[koolas]

well, I do have this combination of idsd nano and Senn HD 600

while the idsd nano is fantastic for example with the 75Ohm AKG K280 parabolic (or the Q701 for that matter) and also with the V-Moda 100 (with all its flaws) or the Harman-Kardon BT, you have to turn the volume knob to at least 3 o'clock to get decent volume on the HD600. Even at full power it s just decently 'loud' and it seems to lack punch and bass.
Even with classical music (e.g. Handel Messiah, Dunedin Consort, LINN, 24-88.4) it seems distant and a somehow lifeless. It s not really bad, but I was always like waiting for the music to really kick in and engage.


So, while the idsd nano is a marvel that amazes me every day, to me it is not powerful enough for the Sennheiser HD 600.
I'm sure the micro will!

With Alpha Dogs iDSD also works very well up to 3 o'clock, and if you turn volume knob beyond that point only mids are louder, and heavy compression of dynamic range occurs.
I connect iDSD to Pan Am, but although Pan Am at 3 o'clock makes these play loud, some tubey distortion starts occurring. I was thinking about acquiring iCAN nano... What do you think guys?

 

[pokenguyen]

With Alpha Dogs iDSD also works very well up to 3 o'clock, and if you turn volume knob beyond that point only mids are louder, and heavy compression of dynamic range occurs.
I connect iDSD to Pan Am, but although Pan Am at 3 o'clock makes these play loud, some tubey distortion starts occurring. I was thinking about acquiring iCAN nano... What do you think guys?

So 3 o'clock is the limit volume that iFi iDSD can drive well?

 

[technobear]

So 3 o'clock is the limit volume that iFi iDSD can drive well?

...with Alpha Dogs

There are many parameters at play here:

i) impedance (ohms)

ii) efficiency/sensitivity (dB/mW)

iii) reactance (how much the impedance varies with frequency, particularly in the bass region)

The position of the volume (gain) control tells us very little.

 

[koolas]

Yes, so for example with my Momentums iDSD plays up to 100% volume perfectly. I also tried XBA-C10, and while from iDSD they didn't sound compressed, I'd say they need more juice than iDSD can provide.

 

[maricius]

With Alpha Dogs iDSD also works very well up to 3 o'clock, and if you turn volume knob beyond that point only mids are louder, and heavy compression of dynamic range occurs.
I connect iDSD to Pan Am, but although Pan Am at 3 o'clock makes these play loud, some tubey distortion starts occurring. I was thinking about acquiring iCAN nano... What do you think guys?

Save up for something like a CL Duet!! I was planning on getting/stacking an iDSD nano with my Duet as a portable rig but here comes the iDSD micro making me wait and everything.

 

[lillion]

 
So 3 o'clock is the limit volume that iFi iDSD can drive well?

I wouldn't say so.
For example, the AKG Q701 sounds fine even beyond 3 o'clock. 
However, impedance is much lower than on the Senns HD 600.
So this may have an influence

 

[iFi audio]

Nano/Micro iDSD Tutorial
Lossy file (MP3¹) transfer to DSD256/512
 
AMR/iFi is always seeking to make music more enjoyable. We are firm believers of keeping the music file original. In this instance however, we will make an exception: where lossy MP3 is already heavily compressed, it is worth converting to DSD. The only cost is a few moments of your time.
 
From our listening trials, converting MP3s to DSD256/512 takes the digital harshness out of the music and makes it more analogue sounding.
 
The two pictures below illustrate what we are trying to sonically describe.
 
The original MP3 (left) and converted to DSD (right).

 
One is real. You might even meet her. 

The other - is a mirage, unreal and unattainable no matter what.

Do we want reality or unreality? You already have the former, so why not try the latter?
 
 
 and 
 
For JRMC 19 and Foobar users, we have written a pdf that covers the installation of an ASIO-Proxy* to get more out of compressed MP3 music by converting it to DSD256/512.
 
(*This "Meta Driver" sits between the playback software [J-River] and actual ASIO Driver [iFi Driver])
 
The instructions covers the nano iDSD and the upcoming micro iDSD.
 
However, if you have a DSD DAC, the same principle also applies.
 
For the full instructions, we have to ask that you open a iFi support ticket (as we cannot upload to Head-Fi). 
 
http://support.ifi-audio.com/
 
and we will email both the JRMC and Foobar2K versions to you.
 
We hope you enjoy reading this tutorial. You may just rediscover your lossy music collection!
 
 
 
 
 
 
Important: in the pdf, PLEASE go to the LAST PAGE and read the user notes first!  Or see below:
 
 
Note to users:
I.We do not recommend converting lossless PCM tracks to DSD or altering lossless tracks. We recommend that they are played in their respective native format - PCM tracks remain PCM and DSD tracks remain DSD.
 
II.We cannot provide any additional technical support on JMRC other than what has been covered in this tutorial.
 
III.Please ensure that you are reasonably proficient at computer audio. We are not responsible for the changes you make to your computer audio setup!
 
IV.This is only available for Windows as OS X runs only on Core Audio (not ASIO).
 
V.DSD has different gain levels to PCM. So after conversion to DSD, the audio will be a little quieter, how much, varies from one filter to another.
 
VI.Only 44.1/88.2/176.4 & 352.8 KHz tracks can be converted to DSD if "native" is selected in ASIO-Proxy for the iDSD nano/micro.
 
VII.Native interface for now does not support 48kHz-based sample rates for DSD, only DOP does. So if you have a lot of 96/192 material you want as DSD you need to use DoP and you are limited to DSD128 (nano) or DSD256 (micro). Alternatively, it is possible to upsample 48 to 88, 96 to 176, 192 to 352 OR downsample 48 to 44.1, 96 to 88.2, 192 to 176.4 and 384 to 352.8 etc.
 
References: This is an interesting read for DSD playback and for the challenges it brings on many platforms.
http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue69/dsd_pcm.htm

 

---

[1] Includes AAC, MP3 & WMA etc…

 

[Watcherq]

Hi iFi,
   With the release of the iDSD Micro, will there be a new driver/firmware for the Nano?  I'm asking because of the quality of the sound I get when using JRiver to upsample to 2x and 4xDSD.  When I use DoP with 2xDSD, the sound is mostly fine.  However, when I switch over to 2xDSD or worse, 4xDSD, it sound has quite a bit of choppiness in it.  No doubt it may be due to my machine being a L640 Core 2 Duo i7 processor with JMark of 1982, but with 2xDSD, the load is only about 12-15%, Furthermore,DoP is supposed to have higher overhead, so I'm curious if there is a way to solve this rather than to replace my trusty laptop with a new one.
 
   Thanks

 

[iFi audio]

  Hi iFi,
   With the release of the iDSD Micro, will there be a new driver/firmware for the Nano?  I'm asking because of the quality of the sound I get when using JRiver to upsample to 2x and 4xDSD.  When I use DoP with 2xDSD, the sound is mostly fine.  However, when I switch over to 2xDSD or worse, 4xDSD, it sound has quite a bit of choppiness in it.  No doubt it may be due to my machine being a L640 Core 2 Duo i7 processor with JMark of 1982, but with 2xDSD, the load is only about 12-15%, Furthermore,DoP is supposed to have higher overhead, so I'm curious if there is a way to solve this rather than to replace my trusty laptop with a new one.
 
   Thanks

 
Hi,
 
Before anything else, try this as the first step.
 
http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml
 
This looks at the loading on the different aspects of YOUR computer.
 
Then open a support ticket and we'll take a look at it.
 
http://support.ifi-audio.com/
 
Thanks

 

[Jeff-C]

Fandabbydoosie, didn’t know what an Asio-Proxy was until now.
 
Seriously good computer audio knowledge base. Keep up the good work.
 
It makes me respect you guys more. I know you are really flexing your technical prowess and kudos for showing others the way – instead of usual, this dac chip is good. Yadda yadda yadda.

 

[Watcherq]

Done

   
Hi,
 
Before anything else, try this as the first step.
 
http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml
 
This looks at the loading on the different aspects of YOUR computer.
 
Then open a support ticket and we'll take a look at it.
 
http://support.ifi-audio.com/
 
Thanks

Done.  The latency chart seems ok, even when I try to max out the load.  The choppiness was present during the testing but the chart showed that it was fine.

 

[iFi audio]

  Done
Done.  The latency chart seems ok, even when I try to max out the load.  The choppiness was present during the testing but the chart showed that it was fine.

 
Hi,
 
You need to send screenshots of your setups in JRMC to our tech guys. We will look through your settings and see what is the limiting factor/s.
 
We assume your PC is stock (ie no upgrades) and you do not use it for anything other than computer audio - because if used for other things, then there is no chance to diagnose. We have customers who surf the Net, do MS Office, even use Photoshop! You get the gist.

 

[Kalavere]

New to the headphone/DAC scene, this is my first purchase. I'm very happy. 
 
Looking at investing in a iUSB Power next, then the iDAC. 

 
 
 

 

 

[earwaxxer]

  Hi iFi,
   With the release of the iDSD Micro, will there be a new driver/firmware for the Nano?  I'm asking because of the quality of the sound I get when using JRiver to upsample to 2x and 4xDSD.  When I use DoP with 2xDSD, the sound is mostly fine.  However, when I switch over to 2xDSD or worse, 4xDSD, it sound has quite a bit of choppiness in it.  No doubt it may be due to my machine being a L640 Core 2 Duo i7 processor with JMark of 1982, but with 2xDSD, the load is only about 12-15%, Furthermore,DoP is supposed to have higher overhead, so I'm curious if there is a way to solve this rather than to replace my trusty laptop with a new one.
 
   Thanks

Your computer is too slow - you need a JMark around 3000 to do DSD reliably. CPU load has nothing to do with it. There are cache issues, speed of ram, etc. It shouldnt matter if you have other programs running in the background as long as you are not trying to do something crazy like edit video etc.

 

[Watcherq]

  Your computer is too slow - you need a JMark around 3000 to do DSD reliably. CPU load has nothing to do with it. There are cache issues, speed of ram, etc. It shouldnt matter if you have other programs running in the background as long as you are not trying to do something crazy like edit video etc.

I know it isn't fast but the issue is that it works fine, very smoothly when using DoP (which has higher overheads) but not with native.  Riddle me this.  I tried 4xDSD and it maxes out on single HT processor; it seems JRMC can only render in 1 thread.  However, on 2xDSD, it is only half the max load.