:	5Hz – 50kHz (-3dB)
Input Voltage (Pro iESL):	5V – 9V/1A max
Input Voltage (iPower):	AC 85 – 265V, 50/60Hz
Power Consumption:	< 1W
Dimensions:	213(l) x 206(w) x 63.3(h) mm
Weight:	2.5kg (5.5 lbs)

 

The retail price of the Pro iESL is US$1,399 (ex-tax) or €1,575/£1,395 (incl VAT).

 

Stay tuned, tech stuff coming up shortly!

[AMR/iFi audio]

4 hours ago, occamsrazor said:

Any update on the iDSD Pro?

 

For now this:

 

https://www.phileweb.com/news/audio/201711/03/19231.html

[AMR/iFi audio]

Just now, Totsipaki said:

That display is really Nicer!..

 

 

We believe so as well.

[AMR/iFi audio]

Just now, Totsipaki said:

So will santa bring it this year or we can assume sometime within the rest of the decade?

 

 

No specific dates, sorry. But we're getting there. The picture says a lot though: "We're close". 

[AMR/iFi audio]

On 6.11.2017 at 8:13 PM, Totsipaki said:

Well hope is the last one to die they say where I come from..

 

 

So they say indeed. Rest assured that in case of our Pro iDSD it's not a matter of hopes 

 

Clock's ticking....tick... tock...

[AMR/iFi audio]

Preview – Pro series - part 1/5

Pro iDSD

Is there anything like it?

 

Introduction

 

Over the past few years iFi audio has delighted audiophiles and confounded industry experts with its growing range of high-quality, low-cost and very portable digital-to-audio converters (DACs). Music fans on the move could at last listen to Direct Stream Digital (DSD) on well-built portable devices that didn’t cost the Earth (£500 and under in fact).

 

Now, iFi is set to rock the digital world again with the launch of iDSD Pro, a ground-breaking Quad DAC that will be used across the next generation of iFi products. Yes, it’s taken a while to come to market but, boy, has it been worth the wait! There is simply nothing like it.

 

Coming up next, you'll be able to feast your eyes on our Pro iDSD jaw-dropping features. Rest assured that very shortly you'll see what we mean.

 

Stay tuned!

 

P.S. This might look like one fine Xmas tease and it is. But then again, it's so much more on top of that, things are going to happen very soon.

 

 

 

[AMR/iFi audio]

47 minutes ago, Totsipaki said:

What's the antenna for? Does It contain a streamer?

 

It has a wireless functionality.

[AMR/iFi audio]

Preview – Pro series - part 2/5

Jaw-dropping features

 

1) Quad DAC section

 

The iDSD Pro uses a Quad ‘stack’ of the iFi Bit-Perfect DSD and DXD DAC by Burr-Brown in a custom ‘interleaved’ configuration. This enables a total of eight pairs of differential signals to be used and mixed – that’s four pairs of signals per channel.

While the iDSD Pro includes field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) for digital remastering duties – where we believe they excel – there are also external D/A sections, with a limited number of elements. In the iDSD Pro we use four interleaved 64-Element converters, to create a 256-Element DAC per channel, manufactured at high level of precision.

All signals to the DACs are re-clocked with the low-jitter Global Master Timing® master clock derived from the AMR DP-777.

 

2) Studio DSD Remastering

 

Bit-Perfect or Upsampled

 

All digital processing is Bit-Perfect, without employing an Asynchronous Sample Rate Converter (ASRC), or by up-sampling unless digital filters are explicitly selected. A variety of digital filters (including Bit-Perfect mode without digital filtering) are available.

 

The iDSD Pro supports both USB 3.0 Type B connections and USB 3.1 Type C connections – a first for a DAC. All inputs (including USB) are galvanically isolated and the USB input is self-powered. The SPDIF inputs use technology derived from the AMR DP-777 including a new, solid-state implementation of the HD-VDi, memory buffer and the Global Master Timing® clock system.

 

Click on this link for more information on iFi’s SPDIF solution:

http://www.amr-audio.co.uk/html/dp777_tech-papers_spdif.html

 

 

Next Generation X-Core 200

 

 

The iDSD Pro features the new XMOS XU216 X-Core 200 Series 16-Core processor with a maximum of 2,000 MIPS (two billion instructions per second) calculation power in dual-issue mode as a USB interface. It can decode signals from all Inputs, from USB (up to 768kHz/DSD512), AES/EBU or S/PDIF (up to 192kHz/24Bit) and Wifi/Network/Mass-storage (up to 192kHz/32Bit).

 

Stay tuned!

[AMR/iFi audio]

5 minutes ago, Em2016 said:

 

Hello, can you share more info on this? 

 

The iDSD Pro will itself up-sample internally up to DSD512 using the mentioned FPGAs? Or higher?

 

 

In the not too distant future we will explain everything.

[AMR/iFi audio]

Preview – Pro series - part 3/5

Even more jaw-dropping features

 

Hi-Res Network Audio

 

As the flagship in iFi Audio’s formidable fleet of DACs, the iDSD Pro is extremely highly specified. In addition to traditional inputs, it features:

• WiFi/network playback system with leading streaming services (see below)
• MQA decoding onboard for the maximum quality of playback via MQA music files or streaming. 
• Wide protocol support including Airplay and USB Memory/Hard Drive/SD Card playback to make a full standalone streamer/network audio player with 32 Bit/192kHz & DSD64 support.

The iDSD Pro gives you plenty of options for playing music online. Here are a few of them:

1. Play direct from SD card
2. Airplay Network Audio Playback from iPhone, iPad, Mac Computers
3. Use Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) to playback from smartphones, tablets and Windows/Linux computers
4. Stream playback from Amazon Music, Audible, Spotify, TIDAL, Napster, Spotify Connect, and QQPlayer
5. Playback from Hard disk drive, USB Memory or SDHC Memory Card
6. Playback from Network Attached Storage (NAS)

 

Zero Jitter for all inputs

For all inputs data is sent to the aforementioned Memory Buffer, which iFi describes as ‘large’ and ‘elastic’. Here it is de-jittered to eliminate any transmission of source jitter to the DAC output. The data from the Memory Buffer is further re-clocked by with the low-jitter Global Master Timing® clock, which also drives the X-Core 200 & FPGA.

 

Click on this more information on iFi’s jitter solution:

 

http://www.amr-audio.co.uk/html/dp777_tech-papers_jitter.html

 

Studio Remastering

While the X-Core 200 is favourable for USB Audio, AES/EBU/SPDIF decoding and decoding MQA, DSD, it is not the best platform for DSP, digital filters and PCM-to-DSD conversion. This is where the iDSD Pro’s Studio DSD Remastering system comes in. It excels at handling the Upsampling and Digital Filter duties and has at its heart the Crysopeia FPGA Digital Engine for digital filtering and PCM to DSD remastering, up to DSD1024.

Upsampling in hardware, on board has enabled iFi Audio to overcome the current USB limitation of DSD512 as well as implement multiple filters optimised for specific time-domain behaviour, including that of the DAC and Analogue stage, a level of optimisation not possible in generic software upconversion (as found in Foobar et al).

 

The five filters available are:

1. ‘Bit-Perfect’              No digital filtering is applied, 1 Tap
2. ‘Bit-Perfect+’            No digital filtering is applied, 1 Tap
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

Stay tuned, there's more!

[AMR/iFi audio]

1 minute ago, RichB said:

 

Well, hopefully Roon end point capability will only be something along the lines of a firmware update in the future.... going through all AMR/iFi has done to make the unit Airplay (which is limited to 16/44 right?), DLNA, Spotify, tidal etc network capable and not giving the unit the ability to be a Roon end point  does not make great sense to me (for a DAC of this caliber). Looking forward to reading more about the tube/as output stage/design (and maybe a rear panel pic would be nice too so we can see the pile of inputs and outputs this thing has).

 

Network infrastructure is one thing we don't control in 100%. Roon viable on Pro iDSD might happen one day, that's all we have to say in this matter for now.