iFi Audio iGalvanic3.0 - The Holy Grail of Computer Audio

[thuandb]

Being a Mercury 3.0 user, I speculate that the Gemini dual lead 3.0 will even be better going into Micro iUSB 3.0.  As for the USB 2.0 conversion going into DAC, I'm using ifi iPurifier2 with very good result.  OTOH, always looking out for better sounding similar device.

[asdf1000]

On 27/12/2017 at 11:53 PM, One and a half said:

Icron can supply a USB3.0 extender, but it is not backward compatible with USB2.0 480Mbs transmissions

 

There's a new one, compatible with both USB3.1 and USB2.0:

 

http://www.icron.com/products/icron-brand/usb-extenders/cat5/icron-usb-3-2-1-raven-3104/

 

 

[One and a half]

48 minutes ago, Em2016 said:

 

There's a new one, compatible with both USB3.1 and USB2.0:

 

http://www.icron.com/products/icron-brand/usb-extenders/cat5/icron-usb-3-2-1-raven-3104/

 

 

Great find, must have just being released in the last week or so.

 

In my case, I would need to pull out the Cat5e and replace it with a 6a or 7. By the looks of that case, it's not going to be cheap, yup, just under the USD1000. If I were to pull in another cable, may as well include an AES3 110 Ohm digital, another Cat 5, and maybe a fibre for the future.

[asdf1000]

7 minutes ago, One and a half said:

maybe a fibre for the future

 

Or for now! They have the same USB3.1 and USB2.0 compatible extender, over fiber now:

 

http://www.icron.com/products/icron-brand/usb-extenders/fiber/icron-usb-3-2-1-raven-3124/

[Jgwtriode]

Had a fascinating conversation with Alex Crespi and as a result have ordered an ISO Regen and 2 LPS 1.2's.  There has been some apparent silmic chip flim flam.  Well the proof will be in the implementation.  I have been assured the Iso will out perform the Galvanic!  Very Curious.  My Galvanic and W4S recovery may be up for sale in the next few.  Hmmm!

[Superdad]

8 minutes ago, Jgwtriode said:

Had a fascinating conversation with Alex Crespi and as a result have ordered an ISO Regen and 2 LPS 1.2's.  There has been some apparent silmic chip flim flam.  Well the proof will be in the implementation.  I have been assured the Iso will out perform the Galvanic!  Very Curious.  My Galvanic and W4S recovery may be up for sale in the next few.  Hmmm!

 

Not sure what you mean, and frankly your post seems a bit inappropriate for a thread in the AMR/iFi sponsored forum.  

Even though we take different approaches to design and marketing--and iFi is a much larger firm than UpTone--there is mutual respect for each other, certainly with regards to the forums.

Regardless of whether the ISO REGEN or the iGalvanic wins out for you, we hope you enjoy the music.

 

--Alex C.

[Jgwtriode]

Fair enough!  I have no axe to grind and no position to maintain.  This forum was simply a place to share my experience and results.  Products must ultimately stand on their own merits.

 

If anyone is actually interested I will post the results of my comparisons.  That is what I had really hoped to find out in the first place when I started my Galvanic journey.   

 

Based on all the marketing and fuss made by said company I went with this product!  

 

Performance is after all what matters at the end of the day and now being in possession of a better understanding of both price, performance and real explanations I find myself needing to find out for myself.  So at the risk of stepping on a few toes, I will do what I had hoped someone else would have, that is directly compare the Galvanic function of the 3 with the Iso.

 

I was even willing and still may be to switch off the Uptones isolation if the Ifi is in fact better. 

 

We will see! 

 

Considering the price and functionality the Galvanic 3 needs to clearly beat the Iso Regen.

 

So yeah or nay?  

 

[agladstone]

6 minutes ago, Jgwtriode said:

Fair enough!    If anyone is actually interested I will post the results of my comparisons.  That is what I had really hoped to find out in the first place when I started my Galvanic journey.   Based on all the marketing and fuss made by said company I went with this product!  Performance is after all what matters at the end of the day and now being in possession of a better understanding of both price, performance and real explanations I find myself needing to find out for myself.  So at the risk of stepping on a few toes, I will do what I had hoped someone else would have, that is directly compare the Galvanic function of the 3 Vs the Iso.  I was even willing and still may be to switch off the Uptones isolation if the Ifi is in fact better.  We will see!   Considering the price and functionality the Galvanic 3 needs to clearly beat the Iso Regen.

So yeah or nay?  

Please do post your listening impressions and comparison of both , that is the stuff that is helpful to us CA users (unbiased comparisons from actual users vs. pro reviews and comparisons that can be biased). 

The only thing I suggest is to perhaps start a new thread on CA with the comparisons/ listening impressions so that it is not done on a sponsored thread such as this one ? 

[Jgwtriode]

2 minutes ago, agladstone said:

Please do post your listening impressions and comparison of both , that is the stuff that is helpful to us CA users (unbiased comparisons from actual users vs. pro reviews and comparisons that can be biased). 

The only thing I suggest is to perhaps start a new thread on CA with the comparisons/ listening impressions so that it is not done on a sponsored thread such as this one ? 

 

That is an excellent idea!  I will start a new thread...had not really considered that!

 

 

[agladstone]

On 2/2/2018 at 6:32 PM, thuandb said:

Being a Mercury 3.0 user, I speculate that the Gemini dual lead 3.0 will even be better going into Micro iUSB 3.0.  As for the USB 2.0 conversion going into DAC, I'm using ifi iPurifier2 with very good result.  OTOH, always looking out for better sounding similar device.

So after 1 week of almost continuous burn in on the new Genmi 3.0 Y Split USB cable,,, I’ve decided to return it!! It does not sound very good in my system! It seems to roll off the treble a bit and bloat the low end and take away some of the air, separation and details I had when using two Cardas Highspeed 2.0 USB cables (one in to IFI Micro iUSB 3.0 from Aurender music server and a second out from

Micro iUSB 3.0). 

I ended up deciding to have Cardas build

me a custom made Y split Highspeed 2.0 USB cable. I should have it in about 10 days

[AMR/iFi audio]

1 hour ago, agladstone said:

So after 1 week of almost continuous burn in on the new Genmi 3.0 Y Split USB cable,,, I’ve decided to return it!! It does not sound very good in my system! It seems to roll off the treble a bit and bloat the low end and take away some of the air, separation and details I had when using two Cardas Highspeed 2.0 USB cables (one in to IFI Micro iUSB 3.0 from Aurender music server and a second out from

Micro iUSB 3.0). 

I ended up deciding to have Cardas build

me a custom made Y split Highspeed 2.0 USB cable. I should have it in about 10 days

 

Thank you for your impressions nonetheless!

[thuandb]

Thanks for sharing the report.  Perhaps it's system dependent, but you get me curious about Cardas High speed USB.

[agladstone]

13 hours ago, thuandb said:

Thanks for sharing the report.  Perhaps it's system dependent, but you get me curious about Cardas High speed USB.

I have auditioned and owned at least 15+ USB cables and so far , nothing has sounded better than the Cardas High Speed 2.0 USB! 

It is about the same price as the new Gemni 3.0. 

Also, they will custom make the Y split version if needed for the IFI Micro iUSB 3.0 too! 

If you are in the USA, I ordered mine through The Cable Company and you can tell them when you call you want what I just custom ordered and they will know about it (they had told me absolutely not possible when I inquired, but I pushed them hard to ask Cardas for me and sure enough, they were happy to do it! If enough people ask for them, maybe they will start making them! 

[PPk]

looks like i need some help... i have the igalvanic bundle with ipower and idefender... the idefender has failed on me for the 3rd time(no power when external power source is plugged in, although the external led is lighted up).anyone encounter the same problem as me? 

[AMR/iFi audio]

4 hours ago, PPk said:

looks like i need some help... i have the igalvanic bundle with ipower and idefender... the idefender has failed on me for the 3rd time(no power when external power source is plugged in, although the external led is lighted up).anyone encounter the same problem as me? 

 

Hmm, this is wierd. Please use our support platform, to be found here:

 

http://support.ifi-audio.com/kb/faq.php?id=755

 

We're sure we'll be able to help you from there. 

[PPk]

I'll speak to the local distro(stereo) see if i can return/replace both igalvanic & idefender, and maybe ipower as well(the igalvanic has been acting up/dropping my usb connection since the recent idefender replacement)

[PPk]

suspect something is wrong somewhere.. but can't pinpoint where.. distro suggest it could be due to system compatibility that is causing problem with some of the components.. end up exchange the whole bundle for micro iUSB.. maybe another time for igalvanic..

 

 

but damn.. i miss some of the improvements igalvanic together with idefender provides

[thuandb]

Sorry to hear you have to part with the iG3.  I agree there's something incompatible going on, because it works well elsewhere.  In any event, I bet the iUSB3.0 will bring you nice improvements.  Please let us know how it goes, as I might be interested in upgrading from Nano.

 

Happy listening!

[PPk]

On 31/10/2017 at 4:53 AM, thuandb said:

Updates:  Just switched back to the following configuration,

 

Audiopc --> iDefender (powered by Nano USB 3.0 located farther down the chain) --> Mercury USB 3.0 --> iG3.0 --> Mercury USB 3.0 --> Nano USB 3.0 (powered by iPower and DC iPower) --> Mercury USB 3.0 --> iP2 --> DAC 

 

and this is the best sounding setup setup I have so far.

 

 

Thuandb,

 

when you are testing iusb 3.0 -> IG3 -> DAC, did you use the idfender in between the iusb3 and IG3?

 

i'm just wondering if i will get the best path with iusb 3.0 powering IG3 direct. 

 

 

 

[thuandb]

No, I let the iUSB3 power the iG3 direct.  Only used iDefender powering iG3 when iG3 plugged into PC.

[PPk]

okz.. i wonder if idefender has any effect on the micro iusb... dun have any around to do the test.. ;-p

[thuandb]

Try listening withour iDefender for a while.  You might like it that way,

[AMR/iFi audio]

We'll leave it here... 

 

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

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

 

 

 

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

 

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

[PPk]

On 24/02/2018 at 2:07 PM, thuandb said:

Sorry to hear you have to part with the iG3.  I agree there's something incompatible going on, because it works well elsewhere.  In any event, I bet the iUSB3.0 will bring you nice improvements.  Please let us know how it goes, as I might be interested in upgrading from Nano.

 

Happy listening!

 

 

There's an interesting aspect to micro iusb3... it needs warm up.. it will sound substantially better after at least an hour being powered on..

 

my take on micro iusb3, it's has incredible dynamics, sound stage is wider and emotions from singers will draw you to the music...

 

for iG3, it's the accurancy of the tone, very realistic.. now i'm tempted to head back to get iG3 and stack them together... to get the ultimate...

 

 

 

[thuandb]

Thanks for sharing the impressions.  You're making me want to go the same path.