[iclickjohn]

Can the iDSD be charged with a USB (phone part that plugs into the wall) from USB to Wall? I'm having trouble charging it with my computer USB.
Another question for someone that may know, in Turbo mode, will it use more power than what it receives to charge (at the same time, I guess)? I've been listening for a few hours via computer and it just went dead with blinking red indicating dead battery. (and yes, I need Turbo mode) 
Are there some situations that the computer will not charge the ifi? 

 

[cav1sa]

  (..)in Turbo mode, will it use more power than what it receives to charge (at the same time, I guess)?

I remember reading somewhere that in Turbo mode it uses more than it gets over USB, which means it wouldn't be able to run in turbo non-stop.
FWIW I ran out of power once I think.. Normal mode worked fine for me using power-hungry planars

 

[cav1sa]

  Some folks say that there are benefits from using the pre amp section of the micro. I just dont know wich option is the best.

Yep, I'd consider using it if I needed xbass or 3d holo, but since I have these on my amp too, it's not a problem for me.

 

[BillsonChang007]

Can the iDSD be charged with a USB (phone part that plugs into the wall) from USB to Wall? I'm having trouble charging it with my computer USB.
Another question for someone that may know, in Turbo mode, will it use more power than what it receives to charge (at the same time, I guess)? I've been listening for a few hours via computer and it just went dead with blinking red indicating dead battery. (and yes, I need Turbo mode) 
Are there some situations that the computer will not charge the ifi? 

In turbo mode, it uses more power than it charges so its normal to run out of battery even when charging. And yes you can charge the iFi wif USB to wall. Not a must to use device to charge. Treat the charging like smartphones' battery

Yep, I'd consider using it if I needed xbass or 3d holo, but since I have these on my amp too, it's not a problem for me.

I would still prefer not to double amp. Try it yourself maybe? One wif direct and the other with pre-amp and see which you like better. No harm xD

Hope it helps
Bilson

 

[earfonia]

  Can the iDSD be charged with a USB (phone part that plugs into the wall) from USB to Wall? I'm having trouble charging it with my computer USB.
Another question for someone that may know, in Turbo mode, will it use more power than what it receives to charge (at the same time, I guess)? I've been listening for a few hours via computer and it just went dead with blinking red indicating dead battery. (and yes, I need Turbo mode) 
Are there some situations that the computer will not charge the ifi? 

 
Yes, it can use normal USB charger. It only draw less than 1.1 A.
If you don't need Turbo mode, it is not recommended to use it. Draw a lot of power, makes the iDSD hot, also has slightly higher noise and THD than Normal and Eco mode.
 

 

 
 
Operating temperature at Turbo Mode can reach over 50 degree Celsius:

 
 
Here is a detail review about the iDSD Black-Label:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/833933/ifi-micro-idsd-black-label-in-depth-review

 

[sandalaudio]

 
Thanks for the suggestion, I just tried powering on before connecting to my Mac but with the same outcome. Just for clarification, I'm not walking away and the micro goes into standby mode, I'm just trying to manually select a track, without the beginning of the track being muted. It's as if there is a buffering problem. I've had my Micro for over 2 years and never had a problem previously but I recently updated to OS X Sierra, so I don't know if that should be the suspect. It's not a deal breaker and only occurs if I interrupt play and switch tracks or select a new album. Other than that, it plays flawlessly.

 
I was curious about this, so I gave it a try on my Mac, and I didn't experience the same issues you reported.
 
It's a mid 2012 Macbook Air running 10.12.3 (current), and Audirvana 2.6.5. My micro iDSD BL was updated to the latest Firmware 5.2.
I tried skipping between tracks, going back to the start of the track, previous track, etc, but they all started exactly on the dot with nothing missing or cut off.
Tried PCM and DSD, Integer mode, etc. with the same results. I'm wondering what's different about mine v.s. your configuration.

 

[chawya22]

   
I was curious about this, so I gave it a try on my Mac, and I didn't experience the same issues you reported.
 
It's a mid 2012 Macbook Air running 10.12.3 (current), and Audirvana 2.6.5. My micro iDSD BL was updated to the latest Firmware 5.2.
I tried skipping between tracks, going back to the start of the track, previous track, etc, but they all started exactly on the dot with nothing missing or cut off.
Tried PCM and DSD, Direct mode, Integer mode, etc. with the same results. I'm wondering what's different about mine v.s. your configuration.

I also would like to know. Just to add some credibility to my problem, @earfonia's review of the new Black Label, experienced the same problem but found it to be worst with the newer Micro model. The fact that you're running, basically a similar setup as mine, gives me hope that it might be a setting issue. I guess you did the system hack to get Audirvana to work in Direct mode with Sierra(?) The only other thing I could possibly attribute your success and my fail is you have a SSD while I have a HDD, which might point to a buffering problem.

 

[BillsonChang007]

I also would like to know. Just to add some credibility to my problem, @earfonia
's review of the new Black Label, experienced the same problem but found it to be worst with the newer Micro model. The fact that you're running, basically a similar setup as mine, gives me hope that it might be a setting issue. I guess you did the system hack to get Audirvana to work in Direct mode with Sierra(?) The only other thing I could possibly attribute your success and my fail is you have a SSD while I have a HDD, which might point to a buffering problem.

Not a full tech geek or whatsoever. SSD is indeed a lot faster than HDD but since music files are probably 30mb+ at best for WAV and maybe 100mb+ for DSD, I doubt harddrive would impact that much.

I do previously had the delay problem on both SSD and HDD but I forgot what I did and there were no such problems anymore but I am pretty sure I made changes to firmware on Mac/Windows OS.

To add it, I am connecting my iDSD to my lappy as of now through a USB Hub and things play well. Then again, I switch it off when I am not using to avoid battery drain

Hope it helps
Bilson

 

[chawya22]

Not a full tech geek or whatsoever. SSD is indeed a lot faster than HDD but since music files are probably 30mb+ at best for WAV and maybe 100mb+ for DSD, I doubt harddrive would impact that much.

I do previously had the delay problem on both SSD and HDD but I forgot what I did and there were no such problems anymore but I am pretty sure I made changes to firmware on Mac/Windows OS.

To add it, I am connecting my iDSD to my lappy as of now through a USB Hub and things play well. Then again, I switch it off when I am not using to avoid battery drain

Hope it helps
Bilson

I'm sure I'll have one of those Ah-Ha moments one day but I just posted the question, just in case someone else (or iFi support) had figured it out. I probably should just open a ticket.

 

[sandalaudio]

 
I also would like to know. Just to add some credibility to my problem, @earfonia's review of the new Black Label, experienced the same problem but found it to be worst with the newer Micro model. The fact that you're running, basically a similar setup as mine, gives me hope that it might be a setting issue. I guess you did the system hack to get Audirvana to work in Direct mode with Sierra(?) The only other thing I could possibly attribute your success and my fail is you have a SSD while I have a HDD, which might point to a buffering problem.

 
Sorry. I was wrong about the "Direct Mode". When I paused the playback and turned on "Direct Mode", then resumed play, the music resumes fine. However, if I stopped the playback and turned on "Direct Mode" then press play, I get the error message. That probably means it was never actually on Direct Mode. I haven't done any system hacks to make Direct Mode work on Sierra.
 
In any case I still don't experience the track skip/back blanking issues, so can't explain what's happening on your system.
 
I tried playing files from the internal SSD and also from a network NAS, and both don't have the buffering issue, so it's probably not disk speed related.
I also tried changing a lot of settings on my Audirvana but didn't seem to produce that issue. Since you are having same issues on Tidal, I don't think it's software dependent. Have you tried iTunes to see what happens?

 

[gr8soundz]

 
Sorry. I was wrong about the "Direct Mode". When I paused the playback and turned on "Direct Mode", then resumed play, the music resumes fine. However, if I stopped the playback and turned on "Direct Mode" then press play, I get the error message. That probably means it was never actually on Direct Mode.

 
The Micro should be powered down when switching between direct and preamp modes. IIRC, doing so while its on can cause problems including (at worst) damage to the Micro.
 

 

[chawya22]

   
The Micro should be powered down when switching between direct and preamp modes. IIRC, doing so while its on can cause problems including (at worst) damage to the Micro.
 

Direct Mode is a function in Audirvana Plus settings and basically bypasses internal audio processing, not directly related to the micro hardware. Sorry for the partial hijack of the thread. 

 

[gr8soundz]

Direct Mode is a function in Audirvana Plus settings and basically bypasses internal audio processing, not directly related to the micro hardware. Sorry for the partial hijack of the thread. 

 
Thanks for clarifying. Thought you were talking about the direct/preamp switch underneath the Micro.
 

 

[shuto77]

I apologize if this has been asked already (I did a search, and couldn't find the answer). How do I connect this to my Android phone via OTG and have it not drain the phone's battery? I never had this issue with my old Oppo HA-2 or Chord Mojo.

Thanks!

 

[iclickjohn]

I think it you turn the iFi on prior to connection, it puts it into battery mode and doesn't drain there battery. I could be wrong but I think that is what I read.