iFi audio Pro iDSD - Standalone. Streamer. DacAmp

Hello. I have had the iFi Pro/DSD original version here in house for a few months now and I am pretty happy with its performance. It only took three days In comparing it with other dacs that I had. They were sold after this comparison. Its that good. I did not know the iFi was going to come out with a newer SIGNATURE Pro/DSD dac at the time of my purchase. At present I would not hesitate buying this first version and I do not have any experience with the SIGNATURE version.

The price has gone up and it has the Elite power brick and some techie stuff…”better” quality parts, re-designed or “tweaked” circuit magic according to iFi’s Faqs. The tubes are now better matched ? I honesty do not think these things matter a “lot” side by side….it’s in that subjective / numbers area…where you often have to strain to hear real world differences IMO. Either unit IMO would be just great.



So my experience is totally with the non-SIGNATURE Pro DSD is as follows:

First impressions are long lasting. Well packed. Well built. Solid. Can move around a bit on the desktop. So my options and connections….in the back and in the front….iFi has you covered here in spades! I am a simple user and some of the bell and whistles are meaningless to me. But the ones I do use I really like.

Starting off, I read the entire Owners or User’s manual..yup I did…call me anal….but being and electrical engineering technical type its like mandatory here….LOL. I also found the serial number before it got list in the interconnections and wires!! And I registered it online.

I usually like to keep things simple, least amount of stuff from the original recording so a NOS function is nice to have. All those filters and up sampling are great but I want to hear what its like via NOS. The Pro DSD has this function with its BP or bit perfect mode. Coming from a DS type of dac first and later a several year multibit dac experience I wanted to hear other dacs from different designers to see how they compared.



Also, it would be nice to have other functions to play with to at least try and yes this adds to the cost of this box and others like these functions. But these functions in some dacs it takes a real engineer to figure out how to invoke and use them. iFi has this experience down pat…all the connections and variables are easily accessible and easy to invoke at the twist of a knob, or a gentle press of a knob or flick of a switch. Great end user experience here. Very well thought out. Kudos.

Throw in a Class A line stage that has the ability to use discrete transistors or tubes adds to the variety and different listening experiences available. Tube or Tube + modes…difference in feedback etc. The linestage has varying power outputs depending on which output jack your using. iFi states there is NO headphone amplifier in the Pro/DSD. Its just a gain stage line driver that has enough power to drive many headphones directly…hmm sounds like an amplifier of sorts to me. With my Final Audio D8000 Pros at 60 ohms, HD 650 at 300 ohms and my ADX 5000’s at 420 ohms the linestage drove all three very, very loud….you can debate the quality of this “mini” amp that is rated at 1.4 watts SE and 4 watts
with the pentacom 4.4mm balanced output jack….Seems that 4 watts would do the trick rather well wit most headphones out there….and it does. The later version of the Pro/DSD has the larger 4.4mm balanced jack. Which is very much appreciated.



Back to the Bit Perfect thing. iFI states it is using 4 actual dac chips that are running in parallel in an inter-leaved scheme. The result according to them is the net result is closer to 8 bit via multi-bit. The top 6 – 8 bits are running in multi bit architecture with the option of applying no filters. The lower bits are processed as delta – sigma over sampled in effect DSD 256 (so iFi states). So you have the best of both worlds here…and that later DS can be had with no filters as well. I like this a lot. I might mention Bit perfect is only available at sample rates of 96khz or lower.

The most important attribute for the Pro/DSD is the ease of operation. A simple twist of a knob and your onto the next selection….from BP, BP+, GTO, Apodizing, Transient Aligned….simple, quick, fast. It just works so well.

The same knob that selects the filters when depressed invoke DSD 512, press again DSD 1024, press again and DSD is OFF. Simple and it does make a sonic difference. The master input selection knob pressed allows a polarity shift or changes the brightness of the round display. Hold it for 4 seconds the polarity changes. Press for less and the brightness changes to 4 available settings. Simple. Easy.

One of the gripes with the Pro/DSD is the absence of a 4 pin XLR output jack. Simply “no room” states “iFi”..use the 4.4 pentacom jack they say…ok but I have a ton of balanced cables…ok get and adapter. Done. Its just the way it is….or buy that iCAN Pro amp!! LOL.

It does come with a remote…simple for the OG model. The remote I have with the SIGNATURE iCan Pro amp works with the OG Pro/DSD…..at least for volume +/- the other buttons don’t do anything…but again I don’t use wi-fi etc..

iFI has elected to throw in MQA. I am not a fan on MQA. Don’t use this. Nuff Said. More cost?

One of the most ‘vain” things with the Pro/DSD is that it remembers the last volume setting ok its fun to watch the knob move down and up when powering off and on…a convenience to some, but to me…well.

IFI has included a WI-FI function capability as well…another function that I do not use. I am a dedicated one desktop computer listening station….I don’t need any of this. Maybe for updating firmware someday?

iFi has included the ability of playing tunes from a memory stick or hard drive…nice but again I don’t use this. If I put this dac into my 2 ch setup I might think hard about this potentially very useful function.

On the rear of the unit it looks like almost any connection is there…OMG. XLR and SE outs. USB input, Micro SD Card slot, S/PDIF input, AES/EBU input, BNC clock input!! BNC Clock Output! Wifi antenna connector. Oh did I not mention Ethernet as well! Stream on dude!



There also is a 4-position screwdriver selectable output levels. Very Nice.

So how does it sound?

As I indicated above it took me only three days to sell my gold standard dac for several years. Not that it was not great, its just this implementation to my ears was better than I expected with my “stuff”. I could honestly tell the difference it the dacs I had here in house. An improved clarity would be the thing that really impressed me. So quiet. What was coming in was coming out very. Very naturally. My favorite filter is the NOS but I like the BP+ filter which technically us not 100% nos. No digital filtering is applied but a one tap, SINC roll-off is corrected…whatever that means…For some mystical reason my brain likes this. The second favorite is involving DSD 1024 with the GTO filter. You can hear the difference and with some tunes its indeed very pleasant…. musical. The really neat thing here is YOU can easily try and test what works for you…. SIMPLE. Again, I like that.

I am not going to tout the usual bass is better, mids are whatever, treble is not shouty…I will leave this for those expert reviewers and the charts and graphs. Trusting my ears with my money tells me that the dac in this box is one of the best out there for todays state of technology.

IMO this iFI Pro/DSD unit is very, very well engineered. Works so well. Has so many options. Opens up many choices and combine it with its sibling the iCAN Pro amp your set for a long time of pleasurable audio experiences.

It’s the swiss army knife of audio components….for most the line stage would work well for you and for those that want to drive Susvaras and the like add the iCan Pro or iESL…



The functions that I didn’t use might be very important to you. I would highly recommend you go t the iFi site and read the operators manual for a more detailed explanation of the internals of the device. There are a ton of technical FAQ’s there

How much better is the newer version of the Pro/DSD dac…iFI published a small document on their site where one of their techs came up with a 20% number of betterment…well that is subjective for sure…but there are several improvements in the newer unit….but these may or not be discernable to you in a real honest AB test.

The last question always ask myself is: Would you buy this again…

Answer: Absolutely YES!

Enjoy the Music!

Alex

iFi Pro iDSD ($2499usd): So good, I bought it…last year.

iDSD website: https://ifi-audio.com/products/pro-idsd/

Amazon site (direct link from iFi site): https://www.amazon.com/iFi-Audio-iDSD-Music-Streamer/dp/B07C54B88P/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_3?keywords=desktop+usb+headphone+dac+amp+mqa


Dedicated, ingenious, childlike, kicking, beautiful, understated, talented, & taunting


iFi needs little introduction by now, what with the hugely successful micro iDSD Black Label, x-series portables and nano components as well. Throw in all of the cable options & DAC’s and the AMR-Audio subsidiary out of Accrington, UK presents itself well. Seemingly moving to the smaller and smaller more portable options, the iDSD Pro and iCAN move iFi into AMR-Audio range. Successful would be an understatement, and often given as products of the year, the iDSD Pro follows that legacy accounting well to the heritage.

I have several iFi pieces of kit. I have a stack with the iTubes2/iDAC2/micro iDSD BL, which I dearly love. I still use them often. But given the opportunity to try the iDSD after the iCAN, I found that the Pro truly can replace the stack. That said for less than half the price, the stack is incredible. But this is about the iDSD, and it simply put is superb. With so many functions and hook ups, I do not think I have even tried all to be honest.

So, after the extended review time, I chose to purchase the unit. As too often happens with iFi products I demo, I purchase them. Sigh, my wallet laments, but my sound espouses goodness. Paired with the iCAN, I imagine the sound to be quite good (OK, better than quite good), and I have noticed that several have the combination. The iDSD works solo for me, and that is just fine, especially when hooked to other gear I have. And, I am just fine.

Specs:




Features:

1. Quad-Core Burr Brown MultiBit/DSD hybrid DAC supporting DSD1024 and PCM768kHz
2. Studio grade DSD1024 remastering (Crysopeia FPGA Digital Engine)
3. Wireless DLNA/Airplay™/Ethernet Hi-Res Playback
4. User-selectable analogue stage: Tube or Solid-State
5. Master Quality Authenticated (MQA) playback
6. Global Master Timing femto grade clock system with external clock input options
7. Five filters: Bit-Perfect/Bit-Perfect+/Gibbs Transient Optimised/Apodising/Transient Aligned
8. Fully discrete passive LC analogue filtering
9. Zero Jitter Memory Buffer and Galvanic Isolation for all inputs
10. Discrete headphone/line amplifier
11. Balanced inputs and outputs
12. Galvanic isolated ultra-quite power supply with super capacitor

Gear compared/used:

Questyle CMA 12 Master ($1999)
iFi stack of iTubes2/iDAC2/micro iDSD BL ($1400ish)
Auris Audio Euterpe ($1599)

Audeze LCD-3
ZMF Eikon
Mr. Speakers Ether-C Flow 1.1
Sendy Avia
Campfire Audio Cascade
Verum Audio Verum 1

Empire Ears Legend X
Noble Savant II
CTM Da Vinci X

MacBook Pro
XDuoo x10t ii
Questyle QP2R
Shanling M5s


Songs used:

Van Morrison: Three Chords & The Truth
Tedeschi Trucks Band
Twenty one pilots: Regional At Best, Trench
Big Head Todd & The Monsters: Beautiful World, Midnight Radio
Bob Marley
Ziggy Marley
Roger Daltry
SRV
Santana
Los Lobos
Los Lonely Boys


Unboxing:

Coming in a large white-sleeved box, the Pro comes well packed and well-endowed with goodies. With specs laden on the bottom, and the types of music on the bottom, along with pictures on top; one could easily spend much time looking at the box after hooking the Pro up. One look at the back and you understand what a mighty critter this is. And I will again state that I have not tried all of the options.

As per typical iFi, once the sleeve is off you have a snow-white box replete with silver iFi labeling. Clean and clear, I like the simplicity. Opening the carton, you are met with a protective foam insert to protect the Pro. Taking the wrapped Pro out, there is a smiley face complete with wearing headphones and the message “thank you.” Lol, a nice touch.




Several boxes underlay the Pro, with the accessories, and power pack/cord inside. With an included dual RCA (in purple!!!) cable set along with the ubiquitous blue iFi device usb cable, there isn’t much else included. But when you think that you already have two cables you have a very good start. My XDuoo came with a mini-xlr to xlr, which hooked directly into the xlr source, so I had three options. As a fourth I used an iFi Mercury 2.0 cable, which I won. I used that to hook up to my MBP as well.


Initial set-up:

Hooking the Pro to my MBP first using a dual RCA to single 3.5 cable, the MacBook easily recognized the iFi when brought up as “headphone port.” Hooking the Mercury cable up and a micro-usb adaptor, the MBP recognized the iFi as an iFi. Easy as eating a pie. Using the input switch allowed quick changes between multiple sources. I would often have the MBP and another source hooked up such as the XDuoo or a DAP.

Once you turn the iFi on it goes through a system check, with the iFi Pro logo in the top left blinking orange until the tubes heat up enough as well as the cycling through the menu. Turning to green you are good to go. The process usually took about 10 seconds total. The unit does remember previous volume as well, with the knob actually moving to the level it was when turned off. Of course, this only occurs if you turn the unit down after turning off. I will admit that watching the orange glow of the tubes come on is a simple pleasure I enjoy, and the “looking glass” fisheye on top makes for an voyeuristic approach. With the curvaceous opening on top mimicking the orbits of planets around the sun you get the central sun look through the fisheye. Psychedelic and astronomic at the same time. Coooolll.





With a curvaceous top as well, one is left with a somewhat unfinished feeling. I understand the iFi want for different shapes, but having a dead flat front cover, with a tabletop smooth top line you get mismatched curves. At first glance one might even think that the fit is not quite right. But it is. When thought of in the iFi vein, you get the singularity of design, which is their trademark. There is nothing on the market, which looks like the micro iDSD Black Label, and you could certainly say the same here what with the curves. In the end, I like it.

Playing Van Morrison’s In The Dark Night Of The Soul, through my Cascade’s, I immediately appreciate the dark tonality of the tubes. Just like the iTubes2, you can run full-on tube sound, a gentler mix (SET), and solid-state (Push-Pull). I love tube sounds in the portable market, especially after listening to the vaunted (RIP) Apex Pinnacle 2 and my music. Stunning, extraordinary, exemplary, superb are words too soft to describe the Apex. The iFi Pro does not fall that far behind to me but does make me think of the welcomed two weeks with the Pinnacle2. Played at DXD 768, with a 9dB gain, the sound was wonderful. I immediately appreciated the sound, but also quickly realized that for much of what comes on the Pro I would be out of my element. In that regard, I would have to utilize what I could with the three cable set ups.



From the manual:

The Pro iDSD (just like the Pro iCAN) is a one-of-a-kind product that is able to switch between:

'Solid-State' - a purely solid-state J-FET based circuit of fully discrete Class A topology.

'Tube' - the J-FET circuitry is switched to an all-valve Class A section based on 2 x GE5670.

'Tube+' reduces available negative feedback to a minimum. As a result, a greater amount of the tubes natural harmonic distortion is produced (even order harmonics dominate).


Headfonia mentions the lack of Bluetooth, and I do miss that, but when taken as a desktop setup with wireless DLNA capabilities as well as the multitude of other options, it is not really needed. If need be, hook up a BT source, connected to another source and you would have it. But one might wonder why you would degrade the sound as such.



More about the options:

Simply hooking up a source gives you many options with which to fine tune your listening pleasure. Keeping the Pro close would be a good bet, as you could happily change the gain level as well as tube/solid state set up ad nauseum. Changing the filter setting gives more options, and even these tired ears can hear some difference amongst the options. Not only does the “filter” knob rotate to give differing options from BitPerfect to BitPerfect+ as well as three others, you can push the knob in to change the mastering level. Leave mastering off and you get how the song was recorded, which does change between songs on the same album. Pushing once changes the level to DSD512 (which on TWP Trees) yielded 22 MHz DSD). Push again and you have DSD1024, 45 MHz DSD. The brightest option to me (without volume change) was the original. So, when upsampling, the volume is lowered a bit.

Cycling through the five digital filters I found myself using the Gibbs Transient Optimized (GTO) setting the most. I found the treble to be lifted a bit, without too much sparkle, matching the corresponding darker tube tone well. A definite Yin-Yang sound to me. Complimentary indeed. My second choice was Bit-Perfect+ due to the roll-off correction.


Filters:

‘Bit-Perfect’ – No digital filtering is applied, one tap.
‘Bit-Perfect+’ – No digital filtering is applied, one tap, SINC roll-off is corrected.
‘Gibbs Transient Optimised’ – Minimum filtering, no pre-ringing, minimum post ringing, 32 taps.
‘Apodising’ – Modest filtering, no pre-ringing, modest post ringing, 128 taps.
‘Transient Aligned’ – Max filtering, max pre-ringing, maximum post-ringing, 16,384 taps.


Rounding out the front is the volume wheel, with very fine feel and adjustment, although using the remote gives less fine tuning. One touch on the remote yields about 2 adjustments up or down by hand. Next to the volume are the headphone outputs, with 6.3se, 3.5se and 2.5bal. Since my purchase a 4.4bal model has come out, which cost $400usd more. I would assume there has been some other fine tuning as well. I have no qualms regarding the lack of 4.4bal as I have never had an issue with 2.5bal jacks and do feel those that have are most likely unlucky or not careful enough. I get it, accidents happen, but to me that should not be the reason for purchasing a 4.4bal. Enough on that.



Sources/options:

I found the Pro eminently changeable and adaptable. With the multitude of source options as well as filtering/mastering options you have roughly 150+ listening options when all tuning variables are included. For those that do not like to tinker, you may find your optimized setting(s) and leave it be. That is pretty much what I did but will admit it was much more fun than I thought changing the bits and pieces.

Using the XDuoo x10t ii transport, I found I liked the Xduoo even more. Since it is a dedicated turntable, one must hook it to an amp. Running it normally through my iFi xDSD, the iDSD Pro was a very nice treat. The clarity of tone was not diminished, but slightly enhanced with the full tube sound. I found myself changing the filter just for fun, but always seemed to come back to the GTO. Minimizing the change, I heard the dark tone of the tube come through, settling any dispute with a less than black background in a recording, which might have one. With excellent width of sound stage as well, the sound opened up to allow the vocals to take center stage. On TWP’s House Of Gold, Tyler’s Ukulele sounded bright and airy. When his vocals come through the middle, you cannot do anything but appreciate the center stage. The supporting cast of instruments coming in behind and in backing of the vocals tied together by the Ukulele. A thoroughly enjoyable airiness imbued an overall tone of a lilty atmosphere. Followed by Car Radio’s energetic full sound you get the sense that the Pro can adapt almost like a sentient being. And truth be told we are not too far behind that…

Using the Cascade’s in the above paragraph, one might think the Campfire Audio’s dark tone would be overwrought with dark tube sound. But, combined with the 2.5bal LQi cable and the XDuoo you find it open in sound more than other sources. Even in full-tube sound, the clarity belies the typical response of the Cascade (run on smallest filter for best bass quantity). What a wonderful trio.

Much time was spent on my MBP through the Mercury 2.0 cable and Tidal Premium. Almost as much time as on the XDuoo. I find the Premium sound of Tidal to be a bit dark of its own volition. With the Pro in tow, the sound again was a bit less dark, and more open. Going old school with Hurry Tomorrow from Los Lobos, the song provides a cacophony of variation. David Hidalgo’s vocals take on an almost ZZ Top-like quality, thrown in with an old Santana-like guitar riff. But when you listen, you know…its pure Los Lobos. An iconic group of which all should be exposed. The mix of guitar, drums, xylophonic sounds in the background and David’s vocals give you reprise and respite. This is the stuff of dusty east-Cali stuff, leading to that long desert road in Arizona on your way to west Texas via New Mexico. In an old Ford pick-up of course.



I did find that I had to raise the volume level about ¼ higher on the set up, but that is not all that much. Plus, I could have easily switched to the full 18 dB gain on the fly. When one does that there is a lag while the circuitry changes the option. One might be wise to lower the volume first. I will also note that using this combo gave various lags, niggles and quirks. Sometimes a loud switch between Tidal songs was had. I blame Tidal and the MBP because when using Pine Player on the MBP the lags were not heard. Something with the MBP/Tidal/iFi trifecta did not like each other.

I could also Airplay over to the iFi as an option as well. I found no problem with either setup.



I follow the above song with Los Lobos live version of Chuco’s Cumbia, playing it at much too loud a volume, but do not care. The clarity of which the acoustic guitars come forth is mesmerizing, enticing and make my feet move in time like an actual dancer. I am wrought with fantastic organic (yes, I wanted to use the other word…) sounds, which come across like the clear concise song you would find in a trip to the Mexican coast of the Pacific on a hot sultry night awash with dancing and much imbibing. It is a fantastically phenomenal sound with thorough depth and height to go along with the width. I am just along for the ride. After listening three times back to back, I must stop, for my typing becomes garbled, grabbled, gibberish. More in the morning. This is too good not to just sit and listen.



To go over all of the options, which the Pro can provide would take a 10k treatise. And frankly you do not want to read anything I write, which is that long. Suffice to say that 4k will usually be enough.



Comparison:

iFi iDSD Pro ($2499) vs Questyle CMA 12 Master ($1999):

Both of these winner’s approach sound as their mettle. But they approach it quite differently. Where the iFi is warm and provides much depth, the Questyle is almost as crystal clear as the finest Swarovski crystal from Germany. The true greatness of the Master to me is its ability to make clear pretty much every sound that comes through. That is not to say it does not provide a soul, or depth; but this is probably the cleanest sounding set I have ever heard. It’s Just My Heart Talkin’ is one of my favorite Los Lonely Boys tracks and an outstanding track for judging detail retrieval and clarity. Along with that, if there is any sibilance in the source/amp/headphone chain…it shows. And the Questyle passes with the self-assurance of a Le Mans 24-hour winner. There really is not anything terse to say about it. It performed admirably in any set up. The precision fits. Sound stage is quite good, bordering on a square. But that air between notes certainly makes up for any perceived “deficiency.” There are wider, there are narrower; but to combine an adequately big sound stage with that air is truly wonderful. Some might find the sound too analytical, but I say it is the neutrality that is driving that verbiage. This is probably the most neutral amp I have heard (again sample is limited).

That said, most often neutral bothers me for to me it lacks any real presence. There is definitely presence here. Throw on Los Lonely Boys Heaven and that song alone dispels any thought of analytical and dry. Bass is rich, vocals crisp like a Minot, North Dakota -35 F morning and a soul, which belies its neutrality. Want more neutrality? Switch the bias toggle up for pure class-A albeit a bit less power. This is one damn fine headphone amp. It really is. But it is so much more than that with all of its capabilities that to simply think of it as an amp would be an egregious error.

Whereas the iFi is dark in nature and I am OK with that. I love the tube sound and can fine tune the sound with the filters and other settings. But, if I had not already purchased the iFi, I would have seriously considered the Questyle. Even with that neutral clarity-driven tone. To me it is that good. A breath of fresh air, and it would be a superb dac/amp to consider for your home set up.



iFi iDSD Pro ($2499) vs Auris Audio Euterpe ($1599):

From my Euterpe review: Compared to my iFi Pro iDSD, the Euterpe is simply spartan, utilitarian or void of options with which to tune the sound, save low/high impedance. The real fun is changing the tubes in the Euterpe. The iFi has switches and gizmos to do that. And if one wants to be able to change sound quickly, the iFi has few peers. Costing half-again what the Euterpe is, I find the sound comparable, but with many more options, the difference comes to the front. I can get that same tube sound and alter the sound signature of the music as well. With the Euterpe you are bound to the source. Not a bad thing, and really not meant for that many options. If I had heard both side by side before purchase, I would still have come home with the iFi. But based upon options, not a huge difference in sound.

Finishing my time with Boom Boom playing from BHT&TM, with John Lee Hooker, I get why I like the sound. There is a certain “dirtiness” to the song. A kick the seat back and find an open road to it, John Lee’s vocals simply give it that down home sound. The Euterpe adds to that dirtiness. Giving more. Adding a breadth of sound, which through tubes makes the sound oh so sweet. Follow that with Please Don’t Tell Her, and you understand from where Auris comes. One need only look at their website to garner a look at the more expensive wares. That technology used trickles down to the Euterpe well. And if this is their entry sound, one can only wonder what the more expensive units sound like. I am thoroughly satisfied with the Euterpe sound, and would consider it if there were more options to inputs and maybe adding a balanced-out option. But as stated earlier, as a stand-alone pure tube headphone amp, the Euterpe can muscle into the $1500USD quite well.



iFi iDSD Pro ($2499) vs iFi stack of iTubes2/iDAC2/micro iDSD BL ($1400ish):

My first genuine attempt at making a quality pairing, the stack still gets used. It is quite a fun sound, with the ability to play rocket ship pilot turning and fine tuning all of those knobs. I do not know, but I estimate there are well over four dozen different combinations to be had. I enjoy that aspect and can tune pretty much any headphone/IEM that comes in contact with the set. Plus, I absolutely love the BL alone as it is. That said, the Pro is better all around. With the option to add as much or as little tube sound as I want, this trumps the stack. To do so, I could still use the iTubes2 in the push-pull setting but there is less variation. The sound is crisper through the Pro, and the tube sound, well tubier. With all of the filters that can be applied, the Pro has few peers, even now. I have had several come its way, but the Pro still resides next to my station and gets the most use.



Conclusion:

This review is long, long overdue. What started as an audition, turned into a purchase. And as such, I became quite lazy. I preferred listening, instead of writing. And due to Lawrance’s infinite patience, I could be lazy and wait. He politely emailed me again, which was the nudge I needed. I sit here pecking on my keyboard listening to twenty one pilots through my Legend X and the fabulous XDuoo x10t ii/iFi Pro iDSD combination. I have better DAP’s, but to me the XDuoo is about as pure as it gets. And as such, I can customize the sound at my beck and call through the iDSD. This is as good as it gets. Sound-wise, the Apex Pinnacle 2 is better (as it should be for $12k), but with infinite more options for tuning, the Pro iDSD is my choice for well over 60% of my listening. I will fiddle with the filters on a sing by song basis sometimes but leaving it to one setting is as much fun as the other.

And here is where the true benefit comes in, the ability to filter as I chose, the ability to source as I chose, and the ability to tube as I chose. That to me is what sold me on purchasing the Pro. And I do not regret it at all. This is still a fantastic unit (with 4.4bal option now), and truly one, which will stay in my rotation for a good long time. It is the basis of my comparisons, as it should be. And that gives me the kind of joy I have right now finalizing this. The sound is sublime, and all is good. Enough said.


Thank you to Lawrance for his continued patience, and to iFi for producing this gem of a critter.

iFi Audio Pro iDSD – Full Review

Hi Guys,
Pro iDSD – Verite
Today we are talking about another great Swiss Army knife type piece of gear. The iFi Pro iDSD! The companies flagship DAC. As with pretty much all of iFi’s products, it tries to bring both value and great sound to the table, and I think they have managed to achieve one and a half of those goals.
iFi Audio is a British company that was founded in 2012. It is a subsidiary of AMR Audio, which has a long history of making stereo equipment. iFi has always struck me as a company that focuses more on headphone and personal audio, but that does seem to be changing lately, and they are branching out into other areas (see the iFi “Aurora” all in one for an example of this.) Their products are innovative, and seem to prioritise functionality as well as sonic performance.
The pro line up is iFi’s flagship line, consisting of the Pro iCAN that we reviewed a few months ago, the iESL Electrostatic energizer, and the Pro iDSD. The Pro iDSD was the last in the lineup to hit the market, as iFi really did want
Pro iDSD – Verite
To do their best to get it “right” on the first go round. The Pro iDSD incorporates so many features, that it is actually hard to remember them all without looking at the companies specs page. The Pro iDSD is not *just* a DAC, but a capable all in one DAC/Headphone amp/Streaming solution. Similar to the Pro iCAN, it offers solid state, tube, and tube+ modes, as well as a fully balanced architecture. I was honestly worried that with all these features, the Pro iDSD may not have managed to sound great as well, but, for the most part, it absolutely does.
I will talk about what I feel the basic sonic signature of the Pro iDSD (used as a DAC) is, and then get into the variations on the sound, depending on which features you are using.
The Pro iDSD seems to slightly warm, and I really do mean slightly here. It isn’t dead neutral, and it certainly isn’t cold and clinical. However, with that being said, it isn’t as warm as some other solid state DACs I have heard, and certainly doesn’t venture into being mushy and gooey sounding, as some pieces of gear do. Dynamics, both macro and micro come across with convincing realism, and detail, both macro and micro was pretty darn good. Not the best I have heard, no, but far from the worst I have heard. I think the tiniest of micro detail may be better conveyed but other DACs, but the ones that I have heard that manage to do so are also quite a bit more expensive. I suppose it really depends on the features you prioritise, and what you are looking to get out of a DAC that matters when making your final choice.

For the first little while that I had the Pro iDSD, I experimented with the settings to figure out which I liked best. I ended up settling on using the bit perfect + filter, as well as the DSD1024 upsampling option. This seemed to bring a slightly better focus to the music, not making it sharp, but perhaps more incisive, with a tighter leading edge. Now, to be perfectly honest, I didn’t find the difference HUGE by toggling the DSD1024 upsampling on and off, but it did make a slight difference, so I went with it. Once I had decided on these settings, I left them alone for the most part. The Pro iDSD has SO many options to tweak, and play with, it can become overwhelming. I also think that if you are always changing all the settings, you might lose track of which change is coming from where, leaving you clueless as to what you really prefer.
So, with the settings decided on, I started listening to the solid state, tube, and tube + modes. These were quite similar to the tube settings on the Pro iCAN, which makes sense as it is exactly the same tube being used. Solid state mode actually ended up being my preferred mode for some music, mostly that which was fast paced and complicated in nature. Tube mode however, was probably my favourite mode out of the three. There isn’t a massive difference between the two, but tube mode seemed to have a bit better sound stage expansion in comparison to the solid state mode, at the expensive of the incisive leading edge of the notes with solid state mode. Tube + mode was curious, as I didn’t really notice it bringing anything positive to the sound signature over the regular tube mode, but it further reduced the incisiveness of the recording and also seemed to reduce the speed of the sound, albeit slightly.
Two settings that iFi didn’t include on the Pro iDSD are the “XBASS” and “3D Sound” features, that are present on the Pro iCAN. I reckon that they simply couldn’t find space and time to implement these features on and already feature laden device. Also, I suppose most people will at least consider using the Pro iDSD with the Pro iCAN, which does have the features, so there was no reason to include them twice.
The headphone amp section on the Pro iDSD is fairly competent, and can be used either in either unbalanced or balanced configurations. A recent post release update to the Pro iDSD has added the option of the 4.4mm Pentaconn connector as the balanced option, vs. The original 2.5mm jack. This is a welcome addition in my opinion, as it is a much more sturdy conductor, and will have a better lifespan. The Pro iDSD I had for review had the original 2.5mm balanced jack, and I have no cables with that termination, so I stuck to using the 1/4” TRS output. There are three gain options (0db, 9db, 18db) and up to 4w of output power (balanced) on the Pro iDSD. This means, for the most part, it will drive most headphones out there. Granted, for the HE6 and Susvara etc….you are going to get much better results with the Pro iCAN, but in a pinch, the Pro iDSD will work decently on its own. The headphone output struck me as remarkably similar to the Micro iDSD, albeit slightly more refined. However, there wasn’t much comparison when compared to the dedicated amplifier that the Pro iCAN is. Quite simply, if you have the means, or possess harder to drive headphone, I would highly recommend adding a dedicated headphone amp to use with the Pro iDSD. If, however, you are looking for an all in one solution, that will still do a competent job, you could do a lot worse than the Pro iDSD.
I did play around with streaming and the Pro iDSD, but I have to be perfectly honest and say that I didn’t venture too far with it. I don’t use streaming in my day to day listening to music, and wouldn’t like to speak about something I honestly don’t know much about. The small experiments I did end up doing went smoothly, and seemed to be consistent with my results from wired use. I reckon it is best for me to leave this option of use alone in this review, and allow those with more experience to speak to the streaming portion of the Pro iDSD in their reviews. I apologize for this lack on knowledge on my part.
Compared to some other DACs that I have had here, the Pro iDSD did fair quite well.
iFi Micro iDSD BL
The Pro iDSD brought a very similar tonal balance to the table, but did out resolve the iDSD BL quite handily. With that being said, I still think the iDSD BL offers a good value for what it does. The Pro iDSD also took the win on dynamic swings, and punch/impact.
Hugo TT 2
The Chord Hugo TT2 is quite a bit more expensive than the Pro iDSD. Using them both as purely a DAC, the TT2 is brighter, and perhaps more fatiguing. It does one up the Pro iDSD on raw detail, but I think that the tonal balance of the Pro iDSD may be more pleasing to a wider audience. The TT2 also out does the Pro iCAN in terms of being the better all in one unit, but as mentioned before, there is a significant price difference.
There are some concerns I have about the Pro iDSD. It may not be the best value proposition if you aren’t going to be using it as an all in one solution. The extra features add to the cost, and if you aren’t going to be using them, it makes little sense to purchase the Pro iDSD, given the other options that are out there on the market nowadays. The Pro iDSD is a good DAC, there is no doubt about it, but at times I felt as though it could have been better. Perhaps if iFi released a cheaper “Pro iDAC” in the future, that might be the better buy, if you aren’t going to use the headphone amp and streaming features.

All in all, I’d recommend checking out the Pro iDSD if you are looking for an all in one unit, but if you are looking for a pure DAC, you might be better served by a different, more cost effective option. With that being said, there is nothing wrong sonically with the Pro iDSD, and it does perform well as a standalone DAC. I think it has a pleasing tonal balance and does all the technical stuff pretty darn well. Maybe this is a case of “try before you buy” if at all possible. I think iFi may not have hit this one out of the park like they did with the Pro iCAN, but it certainly has landed pretty close to the back fence. Well done iFi!