No more dropped USB connection!

[bluesman]

It's been about 3 weeks since I decided to try leaving my iFi Nano LE on 24/7.  We recently got back from a week in the Pacific Northwest.  Of course, my first concern on entering the apartment was to see if the iFi was still up and running.....and it was!  So it appears that the way to avoid having to unplug and replug the USB cable to re-establish function is to leave the unit powered up.  After about 3 continuous weeks of power, it's not at all warm.  It works fine and sounds great.

 

This is, of course, ridiculous.  A simple patch to the firmware should easily maintain the connection, given that similar units from other manufacturers do not seem to suffer the same problem.  But I doubt very much that my returning this unit would change the total lack of response from iFi to many such complaints - the company clearly doesn't care.  So I've decided to keep this as my token iFi purchase and as a reminder to more thoroughly vet even established commercial sellers along with products.

 

Actionable lesson learned: 

 

• For us:  if your iFi DAC drops USB connectivity or functionality when you turn it off, leave it on.
• For iFi: 

1. If you know you have a bug in a product, acknowledge it.  Then try very hard to find and offer solutions, even if the first one is only a work-around like leaving it on 24/7.  
2. Read your website carefully and correct or remove misleading content. Don't say in big type that Linux should work fine and that no drivers are needed, and then tell customers that you don't support use of your products with Linux when they inquire about a functional problem.
3. Know your customers.  Many of us use Linux-based players like Roon ROCK, and to blow us all off is simply bad business practice (and very rude).  All those Raspberry Pi renderers out there run a Linux distro of some kind, and you have an entire product line dedicated to small sources like phones, tablets and SBCs most of which run a Linux distro or an OS similar to or derived from Linux.  Your products are generally excellent, so your technical expertise, communication, and support should be equally great. They are not.

[AMR/iFi audio]

@bluesmanYou have a PM!