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Suggestions for a low-cost DAC?


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2 hours ago, Taz777 said:

@Paul R I have the iFi Nano iDSD BL. It's really a transportable DAC (portable at a pinch). Sound is okay and it does have a 3.5mm line out. Not really a desktop device, although it does do MQA decoding in hardware. My opinion of it is that it's really a DAC to get the most out of mobile phones when you're on the move. It works well in that respect and there's some clever tech in it to cope with headphones that use balanced or unbalanced cables.

 

@left channel Okay, so it looks like the device will auto-switch power inputs. Perhaps the manual is out of synch? I noticed that the manual is dated 2017.

 

Yes, I have the iFi iDSD Nano original, and have ran it in a main system. It surprised me from the startexactly how good it sounds. I woukd not hesitate for a srcond to put it in a main system, especially running iff the battery. 

 

I recently ordered the iFi iDSD Micro BL, and plan tomostly use it as a headphone Dac/Amp combo, but I have great expectations for it. 

Anyone who considers protocol unimportant has never dealt with a cat DAC.

Robert A. Heinlein

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2 hours ago, Paul R said:

 

Yes, I have the iFi iDSD Nano original, and have ran it in a main system. It surprised me from the startexactly how good it sounds. I woukd not hesitate for a srcond to put it in a main system, especially running iff the battery. 

 

I recently ordered the iFi iDSD Micro BL, and plan tomostly use it as a headphone Dac/Amp combo, but I have great expectations for it. 

 

Dang, I forgot draft messages can post from my iPhone sometimes, operator error of some kind I am sure. I scrambled down the response above quickly on my iPhone, but I intended to edit out the typos and poor grammar before sending it. Sorry!

 

iFi DACs are little short of amazing to me. Even more so given their very reasonable cost.

 

Yours,

-Paul

 

 

Anyone who considers protocol unimportant has never dealt with a cat DAC.

Robert A. Heinlein

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  • 1 month later...
2 hours ago, jabbr said:

 

Yeah so there is this overloading weirdness ... by overloading I mean that unplugging external power switches the device into battery mode, and so you then need to turn on and off to get it back to bus powered mode ... I think the battery then dies and it obviously shiuts off ...  ugghhhhh!

 

The iFi sounds fantastic but its UI is awful. The Pro-ject, I can sit down, hit Room on my iPhone and listen to the music streaming at DSD512 without turning everything on and off 10 times first.

 

None of those problems here with me, either with the original iDSD NaNO, or with an iDSD Micro BL. I leave them on USB power all the time though. You should just have to turn it on one time, with it connected to USB. Then it will work like, forever? The battery will never die, etc. 

 

Unless of course, you guys are letting the music player machine go to sleep. If you do that, the iFi will switch to battery power and die off after 10 or so hours. So the answer is, just don't do *that*. Leave the music machine powered on 24x7.  It will extend the computer's life span anyway. :)

 

-Paul 

 

Anyone who considers protocol unimportant has never dealt with a cat DAC.

Robert A. Heinlein

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11 minutes ago, jabbr said:

 

In my case I'm using ARM devices for which I often have to custom compile a linux kernel, so yeah who knows? At some point I just want to plug it in and have it work and not worry about these details. ... I'm of the philosophy that I probably put up with more glitchiness than 99% of people out there (other than the other Phasure customers 😂 -- sorry not sorry @PeterSt) and so there's a lot to be said for simple plug and play -- the S2D wins big in this category ;) 

 

LOL!, Well , that is actually fun. You do know five minutes with an exacto knife and any spare USB charger would eliminate that issue though, right?  :).  Or an iFi iUSB, or any other power source that would be uninterrupted. ;)

 

-Paul 

Anyone who considers protocol unimportant has never dealt with a cat DAC.

Robert A. Heinlein

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20 minutes ago, Jud said:

 

Ah ah ah, pay attention - what is directly connected to the DAC is the ISO Regen, which is indeed always on (and from which the DAC takes its power), and what is connected behind that is the microRendu, also always on.  I'm streaming to the mR in the living room from my desktop machine in the office, and no, I am not leaving the desktop running 24/7.

 

So in essence I've got the situation you describe, Paul, with the DAC always connected to power (though not always charging, as the firmware stops the charging circuit when the battery is sufficiently charged).  But it still frequently drops off the radar of Audirvana+ (UPnP/DLNA) and HQP (NAA).  (I also like XXHighEnd very much, but @PeterSt doesn't recommend or AFAIK configure the software for situations where the computer running XXHE is located remotely from a DAC connected to a microRendu.)

 

 

MMm- I have one directly connected to a uRendu, and from there into an amp which is regularly shut off. 

 

Difference is I am running the uRendu as Roon Ready. Has never failed so far. I suspect it is the software looking for something that causes the drop off the network. The only situation I can think of that causes the iFi to discharge it's battery though, is a loss of power over the USB port. Ah, I see - you have the drop-offs and Jabber has the battery drain. 

 

Those are both great audio programs, but both a a trifle sensitive. 

 

I have also ran the uRendu attached to a Peachtree Nova 150, which literally shuts down the USB when you switch off that particular input, or shut down the power. Roon is smart enough to recognize when the DAC comes back online and make it available. 

 

I know that ain't what you want to hear.  

Anyone who considers protocol unimportant has never dealt with a cat DAC.

Robert A. Heinlein

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6 hours ago, Jud said:

 

Hi Paul - Nothing to do with what I want to hear; I'm happy it works in your situation.

 

Positioning the micro-iDSD as a semi-portable DAC with a battery, but one that is usually connected to power, creates the necessity for firmware that cuts off the power when the battery is sufficiently charged.  This adds complexity and allows the possibility of the buggy operation a number of us have seen.

 

Um - I kinda wonder if the "buggy behavior" is just a conflict of interest. If the DAC is running on battery power, then plugging in a  USB cable cannot be allowed to trigger a switch to bus power. Elsewise, in the portable world, you will be draining people's iPhones very quickly. But you should not be seeing that behavior. 

 

Dropping on and off the net is a protocol issue with the software driving the DAC, not an issue within the DAC itself. 

 

-Paul 

 

Anyone who considers protocol unimportant has never dealt with a cat DAC.

Robert A. Heinlein

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3 minutes ago, Jud said:

 

My first thought too, until I read both Miska and jabbr mentioning frustrations with the iFi firmware specifically.  When the Pro-Ject arrives, I guess we'll see.

 

I am pretty sure those frustrations are the same as mine - mostly dealing with losing DSD512 in a trade off for MQA processing, and the new filters that are always on. It is quote annoying. Even more so since I cannot get mine to go back to 5.2 software. Ah, the joys of dealing with higher end audio! :)

 

The power behavior has always been there, and while frustrating, is easily handled the way you and I both did, by just powering the unit continuously.  To drop off the net, the software holding exclusive access on the net has to see one of two things; either the USB power drops and the unit depowers, or the interface is not held open and times out. The first is hardware, the second is software in the driver. This is a bugaboo of software that holds exclusive access on the port. 

 

Just as an experiment, you might tryin releasing the exclusive access of the port, and see how that affects the stability. (It will cause other problems, but that is the primary one.) 

 

 

 

-Paul 

 

Anyone who considers protocol unimportant has never dealt with a cat DAC.

Robert A. Heinlein

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3 hours ago, Jud said:

 

Paul, jabbr already said in this thread his frustrations mirrored mine, and do you really think Miska would update firmware unaware of the contents of the update?

 

I know your frustrated, but I am not challenging you. I just think the iFi may not be a good choice for you because of the way you want to use it. 

 

Hell, *I* updated the firmware here without realizing it was going to zap some functionality I wanted, and I am certifiably paranoid about firmware updates breaking things. Nobody is perfect.  And, I admit, iFi was on my list of "I don't need to be too paranoid about these people...".  Past tense. 

 

All it takes is letting one of my guys bring down one measly entire enterprise with a Cisco IOS patch, and I thought I had learned my lesson... ;)

 

 

 

-Paul 

 

Anyone who considers protocol unimportant has never dealt with a cat DAC.

Robert A. Heinlein

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