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

[MoWa]

Hi Em2016 (and IFI)

 

I think they are “ignoring” your question regarding the volume control position on the iCAN, since I guess there is a hardware  “problem” in the analogue circuit.

 

I have connected my Pro iDSD balanced and unbalanced to my iCAN and with both connections and the output of the Pro iDSD set to fixed hifi, I will hardly (actually never) rotate the volume knob on the iCAN beyond the 9 clock position and the volume level at 9 clock is quite high. This applies to all of my 3 major headsets, Utopia, Clear and Elear. I listen to them in balanced mode, but this is what it was designed for - right ?

 

In front of  the Pro iDSD I am running Roon transport with the volume control set to DAC only - like it should be, in order to have a lossless data transmission to the DAC. I am streaming own AIFF and Tidal files, and there is no difference really regarding the high volume output on the iCAN, making it operate in an unconvenient area of the volume controller...hmm.

 

I have figured this already in the very beginning and started therefore to use the Pro iDSD in variable hifi mode, but the sound quality is audibly better in fixed hifi mode.

 

I think it is a pitty, since otherwise both units are by far the best what I had the pleasure to use in my set-up until today.

 

P.S. Roon sounds better to my ears than Aurdivana (I am running it on a mac). Just my 2 cents.

 

 

 

 

[MoWa]

Thanks.

 

Before I give up the balanced mode and use an output with an additional resistor to consume some of the power, I would rather have the volume knob between 8-9 clock or use “hifi variable” at the iDSD. 

 

Puhhh, if f.e. the big Focals are also put into the “oversensitive” category, then they probably tested only with power hungry headphones like Audeze and are not really following the actual trends on the market - But I think they just lost it. 

 

However, what shall they say to us without voluntarily offer a free change (and admitting a mistake). They went with the concept of not altering the volume in the digital domain, due to quality reasons, there it could be easily fixed (we can still do this f.e. in Roon, but with some degrading of the signal quality). 

 

They have so many connection possibilities at the iDSD and the iCAN, but lost focus to allow headphones with higher sensitivity (as they become more and more common these days for both uses at home and portable) the best possible audio quality.

 

I would bet, that the next version of the iCAN will be able to deal with this, since now they know. 

 

P.S. Hope, that the MQA update comes as advised. On the new website this functionality is not advertised anymore, or at least I haven’t found it. 

 

Maybe their testing group for new stuff is not big enough. 

[MoWa]

38 minutes ago, Em2016 said:

 

Actually they have an even better solution in the xDSD... A digitally controlled, analogue volume control. It works really well. Very transparent.

 

The future Pro xDSD and Pro xCAN should eliminate all  volume range related issues.

 

 

 

Makes sense, a follow on Pro xLine based on the xDSD’s growing popularity (I have one also), with all the problems sorted out. 

 

So I am part of a big field test without knowing it ? Then I take back, that the testing group at ifi may be to small. 

 

Maybe I should sell my ifi Pro’s now, and go back to Chord while waiting, before the ifi Pro’s drop in value, when everybody knows about the Pro xLINE coming.

 

Sounds very logical, what you say, I think it will be this way, the only question is when. 

[MoWa]

4 minutes ago, Em2016 said:

 

I made up Pro xDSD and Pro xCAN. So I hope nobody reading this starts rumours. It was just a bit tongue in cheek / semi-joking.

 

But the reception about the volume control with xDSD has been so positive, it kind of makes sense in my mind that this is where they will go one day, if I were a guessing man.. 

 

I was very quite happy with Pro iDSD demo, on it's own. If I were to add a separate headphone amp, it needs to be transparent and allow good range of the volume knob. I'll try the 3.5mm SE output of Pro iCAN, otherwise will wait to see what else comes up.

 

I have to be honest, I've always had a great experience with iFi products and iFi support. They've been very generous in answering my questions, so I can't knock them.

 

 

No, no rumors, just guessing. 

 

Ifi is very welcome to my universe to and I have read also about the history of their co-founder Torsten Loesch. It is a lucky coincidence for us audiophiles, that such a talent has this pure desire for good sound and takes action to. 

 

Once, again I guess, your “idea” is perfectly marketable. You do not discontinue the Pro iLine you bring in a new Pro xLine which is a bit slimmed down, f.e. without the tubes etc. Then the early adopters do not feel cheated and you can widen your margin.

 

If ifi has such plans, then it shall be quick, in order to ride the success wave of the xDSD. 

 

So this was my last guessing about this “rumor” subject. 

[MoWa]

17 minutes ago, Em2016 said:

 

I see you're using Roon too. What is your source? Just a direct USB connection from PC/Mac to Pro iDSD? Or a USB streamer?

 

So far I have only started to use Roon, before I used Audirvana for years. We can argue about the file handling, although I like already, that Roon shows you the available versions of a song. 

 

I am still the old fashioned way with a direct USB connection from a Mac. 

 

I do not run DSD files and I am hoping for MQA. Older music can also not really be pimped up, if they already screwed it during the recording. 

 

I was always thinking, why not make a simple file transfer to the DAC and do everything from there. No more jitter or clock issues then. It took some time coming in this direction, however it is questionable, if the streaming services do like this, I mean a kind of music download outside of their software. 

[MoWa]

3 hours ago, jimdukey said:

Dsd upsampling with HQ is great!

From pcm and dsd files.

 

Trying it today, first impression is good, but requires a lot of computing power. 

[MoWa]

On 8/25/2018 at 11:26 AM, jimdukey said:

Dsd upsampling with HQ is great!

From pcm and dsd files.

 

Tried it and like it. 

 

Use HQplayer and Roon as the transport now to convert and upsample to DSD256 (cannot get higher). Sounds better, than the in built remastering machine of the PiDSD. 

 

It does make my veteran Macbook Pro work quite hard now. With one of the poly sinc filters and DSD7 256 the CPU utilisation is apprx. 30%, which is firing the internal fan up occasionally - mostly when I start a new file. 

 

Sound is best so far, what I had until today, worth the money and effort.

 

Thanks for the advice. 

 

[MoWa]

On 8/25/2018 at 3:55 PM, AMR/iFi audio said:

 

Please rest assured that very soon things will happen. MQA is going nicely and will be with you folks soon.

 

Hi ifi,

 

any news regarding the firmware upgrade of the Pro iDSD, to enable MQA ?

 

It is a brave statement of you regarding the GTO filter in a forum, where people are going to painful lengths, in order to run the HQPlayer at full capability.

 

However just my short point of view: I did only use the GTO once I got the Pro iDSD, however after sneaking here into this forum and one guy recommending to try upsampling to DSD with the HQPlayer I became curious...Now I even changed my roon core to a wintel machine, so I can run native  DSD512, which the Mac cannot.

 

I do not know how they do it, but some of the filters in HQPlayer do sound really fantastic and better to my ears, as coming out of the computer in 44,1kHz (or upsampled) and then upsampling only in the Pro iDSD with the GTO filter (or other filters of the iDSD) applied.

 

The different filters in the HQPlayer do sound different and very much like briefly described by the developper. I can distinguish this on my set-up in a reproducable way.

 

What is the truth and what is not: I think it shall be allowed, what makes it good for yourself, but since we are naming us audiophiles it should be within some practical tolerance window, in order to ensure quality reproduction, which I believe there will be a wide range of opinions for. 

 

I was also thinking about a suitable analogy: How about processing pictures or video content with suitable software. Is it closer to reality thereafter or just better for us to see, recognize details and enjoy ?

 

You put tubes into the DAC, which is very nice for getting a relaxed sound - and we can choose it, if we like it -, but after switching onto these you do not need to discuss any longer about differences coming from the different upsampling filters, the sound alterations coming from the tubes are bigger than that.

 

The Pro iDSD is also a super DAC when fed with native DSD512, without any further processing before conversion, and we do also have the GTO and the conversion to DSD1024 inside, so we can choose - perfect.

 

Now we are waiting for the MQA support.

 

....