iFi audio

iFi audio xCAN

iFi audio xCAN
Killer Bluetooth. Balanced Combo



Introduction
With every product release, iFi manages to surpass itself, and their latest release, the xCAN, is no exception.

The xCAN is a portable, wireless DAP amp capable of storing eight Bluetooth devices at once while delivering 1000mW of power per channel. And with in-built aptX and AAC Hi-Res streaming via Bluetooth, music has never sounded this clear.

It’s so clever it replaces two previous iFi products in one go, the micro iCAN SE and the nano iCAN.

Dynamic range
And by this we don’t just mean the music! Not only can the xCAN be used as a powerful headphone amplifier with smartphones, computers and DAPs, it can also be used at home with your smart TV.

Smart Thinking
Imagine the scenario. It’s late at night and you feel like watching a film or firing up the Xbox but you don’t want to disturb your other half. Your headphones don’t quite reach from your smart TV to your bed or comfortable place on the sofa.

The xCAN is the answer. Pair the xCAN with your smart TV via Bluetooth, plug your headphones into the xCAN at your side and you are good to go. No more untidy wires! Or problems with short cables!

Power boost
Got a digital audio player? While the DACs in most high-end DAPs are more than worthy of doing the job, their inbuilt headphone amplifiers often fall short as they lack in power. Give them the boost they deserve with the xCAN. With a 1000mW of power per channel, the difference is there to be heard. Match our power with your player for the perfect combo.

Phone freedom
Not happy with your smartphone’s amplification but don’t want wires getting in the way? Simple – plug your headphones into the xCAN, pair it with your phone and pop it into your pocket. No more wires. You are free to use your phone as you wish – to text, to take selfies or to finish that annoying game of Candy Crush – all while listing to your favourite hi-res tunes.

Sonic boom
With a pure analogue volume control retaining full-resolution at all volume levels, the xCAN is a significant sonic step up for all smartphones, DAPs computers and TVs.

The 3D+® and XBassⅡ® functions bring both sensitivity and power and the listener will feel the music and lyrics flowing around the room. And it delivers high-end audio quality from both Balanced and S-Balanced outputs.

Powerful stuff.

Fully-Loaded features
The xCAN is packed with advanced features, including:

• Dual-mono headphone amplifier with 1000mW of power per channel, which can unleash the full potential of both 32ohm and 600ohm headphones
• Wireless Bluetooth (aptX and AAC) for CD-quality wireless sound
• ESS Sabre DAC with time domain jitter eliminator
• Balanced 2.5mm headphone output deliver high power and all the benefits of balanced connectio
• S-Balanced compatible 3.5mm headphone output delivers the benefits of the balanced connection to single-ended headphones
• Advanced Analogue Signal Process (ASP), 3D+® and XBassⅡ® headphone optimisation circuits
• Pure analogue volume control retaining full-resolution at all volume levels
• Large 2200mAh Lithium-Polymer battery providing six-to-eight hours of playing time

Strong and mighty
All these features have been packed into a resilient magnesium-aluminium body measuring just 95 x 66.5 x 19mm, just like the xDSD.

And coming in at a weight of just 127g, the xCAN packs a mighty punch without breaking a sweat.

Take a look at the front panel controls (left to right) below:

· 2.5mm TRRS Balanced output
· 3.5mm TRS S-Balanced output
· Stepped attenuator volume control (-95dB...+18dB gain)
· Analogue Domain 3D Matrix/ XBassⅡ® (on/off)



Rear panel controls (left to right)

· 2.5mm TRRS Balanced input (Balanced TRRS wiring ONLY)
· 3.5mm TRS input (compatible with TRS Headphones/IEMs)
· Analogue Domain XBassⅡ® iQ correction (on/off with 3 presets*)
· USB C charging input port (charging only)

*based on the Olive/Welti target response for correct natural sound with headphones and IEMs.



The xCAN gives audio the boost it needs by cutting background noise and restoring a natural, cleaner sound. Whether listening to the latest chart-topper or much-loved 60’s classic, music never grows old with the iFi xCAN.

The retail price of the xCAN is US$299 (ex-tax) or €349/£299 (incl VAT).

xDSD won EISA's the Best Portable DAC/Headphone Amplifier for 2018/2019

xDSD
EISA Best Portable DAC / Headphone Amplifier.
Sounds great!



The award winner
iFi’s new portable DAC and headphone amplifier, the xDSD, has won what’s sure to be the first of many awards.

EISA, the European Sound and Imaging Association, has awarded the xDSD Best Portable DAC/Headphone Amplifier for 2018-2019.

Victoria Pickles from iFi said:

“The release of the xDSD had us excited for a long time, so winning the EISA award for Best Portable DAC / Headphone Amplifier is the icing on the cake.

The xDSD packs a punch and revitalizes the way people listen to music. The award is testament to the hard work of everyone at iFi in striving to create the best audio products possible for our customers.”


Praise for the iFi xDSD
EISA was not only impressed by the xDSD’s ten-hour battery life and sleek, super-light magnesium case, but they also loved its flexibility:

“The DAC Headphone Amplifier turns smartphones, laptops and portable players into great sounding music centres. It exudes quality and is perfect for indulging in music on the move.”

They also loved its S/PDIF and USB inputs as well as switchable, digital filtering to allow the flow of unbeatable frequency balance.

With praise like this, it’s easy to see why the xDSD deserves its place on the winner’s podium.


The tech specs
The award-winning xDSD is perfect for home or portable use. But don’t let its compact size fool you, because it’s packed with some big components:

• Wireless Bluetooth - Delivers CD-Quality music wirelessly to your headphones from your smartphone, DAP, laptop or smart TV.

• S/PDIF and USB inputs - Wired, the USB type A OTG/CCK connector offers the ultimate High-Res audio performance for smartphones, laptops and USB enabled DAPs. The 3.5mm coaxial/TOSLINK combo S/PDIF input gives older DAPs and CD players a new lease of life as a transport to serve High-Resolution audio.

• Burr-Brown TrueNative - Hear music as the artist intended. The Burr-Brown True Native® chipset means file formats remain unchanged for the purest sound.

• MQA - For MQA tracks, simply connect to Tidal (on your computer) and check the options to stream MQA.

• S-Balanced Performance - The iFi exclusive S-Balanced technology delivers the maximum performance from single-ended and balanced headphones alike.

• 3D+ & XBass+ - 3D+® creates a louder, deeper soundstage that puts the artist with you in the room with you. XBass+® corrects headphone/speaker bass response to deliver a more profound, tighter, richer bass.

• Cyberdrive - The Cyberdrive headphone amplifier stage is one of the pivotal new circuit designs in the x-series. This new design places all parameters of the analogue system under digital control for a ‘best of both worlds’ scenario.

It’s no wonder EISA was quick to award the xDSD the Best Portable DAC / Headphone Amplifier for 2018/19.

The xDSD, there’s simply nothing like it.

The retail price of the xDSD is US$399 (ex-tax) or €449 /£399 (incl. VAT).

Pro iDSD

iFi Audio Pro iDSD
The official Launch release



Having sparked a revolution with its low-cost DACs that offered music fans portable 256 stereo for less than £500 a few years ago, iFi has maintained its position at the vanguard of the audio world with the launch of the ground-breaking Pro iDSD. There is simply nothing like it.



We have paid great attention to every section of this DAC/headphone-amp/preamp – no stone has been left unturned. Tried and tested classic noise reduction techniques found in tube equipment have been combined with cutting-edge, 21st century technology to deliver a superlative performance.

The quad section uses a quad “stack” of Bit-Perfect DSD and DXD DACs by Burr-Brown in a custom “interleaved” configuration. This arrangement enables a total of eight pairs of differential signals to be used and mixed totalling four pairs of signals per channel.

In a nutshell

The iFi Pro iDSD is a revolutionary DAC that combines a number of different features to give your home audio system the best possible playback resolution and sound. It can handle all audio formats to DSD1024 or DSD512 or PCM 768K with user-selectable digital filters.

Wireless Playback

With LINKPLAY™ WiFi/network playback, built-in Spotify and Tidal, and wide protocol support for 32-Bit/192kHz and DSD64, the Pro iDSD can directly link to a router for online music play. This gives it the option to:

• Play direct from SD card
• Link to a router and directly stream (TIDAL/MQA, Spotify etc)
• Use DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) via music stored on HDD

It’s taken a while to come to market but, boy, has it been worth it. This innovative digital engine will shape the next generation of iFi products and they will rock the digital world.

The gang of four



A quad “stack” of Bit-Perfect DSD and DXD DACs by Burr-Brown work in a custom “interleaved” configuration so that up to eight pairs of differential signals can be used and mixed.

Digital Processing



The new XMOS XU216 X-Core 200 Series 16-Core processor has a maximum of 2,000 MIPS (two billion instructions per second) calculation power in dual-issue mode as a USB interface.

Crysopeia FPGA Digital Engine



The FPGA excels, by handling the up-sampling duties to attain the DSD1024 audio format. In fact, the Pro iDSD can handle all audio formats to DSD1024 or DSD512 or PCM 768K with user-selectable digital filters.

Wireless playback



With LINKPLAY™ WiFi/network playback, built-in Spotify and Tidal, and wide protocol support for 32-Bit/192kHz and DSD64, the Pro iDSD can directly link to a router for online music play.

Many format options



It can handle all audio formats to DSD1024 or DSD512 or PCM 768K with user-selectable digital filters and also gives the user the option to listen to tracks via MQA.


Sample Rates:

• PCM up to 768kHz
• DSD up to 24.576MHz
• DXD and double speed DXD (2xDXD)

Inputs:

• USB (required for DSD, DXD and sample rates above 192KHz)
• AES3 (XLR - single link)
• SPDIF (RCA/Optical combo)
• BNC multifunction In (SPDIF/AES3id In, DARS In, 10MHz In, Atomic clock in)
• BNC multifunction Sync Out (DARS out, 10MHz out)

Outputs:

• Balanced XLR at 4.6V (+15.5dBu - HiFi) or 10V (+22dBu - Pro)
• Single-Ended RCA at 2.3V (HiFi) or 5V (Pro)
• Headphones 6.3mm & SE 3.5mm Jack at 0.55V/2.1V/5V
• Headphones BAL 2.5mm Jack at 1.13V/4.6V/10V
• Headphones out 1,500mW RMS X 2 @ 64 ohm, 4,000mW max. 2 X @ 16 Ohm

Volume Control:

• Balanced (quad) Alps potentiometer, motorised with IR remote control
• XLR/RCA outputs can be selected as fixed level or adjusted
• 6.3mm Headphone Jack is always adjusted

Other Functions:

• Various digital and analogue filters can be selected for DSD and PCM up to 192KHz

PCM Filters:

• Bit perfect (no digital filter, minimal analogue filter)

44.1 - 192KHz, always used for 352.8 - 768kHz

• Bit perfect II (no digital filter, analogue filter corrects HF roll-off)

44.1 - 96kHz

• Minimum Phase (Filter minimises pre- and post-ringing)

44.1 - 192KHz

• Standard FIR (Brickwall Filter)

44.1 - 192KHz

• Additional fixed second order analogue filter @ 80kHz

DSD Filters:

• Four different filters (selectable) with varying bandwidth
• Additional fixed second order analogue filter @ 80kHz

The retail price of the Pro iDSD is:

• US $2,499 (ex-tax)
  
• €2,749 (incl. VAT)
  
• £2,499 (incl. VAT)

And lastly, Wojciech Pacuła of Polish HighFidelity.pl reviewed Pro iDSD and awarded it his Red Fingerprint. English version of this publication is to be found here:

• http://www.highfidelity.pl/@main-828&lang=en

Privacy Policy - May 2018

Privacy Policy
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Revised May 2018

The NeXt Generation of Portable Audio

Introduction

When iFi audio launched its original micro iDSD headphone amp, preamp, and DAC back in 2014, it raised the bar for small, portable, high-performing DACs. It’s been lifting it higher ever since. Last November saw the introduction of the nano iDSD Black Label, with a host of new features including support for MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) audio. Now, iFi has excelled itself again with the launch of xDSD – the first in the company’s next generation of portable DACs.




A sonic step up

With a pure analogue volume control retaining full-resolution at all volume levels, the xDSD is a major sonic step up for all smartphones, digital audio players and computers. Its selectable 3D+ and XBass+ functions bring both sensitivity and power to the careful listener. The artist appears in the room with music and lyrics flowing all around.

The xDSD has pulled off the task of being ultra-portable and wireless while supporting high-resolution formats, including MQA, and delivering 500mW of power per channel. By means of aptX HD and AAC, it brings hi-res streaming to Bluetooth.


Feature laden

In terms of attributes, the xDSD is similar to the micro iDSD, though it’s more advanced:

• Burr-Brown Hi-Res True Native DSD DAC chipset for discerning listeners
• Dual-mono headphone amplifier with 500mW of power per channel, which can unleash the full potential of both 32ohm and 600ohm headphones
• High-resolution audio up to PCM768kHz and DSD512
• MQA ready for playing back all high-res MQA encoded files
• Wireless Bluetooth (aptX and AAC) for CD-quality wireless sound
• S-Balanced compatible 3.5mm headphone output brings the benefits of the balanced connection to single-ended headphones
• Advanced Analogue Signal Process (ASP), 3D+® and XBass+® headphone optimisation circuits
• Pure analogue volume control retaining full-resolution at all volume levels
• Audiophile Digital Filter 'Measure/Listen' selectable
• Large 2200mAh Lithium-Polymer battery providing six-to-eight hours of playing time

Small is beautiful

All these features have been packed into a rugged magnesium-aluminium body measuring just 95x66.5x19mm and weighing 127g. Though it has some similarities with the micro iDSD, it’s control layout is very different because of its Bluetooth wireless capability.

Take a look at the front panel controls (left to right) below:

1. 3.5mm HP Jack (TRRS balanced compatible, no microphone support, switchable to line out).
2. Right of the jack, two separate RGB LEDs indicate sample rate and input selection.
3. Volume (Rotary with ‘push’ button) with translucent centre and volume indication backlight.
4. Right of the 3D+/XBass+ button are two separate white LEDs to indicate 3D+ and XBass+.
5. The 3D+/XBass+ button push button cycles between all off, 3D+, XBass+ and both.

Rear panel controls (left to right)

1. 3.5mm SPDIF (Coax/Optical combo, 192kHz supported).
2. USB A-type OTG Input mounted centrally.
3. Filter switch that slides between ‘measure’ and ‘listen’.
4. Micro USB connection for charging (power input only, full charger detection for fast charge).
5. Below the micro USB port, an RGB LED indicates battery status.

Time flies by when the listener is immersed in the music played by the xDSD. Guitars sound real and a Steinway piano sounds ‘woody’ instead of ‘glassy’ like an electronic keyboard. Musicality overflows.

The retail price of the xDSD is US$399 (ex-tax) or €449/£399 (incl VAT).

iFi audio

Post

iFi Audio Pro iDSD discussion thread

We're sorry to hear that. Thank you for giving Pro iDSD a go.

Post by: iFi audio, Dec 10, 2018 at 5:45 PM in forum: Dedicated Source Components

Post

iFi audio xCAN - The Official Thread

xCAN - Tech Note 2/2 Balanced on the go. [ATTACH] The xCAN offers balanced in/out to take full advantage of the growing availability of balanced...

Post by: iFi audio, Dec 10, 2018 at 5:24 PM in forum: Sponsor Announcements and Deals