First impressions IFI RETRO STEREO 50
Looking on the iFi website for info on the iPhono I discovered the iFi Retro Stereo 50. What is this? What do all these icon and logo’s mean? When is it released? Is this really an all-in-one amplifier?
I found limited info while googling for more information on this amplifier. This was two weeks before the official introduction at the UK Bristol hi-fi show. What caught my attention was the combination of analog and digital technology. Old versus new. Besides the info I found on iFi’s own website, I learned that the amplifier was designed by Thorsten Loesch. This was the little push I needed to go for it.
A few days later a big box arrived at my doorstep. After unpacking the unit, I could immediately hear Dee-dee of Dexter Laboratory say her catch-phrase "Oooooooh, what does this
button do?". So many buttons and switches. Cool! The overall finish is excellent. At the top you get a peek at the tubes. Switched on a nice glow of the tubes is visible.
First thing I tried was to start the radio from my Galaxy S4. Select digital input as a source, select with the digital input switch bluetooth. I didn’t get a connection right away, the included bluetooth antenna needs to be mounted. Pairing is also possible with NFC. Next I started the TuneIn app on my phone and choose a radio station. Wow, it works, music comes from the speakers. The bluetooth connection uses AptX audio coding which enables CD like quality.
With the amplifier comes a box with accessories. Besides a remote control, USB cable, RCA interlink, mini jack cable, TOS link adaptor also some loudspeaker cables are included. Especially the loudspeaker cables are not your standard run of the mill cables. The in Teflon isolated silver plated copper cables are fitted with Z-plugs and are 2 meters in length. I used them to replace my current cables.
Now it’s time to connect my analog gear. Vinyl is my main source for music. First thing I noticed was how empty my audio rack looks. The iFi Stereo 50 is a small unit and with my phono preamp and some of the interconnects gone, it leaves a lot of clear space. My cartridge, a Denon DL-103, needs to be connected to the MC low input. Also the mode switch on the back panel needs to be set to MC low. The amplification of the phono MC stage is 62 dB, enough to bring the 0,3 mV output of the cartridge to the required level. Time to take a LP out of his jacket and placing it on the turntable. The fun can start.
The iFi Retro Stereo 50 replaces a Rega Brio integrated amplifier with a DIY tube phono preamp. The sound of my old system is very close to how Rega called its amplifier: brio. The Stereo 50 sounds more detailed, faster and more natural. If I needed to rename the iFi amplifier it would be iFi Retro Baileys. The music it makes is fluid, smooth, creamy. Very attractive.
I can’t help it, but have to play with the dials and switches. All of them have a nice quality feel to them. I begin with the 3D Holographic switch. This creates a wider and deeper sound stage. The amplifier has two version incorporated, one for head phones and one for speakers. This is selected automatically and depending on what is connected. In my case Totem Mite speakers. The way it increases the soundstage beyond my speakers is subtle. The music also seems to curve a little; with the centre moved deeper. After switching it on for the first time, it never has been switched off. A nice side effect is when I’m not direct in front of the speakers, it keeps the image of the music coming from a stage situated between the speakers.
Xbass is a practical feature when using small speakers with a limited low frequency range. In principal it can’t extend the low frequency. To my ears it has. You can select three settings. One is off. Sometimes I choose to switch it off, this happens when a radio station sounds boomy. Most of the time I have selected the middle setting. It feels as if Xbass and 3D are working together. Together they give a wonderful full presentation of the sound coming from my mini speakers. These two features give in theory the possibility to put your speakers in a less obstructive spot. I couldn’t resist moving them around to give them more breathing space.
With the phono input selected you have the possibility to choose different phono equalisation curves. There are no clear guidelines when to choose a specific EQ curve. As I understand it, it depends on many factors such as year of release, label and land of origin. As a vinyl junkie with many second hand records from the seventies, I was intrigued by this feature. Although the amplifier is in general “plug in and forget”. This is something you have to play with. For me the direct input switch becomes a bit of an undocumented EQ switch. With it I switch for example easily between the selected Decca EQ and the standard RIAA EQ curve. More than ones a LP that, with the standard RIAA curve, sounded bright with not much body transforms with the Decca curve to a LP that sounds “right”. In the short time I have owned this amplifier I grew fond of this feature and would miss it very much if it was removed.
My carousel CD player does not make many hours the last few years. Connected to the Stereo 50, it sounded nicer as I remember. This was with the analog line output of the CD player connected to the audio line in. To be able to use the DAC chip in the amplifier I bought an optical cable to use the optical SPDIF input. Boy, was I in for a surprise. The Stereo 50 made the CD sound as I had not heard before in my system. A lot of the things I thought were specific for vinyl playback, I was now hearing from a digital source. Fluid and smooth was the music created by the iFi Retro Baileys.
The unit can handle different high resolution formats such as PCM, DXD and DSD via USB. Unfortunately I have no experience with high resolutions streams and can’t say much about it. I’m curious how for example the 192 kHz format will sound as this is sometimes used as a master for remastered vinyl. A whole new world is there to be discovered. But till now no PC has been connected. Also no head phone has been connected. The possibilities and features are almost unlimited. It can handle and do almost everything.
The tubes in the amplifier are a special version of the EL84; the EL84X. These have a little higher output as standard and give a total power output of 2x 25W. This is enough to fill a 35 square metre living room with music. If you want to use NOS EL84’s this is possible, you just remove the jumper on the main PCB marked EL84X. The iFi website mentions a study done on the effects of adding tubes to your hifi system. With the Stereo 50 I feel I was part of the study and belong to the group where the music invites you to listen longer and influence your movements such as tapping your feet. I am enjoying my music independent if it is coming from a LP, CD or spotify.
The amplifier has been running close to 50 hours now. After about 30 hours the sound opened up and became sometimes beautiful realistic. Most of the listening was done with my analog source. The amp is very well balanced. You notice this with everything. It is a well thought out all-in-one concept. Everything is not just added and put on top of each other, which maybe would have doubled its price. It is integrated in the real sense of the word. The end result is a very natural and open sounding amplifier that successfully combines old and new technologies and offers an extravaganza of music sources to listen to.
/Paul
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