Article: My Quest for a New DAC, Part 4 - iFi Pro iDSD (and friends)

[Blake]

Enjoyed the detailed reviews and the methodology, keep up the good work!  The only part that was confusing was the following part of your summary:

 

"Considered as a standalone DAC, with no upgrades, the Pro iDSD is a standout value at its price point. This would be true based on its impressive feature set alone, but once you add in its outstanding sonics, I’m hard pressed to think of a DAC that can match it at $2495."  

 

I interpreted your review as saying the Yggdrasil A2 beat the Pro iDSD/JS-2 combo in terms of sonics, which also necessarily means the Yggdrasil would beat the Pro iDSD without the upgraded JS-2 power supply.  Therefore, it seems the Yggdrasil would not only match it, but it would beat the stock Pro iDSD at that price from your perspective.  But perhaps you were intending to reference more than sound quality when you wrote that?  

 

In any event, I think reviews without comparisons to competing products are almost meaningless, so I do think your comparisons are very helpful.  The other thought I had is, in my experience, sound staging is a weak point of all headphones (although cans like my HD800 are pretty good in that aspect- for headphones), and sound staging is a point of differentiation when auditioning DAC's.  It would be a hassle, but you might want to consider trying all of the DAC's in your friend's speaker system, as well as with your headphones.

[Blake]

5 hours ago, austinpop said:

 

If there's one thing I've tried to stress in my articles is that there are tradeoffs to consider between 2 excellent units, and it all comes down to what you value. Beyond that, I've certainly indicated my own preference, but that's a personal valuation, not a blanket statement.

 

For sure.  I would think everyone realizes these are just your subjective personal preferences and some, or even many may switch your rankings based on their preferences.

 

The added features on the Pro iDSD may be viewed in a very positive light by a user that likes to constantly change filters or Tube/SS output depending on the user's mood, or the music being played, and has music in multiple formats.  It seems the Pro iDSD is a great choice for that user.

 

I have two DAC's at the moment, one of which has multiple selectable filters and volume control.  Initially I played around a bit with the filters, but once I determined my favorite filter, I never adjusted it after that.  I also found I preferred the sonics using a separate preamp rather than the built-in VC on the DAC.  I tend to think I would not use a feature like selectable SS/Tube output- I would just use the one I like best and then forget about it.  It also seems that certain DAC's are optimized for DSD or PCM.  100% of my music is PCM.  So from a user like me, I'd rather have my dollars going only for better sound quality as opposed to paying for features I will not use.  That is why it is great to have so many DAC options these days.