evolvist said:

Just to clarify, are you saying that you hear little difference in the sonic quality of the iDSD micro in preamp mode, feeding an external amp, or simply very little difference without having the Xbass and 3D capabilities because someone is going preamp out?

Really, if the iDSD micro is designed right, I couldn't imagine the preamp out have very much of an effect at all, only that it's now giving a gain boost. What is that, even in turbo mode you get a max boost going out of RCAs of 5v, compared to direct at 2v. I don't know a whole helluva lot about circuitry and electricity, but what is that, a little less than a 6db gain boost?

A lot would depend on how clean the internal preamp path is.

I just got my iDSD micro on Wednesday, so it's still burning in, but this will be interesting to check, along with the preamp functions of the iTube.

Click to expand...

Preamp is quite clean. It's the EQ features that are meant for speakers that I find to sound off when being fed to an external headphone amp

maricius said:

Preamp is quite clean. It's the EQ features that are meant for speakers that I find to sound off when being fed to an external headphone amp

Click to expand...

You know, I can barely (or maybe not even at all) hear the Xbass or 3D in the iDSD micro running direct to my HP amp. Maybe the effects would be more pronounced if I plugged my cans straight into the iDSD jack. Contrast that to the same effects in the iCAN where they are very pronounced.

Well, this time next week will be the true test. If the iDSD burns in equal to or better than what I heard straight out of the box, then I'm in for a treat.

evolvist said:

You know, I can barely (or maybe not even at all) hear the Xbass or 3D in the iDSD micro running direct to my HP amp. Maybe the effects would be more pronounced if I plugged my cans straight into the iDSD jack. Contrast that to the same effects in the iCAN where they are very pronounced.

Well, this time next week will be the true test. If the iDSD burns in equal to or better than what I heard straight out of the box, then I'm in for a treat.

Click to expand...

When in direct mode, the amplifier section of the iDSD is bypassed therefore, the 3D and XBass mode won't be active. When setting to pre-amp mode, it will be using speaker 3D and XBass mode. It is only when directly connected to 6.3mm of the iDSD that you get headphone 3D and XBass.
 
Hope it helps
Billson 

Just pulled the trigger on one of these
 
Have been looking for a while but couldn't justify the outlay though some xmas savings and selling off some other gear has freed me up in that department so am eager to find out how they perform.
 
I am flying out to San Jose tomorrow (from the UK) so have ordered via Amazon.com and they will get shipped to my hotel by Monday with a nifty $100 saving over the UK price to boot (shame I couldn't do this last time I traveled when the £ to $ rate was much stronger!)
 
Really looking forward to testing them out though the last time I bought a HP Amp of any worth was 15 yrs ago (MF X-Can v2) and that is still doing great service (albeit with some NOS Mil-Spec Russian tubes) it will be a shame to see it replaced but lots of listening to do before that decision needs to be made
 
O.

billsonchang007 said:

  When in direct mode, the amplifier section of the iDSD is bypassed therefore, the 3D and XBass mode won't be active. When setting to pre-amp mode, it will be using speaker 3D and XBass mode. It is only when directly connected to 6.3mm of the iDSD that you get headphone 3D and XBass.
 
Hope it helps
Billson 

Click to expand...

I am using my idsd micro strictly as a dac in my home setup. I had previously been using pre-amp mode so I could use the 3D and Xbass. I have changed how I use it and am now convinced it sounds better in direct mode. Even with 3D off it sounds a little hollow and a bit bright in pre-amp. In direct mode it is practically dead neutral and very full with cleaner bass and highs that sound just right. I also like the power management when combined with the iusb power in the desktop setting. I never have to touch it now.I have given this unit much attention in cabling and interfacing and have been richly rewarded with the kind of performance worthy of a much higher end component.
 
I have a 2 pc streamer and have a Paul Pang usb card outputting through a Paul Pang usb cable to the iusb power. From there it outputs to a gemini cable and then an audiophile grade USB Female B to Female A adapter. I had this made by Forza Audioworks to replace the stock adapter in the kit(59euros). I can attest that it is worth doing. The sound coming out is pure heaven.
 
I send that analog out through Jena Lab Symphony RCAs to my Woo WA2(all upgraded tubes). The combo of the idsd and this tube amp is awesome whether I play my T1 headphones or send it out the WA2 preamp to my main system(Exposure 2010S int amp + Monitor Audio GX-100 speakers).
 
Truly high end performance from this idsd.....I am blown away but what I'm hearing. Very quiet noise floor, clear imaging, micro details and a musicality that is the aim of every audiophile system.
 
I was a little annoyed by the stock adapter I had to replace. With the performance I am getting from my idsd, that is forgiven. When given the best, the idsd micro will perform beyond any reasonable expectations.
 
Great job ifi!  No matter what type of file or type of music I send to it, it plays it wonderfully.

franatic said:

I am using my idsd micro strictly as a dac in my home setup. I had previously been using pre-amp mode so I could use the 3D and Xbass. I have changed how I use it and am now convinced it sounds better in direct mode. Even with 3D off it sounds a little hollow and a bit bright in pre-amp. In direct mode it is practically dead neutral and very full with cleaner bass and highs that sound just right. I also like the power management when combined with the iusb power in the desktop setting. I never have to touch it now.I have given this unit much attention in cabling and interfacing and have been richly rewarded with the kind of performance worthy of a much higher end component.

I have a 2 pc streamer and have a Paul Pang usb card outputting through a Paul Pang usb cable to the iusb power. From there it outputs to a gemini cable and then an audiophile grade USB Female B to Female A adapter. I had this made by Forza Audioworks to replace the stock adapter in the kit(59euros). I can attest that it is worth doing. The sound coming out is pure heaven.

I send that analog out through Jena Lab Symphony RCAs to my Woo WA2(all upgraded tubes). The combo of the idsd and this tube amp is awesome whether I play my T1 headphones or send it out the WA2 preamp to my main system(Exposure 2010S int amp + Monitor Audio GX-100 speakers).

Truly high end performance from this idsd.....I am blown away but what I'm hearing. Very quiet noise floor, clear imaging, micro details and a musicality that is the aim of every audiophile system.

I was a little annoyed by the stock adapter I had to replace. With the performance I am getting from my idsd, that is forgiven. When given the best, the idsd micro will perform beyond any reasonable expectations.

Great job ifi!  No matter what type of file or type of music I send to it, it plays it wonderfully.

Click to expand...

And that i why I am using Garage1217 amp and making myself a RCA cable! Really great stuff indeed!

I thought I would submit a few photos of my Forza Audioworks audiophile grade adapter. It makes some nice improvement, particularly in bass and imaging.
If you are using high quality usb cables, I recoomend it. As you can see its smaller than the stock adapter supplied, very minimalistic.
The small profile helps me fit my massive Jena Labs Symphony RCA cables. That is a gemini cable inserted in the adapter.
It's small profile should also please the mobile crowd.
 


 
Now back to the music!

franatic said:

 
 
Now back to the music!

Click to expand...

 
Are you using ASIO buffer size of 8192 samples and USB Streaming mode in Minimum Latency mode?  That's the best setup, right, to get the most out of all file types?

The magic of my setup is my pc audio quality. I use Jplay and Audiophile Optimizer in a 2 pc streamer. This plays an incredibly clean and stable file out of the Paul Pang usb card output port. I set my buffer size in the Jplay menu. I believe it is about 100 milliseconds. All the other buffer settings are direct. A very fine tuned engine it is with very little latency.
I can highly recommend this setup.

franatic said:

The magic of my setup is my pc audio quality. I use Jplay and Audiophile Optimizer in a 2 pc streamer. This plays an incredibly clean and stable file out of the Paul Pang usb card output port. I set my buffer size in the Jplay menu. I believe it is about 100 milliseconds. All the other buffer settings are direct. A very fine tuned engine it is with very little latency.
I can highly recommend this setup.

Click to expand...

Thank you. I find that very interesting. I use Jriver and I think if I recommended the buffer size set at 500 milliseconds, which is what I have mine setup on. But that's Jriver, though. I've never messed around with Jplay.

Just curious as to what you were using. I've only given cursory listens, but every file I've thrown at it, thus far, has played without a hitch. Only about a week left for burn in for me.

I really like the iUSB, and like you have, I'm thinking about getting the Gemini cable.

I don't want to get this thread off topic. I can highly recommend what I have done, I can not comment on jplay in a single pc setup. I can recommend Audiophile Optimizer in any pc setup. The quality of the file the computer plays to the idsd is critical in determining your SQ. Don't believe the bits are bits line. That just didn't hold up in my experience.
It is a whole other area from which to build sound quality.

ifi audio said:

Hi,

Please check the USB connection at the laptop side. The cable may make poor contact, you can play music and wriggle the cable to see if it causes the problem as the music will "dropout".

Can also check at the micro iDSD end too.

Failing this, open a support ticket if you are stuck. Though there wont be staff at work over the weekend! (we think :bigsmile_face: ).

Click to expand...

I did a bunch of testing this weekend:

- Micro iDSD connected to opposite USB port on retina MacBook Pro still led to sound cutting out.
- Wiggling USB cables at rMBP end and Micro iDSD end did not induce sound cutting out. Connections seemed good.
- Removing blue USB cable from the chain and using the bundled short black extender (Female A; Female B) and USB cable from my main rig led to quite a long listening session (a good few hours) before I had an instance of the sound cutting out. During this period, there were one or two minor "blips" like the sound briefly cutting out, but not stopping completely. I also didn't really enjoy how the music was sounding (one DSD 128 album from Blue Coast sounded a bit rough).
- To try and rule out the rMBP as the source of my issues, I switched out the Micro iDSD for my old Arcam rDAC. I did not have any stoppages.

So, after a while on Sunday thinking that maybe the blue USB cable was the source of the issues, I am again thinking that there might be something funny going on with the Micro iDSD. I am going to keep using the rDAC with the MacBook Pro for now, just in case the issue is with the rMBP and I've just been lucky/unlucky that it hasn't happened while I've been using the rDAC. If I haven't had any drop-outs/stoppages over the next few days, I'll be more convinced it's the Micro iDSD and will open a ticket. Any other suggestions for tests I could do?

rickdastardly said:

I did a bunch of testing this weekend:

- Micro iDSD connected to opposite USB port on retina MacBook Pro still led to sound cutting out.
- Wiggling USB cables at rMBP end and Micro iDSD end did not induce sound cutting out. Connections seemed good.
- Removing blue USB cable from the chain and using the bundled short black extender (Female A; Female B) and USB cable from my main rig led to quite a long listening session (a good few hours) before I had an instance of the sound cutting out. During this period, there were one or two minor "blips" like the sound briefly cutting out, but not stopping completely. I also didn't really enjoy how the music was sounding (one DSD 128 album from Blue Coast sounded a bit rough).
- To try and rule out the rMBP as the source of my issues, I switched out the Micro iDSD for my old Arcam rDAC. I did not have any stoppages.

So, after a while on Sunday thinking that maybe the blue USB cable was the source of the issues, I am again thinking that there might be something funny going on with the Micro iDSD. I am going to keep using the rDAC with the MacBook Pro for now, just in case the issue is with the rMBP and I've just been lucky/unlucky that it hasn't happened while I've been using the rDAC. If I haven't had any drop-outs/stoppages over the next few days, I'll be more convinced it's the Micro iDSD and will open a ticket. Any other suggestions for tests I could do?

Click to expand...

I had similar issues regarding dropouts with my blue USB cable. It's happened before to some other owners. Mine is with the Philippines contact/distributor of iFi Audio. I'm waiting for them to contact me when they have a new one available for me. I've been living with the black angled USB cable that came with mine. 

If the Ifi micro idsd had been around last year I wouldn't have bought the Hugo. It is not a question of the Hugo being 20 % better for like 300 % more. I could go for that. No, I think the idsd is as good as. And I really like the Hugo.
Easier to charge too and better battery life.

can someone please tell me what setting should be changed in jriver, are there any specific ones that must be changed in river