eyal1983
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Aug 22, 2008
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They are sold separately, and you should email an official iFi reseller.
I contacted iFi and Avatar Acoustics, still no response how to get both...
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I have noticed the biggest difference in the way violin sounds. In the PCM mode they sounded constrained by some plastic cage, while in DSD mode they sounded unconstrained and very clean. It didn't really matter if source material was DSD or PCM converted on the fly to DSD, I heard no difference what so ever. I also couldn't hear any difference between 96kHz and 352kHz PCM - they both sounded to me the same. The difference was only audible between iDSD being physically in PCM mode or DSD mode. In this tests I used Alpha Dogs powered by Pan Am. These two actually couple very nice with iDSD.
Dont mean to be a fly in the ointment to the resident experts on this site, but I have, yet again, confirmed the superior sound of redbook upsampled to 2xDSD vs playing native. I can qualify the difference, although very subtle yet very noticeable with very good recordings (Dire Straits) when I sit right in front of the speaker. Native 16/44.1 has a bit of a digital nature that is somewhat irritating, and less real (sort of a digital hash). There is a 'smoothness' to the upsampled sound. As others have said this may have to do with the way the iDSD Nano processes DSD vs. PCM. I also tried upsampling the PCM to 384khz with no real difference from the native 44.1.
Looking forward to the reviews on the new Micro when it comes out!
See, it's become clear that the iFi Audio Nano iDSD uses a DSD1793 DAC chip. While that's not a horrible chip by any means, it sure as heck can't do what iFi/AMR is claming it can do. So what's going on here?
... But if AMR is telling tall tales, it's gonna leave a bad taste in my mouth...
So, I know I'm going to get a lot of flak for this...Yes, I'm new here (to posting at least, but not really to reading) - but really, I hope I'm soundly somehow proven wrong.
I just got my iFi Audio Nano iDSD, and I've had like.. less than a day to play with it so far, but something is bothering me.
This device claims to be able to do DSD128 and PCM 32/384 and DXD. And with the newer firmware, DSD256.
That's all really really awesome... if that's what it could do.
See, it's become clear that the iFi Audio Nano iDSD uses a DSD1793 DAC chip. While that's not a horrible chip by any means, it sure as heck can't do what iFi/AMR is claming it can do. So what's going on here?
The DSD1793 can do DSD64, and PCM 24/192, and sorry -- that's all she wrote. (Okay, okay; PCM 24/200, but who's counting.)
This is in front of everyone here. Disassembly shots of the iDSD Nano are available, and the datasheet for the DSD1793 is available.
So are we all operating on some level of collective cognitive dissonance, or am I missing something here?
Is iFi/AMR somehow "overclocking the dac" (and "overwording it")? Unlikely. Really unlikely.
I'd say more likely, that this dac is outputting DSD64/2.8mhz and PCM 24/192, no matter what it's being fed.
I'm guessing with these higher signal rates, a LOT of data is either being thrown away in the driver, or by something going on in the XMOS USB chip.
I'm really surprised this hasn't been talked about or addressed.
And yeah, I expect flames after this, but, "so be it" - the DSD1793 can *not do* DSD128, DSD256, DXD, or PCM 32-bit (of any sort) or PCM 352 or 384 khz (of any sort.)
So, i'ts *got to* be truncating or downconverting.
I'm not saying it's doing a bad job at it, but this is starting to remind me of the old modem days when "57600 BPS!" was advertised; when that was just the data input rate, (or serial port rate), but the actual connection rate was much, much slower.
I hope this isn't the trend we're going down with DACs. But, for $189, I figured, "DSD128 and DSD256?? For that price?? Too good to be true."
Unfortunately, it looks like it is. I'm *NOT* here to troll. If you guys can ring my bell on this and set me straight, by all means, do so. I'll happily and enthusiastically be proven wrong. I really, really, REALLY want to like this DAC.
But if AMR is telling tall tales, it's gonna leave a bad taste in my mouth...