ifi iDAC2, iPurifier2, and good Cables. WOW - iDAC2 Feet Solution inside.

[Bionic]

Hello Everyone,

 

First time poster here and I just want to start by kissing some booty, I love ifi!!!

 

Ok, so recently I got a iDAC2 and iPurifier2. and I gotta say these are great additions to my system, nut I use very good solid cables that do place tension on the devices, especially on the far end of the iPurifier2 sticking out of the iDAC2... so I made a solution for us all, using sugru from sugru.com

 

I used pure white because it was all I had, but I can change it in the future as it is very easy to get off once removed. but sticks solidly forever... unless you rip it off and clean it.

 

So here are a few images of this.

[Bionic]

 

 

[REVIEW] - ifi iDAC2, ifi iPurifier2, AudioQuest Coffee .75m USBC->USBA, AudioQuest Yukon 1m RCA

Equipment Connected To:
1. PC, $4500 badass PC using Asus Striker Formula II Motherboard
2. Or Dell XPS Laptop
3. Klipsch 12-inch sub, 450w
4. Sub cables are Monoprice 35ft High-quality Coaxial Audio/Video RCA
5. Klipsch RF-82ii x 4
6. Klipsch RP-450c Center
7. Rear channel speakers are Technics 1979 model Bookshelf speakers
8. Onkyo NR-747 Receiver 110wpc set to (all-channel-stereo) @ 7.1.1
9. UPS Battery backup by APC
10. OneAC Power Conditioner
11. Samsung 65inch MU8500 series TV 4k UHD HDR
12. Xbox One X
13. Xbox 360
14. PS4
15. Wii U
16. AC Infinity AIRCOM T8
17. ASUS Router 
18. Cat7e Ethernet Cable
19. Time Warner 200/20 internet
20. Bowers and Wilkind C-5 earbuds

If you do not want to read the rest of the review, the end result is that the additions, including the cables made a significant difference and I will tell you why and how precisely. Including what specifically each piece added… or took away to the overall sound and experience.
In the beginning there was Klipsch and clean power.

Power Conditioner->UPS Battery->PC->Onkyo NR-747->Klipsch

Prior to adding the mentioned reviewed equipment (ifi iDAC2, ifi iPurifier2, AudioQuest Coffee .75m USBC->USBA, AudioQuest Yukon 1m RCA) the sound was harsh. I kept complaining of the Klipsch RF-82ii tweets being to bright and too harsh at a good loud volume. On some songs I would swear I had a blown tweeter. The musical notes all seems to be one mashed together (mess) for lack of a better term. The music didn’t have that (goosebumps) quality. The mid and low sounds all seemed to be a blob. And the highs were just loud, and all together it was loud and fairly clear but mainly just loud. Music just always seemed to play a touch too fast too from any player. All of them. Spotify Premium, Tidal HiFi, Deezer Premium, Amazon Music, and YouTube Music. I mean Michael Jackson seemed really BAD…. The speakers seemed to float in their cabinets not hit precisely like I expected. I thought I needed more cleaner power at this point and was going to do that with $$$$$. Mind you I have shitty power into my apartment that I clean heavily now. I have already spent a lot of time positioning speakers for the stage and they are good but I may reconsider now.

I won’t mention song timing again until I get all equipment in place at the end as it does not improve until then and I didn’t know until the end of the testing with the final results.
Mind you I thought it sounded ok, and so did everyone else. I mean you are surrounded by copper drivers…and that fact I didn’t realize what was causing all of this nor did I realize what I was missing, so if you do not have the $1000 to drop on two cables and a DAC, well just be friggin happy cause it still sounds pretty darn fair. I did however prove that I was missing the larger picture, the one that gives you goosebumps even on a regular song. And I will elaborate. And to me… I am a believer truly in good clean inbound signal due to high grade cables and quality source.

Since you made reading this far you are probably interested to know what I have experienced and what you might expect of you also try this or a similar combination. I suggest you buy these pieces, use them, swap out components, and if you don’t experience what I do then ship it back to Amazon, no harm no foul. My equipment is mid-range. So, this really made a terrific improvement. So here we go to the good stuff. 
The good stuff starts with the fact that with Tidal the initial seconds of play of any song always starts a second or two into the sound, problem solved with one of the solutions below.

Power Conditioner->UPS Battery->PC-> ifi iDAC2-> Onkyo NR-747->Klipsch

Then onto simply adding in the iDAC to the system with a typical low-quality cable, USB and RCAs…. To and from the iDAC. The sound although altered by the DAC sounded much relaxed the sounds did still seem to be a tad blobbed together. Not distinct, just a good relaxed sound you might expect from a top tier Marantz, or older tube am sets. The Tidal delay was still present here with lesser quality cables but slightly less significant. So, I was curious as I am sure you are, what did adding in the iPurfier2 and badass cables do… Well I am going to tell you.

At this point we have in place the iDAC2 and lesser quality cables, and the sound in the mid-range is blobby, and the bass, well not very tight, just relaxed. So, the iDAC is doing its job I say. Not to mention is taking in the Tidal 16/44.1@141 and migrating it to 24/192000@1411 and I did verify this is the case. Altering it the PC settings not only alters the sound, but it alters what displays in the ifi app on the PC and the light indicating 24/192 is shown on the iDAC. Some say it won’t alter the sound but I assure you it does. A lot! It adds depth, clarity, and separation, not to mention longer lasting cymbal crashes etc…but this is just the base, and you gotta start here. But we are far from perfect, you just bitted up your source material, the signal is still corrupted.

Power Conditioner->UPS Battery->PC->iPurifier2->ifi iDAC2->Onkyo NR-747->Klipsch

Adding in one at a time, I started with the iPurifier2 first, with the less quality cables still in place. What I can tell you is this. If you aren’t going to drop a load on two beastly cables… then getting some decent cables and adding the iPurifier2 from ifi is a single handed mega improvement to that lesser quality cable setup, and when I say massive I mean it, but that line moved significantly toward (better) just by adding in the beastly RCA without using the AudioQuest USB Coffee Cable... Just adding the iPurifier2 and the better RCAs was a great result as the purifier cleaned up a ton of the trouble on the USB line on the lesser quality USB Cable from the PCs. You could just stop here and be happy. BUT, and it is a LARGE BUT… because the sound is only about 65-70% of what I would say what you can experience, and I mean it. No joke. Everything songs groovy here, and it's only $375 iDAC and a $100 ifi iPurifier2 and some cheaper cables. It does however get much better no matter how groovy it improved.

At this point we are using the ifi iDAC, and the iPurifier2 along with to lesser quality cables and the results are fairly close to perfect...but not exact, and EXACT is where we are headed my friends. And FAST… did I mention fast? I must still repeat, we still have blobby in the mid sound and the music is relaxed due to the iDAC, however the addition of the iPurifier did due a decent amount to add clarity and separation her in this distinct setup using the lower quality cables. And it sounded great at this point. The Tidal delay was still present at song startup typically. But not always. We have basically amplified the signal and corrected it from a cheap usb cable into the iDAC.

Power Conditioner->UPS Battery->PC-> iPurifier2->ifi iDAC2->Yukon RCA->Onkyo NR-747->Klipsch

Next, I added the AudioQuest Yukon 1m RCA Clarity did SLIGHTLY improve and the separation was better…possibly, and the quality of the length of the cymbal crashed etc… was right on target (I thought!)… that is until I added the beastly USB cable from AudioQuest later.. and more on that in a moment. The tidal delay was still there occasionally and I really hate that. Like at the beginning of the song Cherry bomb, that very initial hit on the snare was often just not there, or barely represented due to delay I guess? Even through the iDAC much improved this response delay. The RCAs well they really didn’t make as much of a benefit as I had hoped at this stage and I was disappointed. BUT, that I learned was a mistake… They did make it sound better at this time in the test. But a good quality cable at this point not beastly would suffice. And again, you can choose to stop here. And have wonderful sound but experience the occasional Tidal delay in processing at least when using my Onkyo to do the processing this was a real issue and I mean a 4-5 second delay issue.

Now we have in place the iDAC, Yukon RCA, and iPurifier2. And well. Its nice to listen to for once in the life of my speakers. I but the louder I take it the more it distorts, and the sound is still making me wonder if I have a blown tweeter still sometimes. And I am not entirely satisfied but I think I am. with the sound just not the tidal delay that is still here with me on the occasional song. And its pissng me off.

I grabbed the AudioQuest Coffee USBC->USBA cable… set it all up. Again.

Power Conditioner->UPS Battery->PC->Coffee USB->iPurifier2->ifi iDAC2->Yukon RCA->Onkyo NR-747->Klipsch

It’s all in place now. And WHAM Tidal Delay gone... and no delay at all, and I mean at all anytime anywhere. Everything seems snappy, and FAST! Even the speakers seemed to be responding faster and with an accuracy I knew the Klipsch were capable of but since I only have my system didn’t know I didn’t have. Even though I was using all Klipsch. The song now sounds like its timing is perfect, and I have NEVER heard anything like it. EVER from my moderate system… and I am IMPRESSED. For once.

For that relaxed sound the iDAC added and was looking to create and improve upon, this single addition (Coffee USB) was the CRUX. It fixed the Tidal delay, and all sounds are exact, separate, and long. Deep with a stage I didn’t think ws possible in my room with concrete walls. A lot of what I thought was reflection is gone, although I need to improve that. The accuracy at this point is right on track. And I will not be returning any of this stuff. Not one bit and I will explain why below because I too thought maybe I could get away with one lesser cable ere or there. And good cables maybe, but not cheap-o ones. Cinnamon style at least.

Power Conditioner->UPS Battery->PC->Coffee USB->iPurifier2->ifi iDAC2-> Onkyo NR-747->Klipsch

Removing the Yukon RCAs took away accuracy, clarity, separation, and sound stage. In a way I thought stepped back a good 10% overall... So, I will be keeping these.

Power Conditioner->UPS Battery->PC->Coffee USB-> ifi iDAC2->Yukon RCA->Onkyo NR-747->Klipsch

Keeping the complete setup and removing the iPurifier took away at lest 10% accuracy if not 15% and I mean it.. it did wonders with accuracy after adding a good quality USB inline and seemingly more appropriate power handling from the driver. The speakers just seemed to float before instead of hit. Trails of sound ended more abruptly after the removal and were not as long or significant. In songs like Tiny Dancer the Hiss was unbearable again. The iPurifier had to come back inline.

Overall, I must say it took it all to get where I am at the moment and that is with it all installed.

Power Conditioner->UPS Battery->PC->Coffee USB->iPurifier2->ifi iDAC2->Yukon RCA->Onkyo NR-747->Klipsch

I am happy. In total it all was $1113 + tax. For Coffee USB->iPurifier2->ifi iDAC2->Yukon RCA. Taking away just about any piece took that accurate and very precise sound away. You could get yourself Power Conditioner-> SOURCE->GOOD USB->iPurifier2->ifi iDAC2->GOOD RCA and be about 90-95% there and not spend $350 on a USB ad $279 on an RCA set… that are all a meter or less long each at that. I am going to vote do NOT get the iPurifier2 without a GREAT or at least good USB cable. You will simply amplify bad signal… and you may initially be happy but after long listening you will revert. I would…

I for one now see what needs to be done, how truly degraded the source I was feeding into my amps was, not to mention clicky-poppy PC sounds that no longer make it to the speakers… HOORAY! And a Tidal delay that is no longer present, with accuracy and precision I did not think was possible with the equipment I had worked so hard to purchase. I truly up until today thought I needed to go get Klipsch RS-7iii because the tweets in the RF-82ii were lesser… well they are just fine. I am going to say I do know the RS-7iii would be a terrific upgrade no doubt. And I am headed toward better amps, and better speakers next.

I get goosebumps from this middle of the road system now. And I can say WOW, this is what I thought I was buying when I bought the Onkyo and Klipsch in the beginning, and now I know why I didn’t get that until today. The I was amplifying a terrible inbound signal. And then outputting it over a cable that further degraded that. I wonder what speaker cables will do... sheesh… those are going to be Cinnamon grade. I cannot afford the lengths I will need any higher grade.

I hope each of you try this. I did quite a bit of research before buying. Also, if you want RCA in this iDAC2 is not for you. The Chord mojo is the only other one I would buy.

PC->Coffee USB->iPurifier2->ifi iDAC2->Yukon RCA->Onkyo NR-747->Klipsch

At the end, I went as far as to unhook the UPS and Power Conditioner still using the new stuff added and what I got was that Tidal delay back, most of the time. This also occurred when I added back the (lesser quality cables) so that is a great start. Also, the sound and the performance of the unit (ifi iDAC2) was stuttered or just slower to respond it seemed. During songs occasionally you would hear some weird distortion etc.. So, I guess clean power is a good place to start.
One last thing. This is my opinion. If you have genuine great high-quality components… Then you probably already have good cables. But her I sit 1.5 years after initial system purchase and only today did it finally sound like I thought it would when I brought it home. Thanks to $1100 and some time.

No kidding, I had to go around and fix creaks and vibrations in pictures on the wall and a item or two sitting on speakers that I could not hear before because the music was so harsh before these great additions.

[AMR/iFi audio]

Whoa! Impressive piece or work you did there! Thank you for a very nice and thorough description of your ride!

 

iDAC2 is one great giant slayer! This machine is second only to our recently released and far costlier Pro iDSD and for a number of reasons! We'll explain these in the upcoming days, maybe then you'll like iFi audio even more...

 

Thanks and please stay tuned!

[stuck limo]

On 6/14/2018 at 10:55 AM, Bionic said:

 

 

 

I get goosebumps from this middle of the road system now. And I can say WOW, this is what I thought I was buying when I bought the Onkyo and Klipsch in the beginning, and now I know why I didn’t get that until today. The I was amplifying a terrible inbound signal. And then outputting it over a cable that further degraded that. I wonder what speaker cables will do... sheesh… those are going to be Cinnamon grade. I cannot afford the lengths I will need any higher grade.

 

Send this man some cables! Great write-up, dude. I recently added an AQ Carbon USB and the change from a generic USB C cable was enormous. More space between instruments and vocals, a more relaxed presentation, everything was tighter with more control, with better vocal tone and space. Very happy with the sound.