[Fatsosixsixsix]

Does anyone know why the BL is 30% more expensive in UK/EU than in the USA? As far as I know AMR/iFi is a British company, as well as Chord. The Mojo was originally £60 cheaper in the UK compared to USA price (now it is discounted in the USA) but the BL is £130 more expensive in the UK compared to USA price.
While now Mojo and the BL effectively cost the same in the USA, the difference is quite huge in the UK not helping sales against the Mojo. What is the reason for that? I am just curious.

Might be that they're not built in the UK, hence it's cheaper elsewhere? As a Brit it certainly is a bit annoying how it's $550 in America and £550/$712 in the UK, and I'm looking to get a used one now instead

 

[EVMR]

I've traded-in my original iDSD at MusicDirect and paid 40% of the US retail price for BL. Thank you very much MusicDirect!

I've seen here opinion BL sounds better than original even from the box. Well, in my experience it doesn't.
But after 2 weeks of intense Isotek (2nd edition) sessions BL sounds very impressive. Thank you iFi!

And yes, 3D and XBass are significantly improved.

 

[technobear]

You cannot fairly compare US and UK prices whilst ignoring sales taxes.

The US price will have Sales Tax added at the checkout.

The UK price already contains VAT so you need to multiply by 5/6 to get back to the price ex. VAT.

 

[betula]

You cannot fairly compare US and UK prices whilst ignoring sales taxes.

The US price will have Sales Tax added at the checkout.

The UK price already contains VAT so you need to multiply by 5/6 to get back to the price ex. VAT.

If we take the highest sales tax in USA (13.7%) there is still more than £70 ($90) difference between the final prices in UK and USA. That is probably because the BL is assembled in China and import taxes are just crazy in the UK (as Fatsosixsixsix already mentioned).
Well, that's the world we live in.

 

[technobear]

If we take the highest sales tax in USA (13.7%) there is still more than £70 ($90) difference between the final prices in UK and USA. That is probably because the BL is assembled in China and import taxes are just crazy in the UK (as Fatsosixsixsix already mentioned).
Well, that's the world we live in.

It's irrelevant what the US tax rate is. You can only compare the prices before tax is added as sales tax rates are outside the control of any manufacturer.

The iDSD Black Label costs £457.50 before tax.

At today's rate of $1.29, that's about $590.

Yes, the US price of $550 is $40 cheaper but that is only because the Pound has risen a bit (from lows around $1.20) since these prices were set.

If the Pound maintains this level of performance and increases further, manufacturers will have to reconsider their pricing later this year or risk becoming uncompetitive. I read in today's papers that discretionary consumer spending is already on the wain in the face of these rises. Personally I've cancelled all electronics upgrades for this year as I'm not prepared to tolerate these prices.

 

[Fatsosixsixsix]

We're starting to get off topic, and should probably agree to stop here

 

[hemipowered007]

So, something odd, well not really, happened today. I just got a pair of magaosi k3pro iems a bit over a week ago. Everything I listened to on the black label seemed to harsh, not extreme, but overly critical of the source material. If listen on my fiio x3 only, and it's fine. So I decided to try the "normal" filter for the dac. Nice improvement, more natural, not as "digital" sounding is the only way I can pit it. What's odd to me is, my he4 is more detailed, especially when the ifi is a preamp/dac to my pioneer sx1010, but I prefer bit perfect for that setup. I love the options on this thing. Everyday I get to spend messing with it, there's always things I find I like to change. It really is a perfect fit for me. I r3ally am interested in their new pro series, ifi has definitely earned their high praise around here.

 

[Fatsosixsixsix]

Received my BL today and I've been testing it out for the past hour. Just to note that I don't have much experience with audio equipment, and the only other system I could compare it against was my Modi2 + WA6 setup so a lot of the stuff I heard might be down to comparing solid state against tube (which I haven't done until now). For this comparison I used my HD600

I think the audio quality is great, everything sounds incredibly clear with no issues, I found the bass to be especially tight and focused compared to my WA6. On a lot of songs the bass was more muddled/soft on the WA6 whereas on the BL stood out a lot more clearly. The bass boost also made the mid bass is even louder and more enjoyable whilst at the same time not simply overpowering all the other frequencies, and importantly not impacting how easy it is to listen without being fatigued

I did find that the treble significantly brighter and more forward on the BL, and as a lot of the songs I listen to use female vocals it did become fatiguing at times. On songs with less treble the experience was much more pleasant and easier to listen to. Having read other posts it seems that the treble should settle down with burn in, but at the current moment it's too harsh for me on a large number of songs.

The 3D switch was hit and miss for me. For a lot of songs it significantly changed the tone/feeling of the music, and I found that the soundstage was often projected more forward than it was sideways which resulted in an odd experience. Other time it works perfectly and definitely projects outwards radially resulting in a much more pleasant experience

Ultimately for a portable setup it's pretty damn good. My current end game is to pair it up with a pair of Campfire Andromeda IEM for my away-from-home setup, which should be a step up from my Sennheiser IE7

 

[Dobrescu George]

I do think that Andromeda is a step-up from ie7. My end-game IEM is ie800, but iDSD BL surely sounds like an end-game DAC/AMP to me!

I can confirm that the sound is far more focused, clearer, vivid and natural when compared to Wa6 - I had the happy chance to compare them and I would pick iDSD BL any day for its sound quality.

 

[Fatsosixsixsix]

Interesting, I originally considered SE846 and IE800 for my upgrade but almost all reviews I've read for the Andromeda have compared them (as they basically make up the TOTL Universal IEMs). In most reviews they have ranked the Andromeda higher due to larger soundstage and higher quality, but given the Andromeda is much more expensive that is likely to be expected.

If given a choice I'd probably prefer the WA6 at this stage mainly due to the treble, but also because I think I prefer the warmth of the bass compared to the BL. I haven't listened long enough figure out why though.

 

[betula]

Received my BL today and I've been testing it out for the past hour. Just to note that I don't have much experience with audio equipment, and the only other system I could compare it against was my Modi2 + WA6 setup so a lot of the stuff I heard might be down to comparing solid state against tube (which I haven't done until now). For this comparison I used my HD600

I think the audio quality is great, everything sounds incredibly clear with no issues, I found the bass to be especially tight and focused compared to my WA6. On a lot of songs the bass was more muddled/soft on the WA6 whereas on the BL stood out a lot more clearly. The bass boost also made the mid bass is even louder and more enjoyable whilst at the same time not simply overpowering all the other frequencies, and importantly not impacting how easy it is to listen without being fatigued

I did find that the treble significantly brighter and more forward on the BL, and as a lot of the songs I listen to use female vocals it did become fatiguing at times. On songs with less treble the experience was much more pleasant and easier to listen to. Having read other posts it seems that the treble should settle down with burn in, but at the current moment it's too harsh for me on a large number of songs.

The 3D switch was hit and miss for me. For a lot of songs it significantly changed the tone/feeling of the music, and I found that the soundstage was often projected more forward than it was sideways which resulted in an odd experience. Other time it works perfectly and definitely projects outwards radially resulting in a much more pleasant experience

Ultimately for a portable setup it's pretty damn good. My current end game is to pair it up with a pair of Campfire Andromeda IEM for my away-from-home setup, which should be a step up from my Sennheiser IE7

I think what you are experiencing is mostly tube-SS differences. Your ears are probably used to the mellow tube sound. I found the BL pretty smooth for a SS DAC/amp. You also might have some treble sensitivity. I would be interested to hear your thoughts on the BL with your Z7 instead of the HD600. That might be a better pairing for you.
I also like mellow sound and I also have some treble sensitivity, but the BL's treble with my Nighthawks sounded pretty smooth to me, actually even smoother than Mojo's treble.
Another way to go SS with such ears is to choose warmer headphones with non-fatiguing treble, like your Z7, or my Nighthawks.
I think, your new Andromeda IEM will completely destroy the IE7, and probably best out the IE800 too.

 

[stevenyu2000]

UPDATE! Black Label Tour Winners!

Hi everyone! Thank you for all of your patience as we worked to finalize the winners for the tour! We've selected the winners at random with the only requirement being that the review demonstrated honestly and some effort.

Considering the sheer size of those that participated in the tour in the US/Canada, we also decided to help you folks out a bit and give away 2 Micro iDSD BL units to this leg of the tour!

Without further ado... the winners are...

Micro iDSD BL:
USA/Canada: @vapman
USA/Canada: @dsnyder
United Kingdom: @betula
Europe: @analogsurviver
Hong Kong/China: @stevenyu2000
Singapore/Malaysia: @noobandroid

Unique Melody Martian IEM:
@ngoshawk

A 6 Month Loaner Period With Pro iDSD Upon Release:
@earfonia

Winners please get in contact Lawrance at lawrancel@iFi-Audio.com in order to claim your prize!

Again, a big thank you to everyone who participated in this tour and making it a great experience for us, and congratulations to the lucky winners!

WOW....... I am honour to be the winner at HK. Thanks IFI .

 

[Fatsosixsixsix]

I think what you are experiencing is mostly tube-SS differences. Your ears are probably used to the mellow tube sound. I found the BL pretty smooth for a SS DAC/amp. You also might have some treble sensitivity. I would be interested to hear your thoughts on the BL with your Z7 instead of the HD600. That might be a better pairing for you.
I also like mellow sound and I also have some treble sensitivity, but the BL's treble with my Nighthawks sounded pretty smooth to me, actually even smoother than Mojo's treble.
Another way to go SS with such ears is to choose warmer headphones with non-fatiguing treble, like your Z7, or my Nighthawks.
I think, your new Andromeda IEM will completely destroy the IE7, and probably best out the IE800 too.

I generally prefer the HD600 over the Z7 as the Z7 can probably be described as overly warm with muddled bass when paired with the WA6. Overall the listening experience with the Z7 and WA6 is far too muddled and lacks impact or clarity

When paired up with the BL the bass clears up a lot more again. Each individual hit of the drums or bass drum, each beat of the cymbal or high hat stands out much more with a punchier impact than the WA6. The treble is improved, but again depending on the song either it's improved to the right level or beyond to the point that it's a bit too strong. The Z7 definitely pairs better with the BL than the WA6

Weirdly there's a valley somewhere at the lower end of the vocal frequency with the BL, where low vocals tend to get overshadowed by the lows and highs. Have a feeling that this is an aspect of the Z7 though rather than the BL

Trying to find the best way to pair it with my phone right now. Seems if I want to use a good quality USB cable I'd have to use adapters on both ends as most audio USB cables are usb male on both ends without OTG

 

[Dobrescu George]

I managed to post a review since the change!

Luckily, it is the review for iDSD BL!

You gotta love this device, I tell you!

https://www.head-fi.org/f/showcase/ifi-audio-micro-idsd.20201/reviews#review-18552

https://audiophile-heaven.blogspot.ro/2017/05/ifi-idsd-bl-pinnacle-of-dac-and-amp.html

 

[Topspin70]

I managed to post a review since the change!

Luckily, it is the review for iDSD BL!

You gotta love this device, I tell you!

https://www.head-fi.org/f/showcase/ifi-audio-micro-idsd.20201/reviews#review-18552

https://audiophile-heaven.blogspot.ro/2017/05/ifi-idsd-bl-pinnacle-of-dac-and-amp.html

That's a wonderfully written review, @Dobrescu George. And clearly your line of work puts you closely in touch with music all day long. I'm envious of you.