[Gus141]

There’s enough MQA intrusion at this point, asking for them to take over more design decisions is not something I would endorse.

Oh I agree. I just thought the use of the blue and green colors to indicate MQA Studio and MQA, respectively, was mandated by MQA Ltd. I used to think that maybe the magenta color was for DACs that didn’t do the decode, just the rendering. But now with a DAC that does both and still uses magenta, I had to ask the question.

Cheers

 

[Sebastien Chiu]

Yes this is helpful! I’m still not clear which filter approach is applied to the Diablo. Is it a GTO like the Neo?

Yes, still an unanswered question; looks conspicuously like they are dodging the question about DA filter choice. Not sure why. But any and all info is helpful so I gave a thumbs-up. Now I’ll wait for measurements I guess.

There's a difference between dodging a question and waiting for a more technical answer than what I know ~ it's the latter for this situation I followed up with the team again in regards to this.

Does anyone know why Audio Quest Dragonflies and iFi DACs use magenta-colored lights for MQA? All the other recent DAC implementations I have seen use blue for “MQA Studio” and green for “MQA”. Even software uses these colors (e.g., UAPP).

Older DACs that didn’t have LEDs capable of those colors used another method (e.g., Oppo 205 uses words; older iFi DACs used yellow).

But the Diablo is a new DAC, so I thought maybe we would see a re-assignment of all the colors. For example: Blue = MQA Studio, Green = MQA, and then shuffle around the remaining possible colors for other formats and frequency rates.

Obviously magenta is an MQA Ltd-authorized color since iFi and AQ DACs are certified MQA renderers. Just wondering.

Cheers,
Gus

The Diablo will remain magneta at this time. It's something I wouldn't dwell over.

 

[Sebastien Chiu]

I received my Diablo last night. I’ll report back after I’ve had a chance to compare it to my other portable and desktop DAC/Amps (Walkman NW-WM1A, Sony TA-ZH1ES, Schiit Modius w/Vali 2+ and Jot2, and Schiit Gungnir/Mjolnir2) and various headphones/iems (Sony Z7, HD600, Focal Clear, LCD-2, Andromeda IEM’s, and LCDi4). I listened for a long time with the Focal Clears last night connected to the balanced input and sound quality was extremely resolving, detailed and airy. Of course, there was lots of power, but I tried it in all three different modes (Eco, Normal, and Turbo) and it seemed to give a slightly different soundstage in each, with a bit more forward sound in the higher modes. So far, it doesn’t seem bright to me, but it seems neutral and resolving in an audiophile sense, similar to my ATC speakers fed with a high quality source, rather than the harsh, straining sound of something that I’d view as bright in a negative sense.

My Diablo has arrived! Nicely packed, and I’m surprised by how beefy this thing is. One disappointment so far—the included USB-C to USB-A cable is for charging only—it does not allow me to connect my iPad Pro to the Diablo. I had a USB-C adapter laying around that let me use it, but I was expecting a cable in the box that would let me connect this to at least a USB-C port. Luckily OTG USB-C to female USB-A adapters are cheap on Amazon—I got a red one to match the Diablo!

Now, onto the important part: the first listen. Using my Andro Golds with a 4.4mm balanced cable, I heard a tiny bit of hiss with no music playing, but it was not noticed once I turned on some tunes. There is a touch of channel imbalance for me at very low volumes with this configuration, so I swapped back to my 3.5mm cable and plugged it into the adapter included with the Diablo. No more hiss now, but still a tiny bit of imbalance just past 9 o’clock. A handful of MQA tracks in Tidal followed, and I am impressed. This thing sounds very neutral and resolving. This is my first iFi DAC, so I don’t have a point of reference to their other DAC implementations, but I am pleased. I’ll give it a good listen with my HD650s after dinner and report back. So far so good, except for the cable thing.

Thank you both for your impressions!

I happen to get my Andro Golds back from trade on Monday and am looking forward to trying em out with the Diablo myself!

Look forward to hearing more of your thoughts soon

 

[jburks725]

I've just spent the last hour listening to some classical tracks on Tidal HiFi with my Diablo and HD650s connected via a balanced cable. Listening on normal (didn't need turbo) at around 11:30 on the volume pot, with Tidal in Exclusive/Force Volume/Passthrough) on my M1 Mac mini (thank you, Rosetta 2), and this thing is beautiful to listen to. It does appear to provide what I'd call a "reference" tuning, which I believe is iFi's intent. I can hear individual piano keys and strings, and the violins are very life-like.

Switching to some rock that I'm more familiar with, I decided to fire up some of the remastered David Bowie and Tom Petty that Tidal offers in Master quality. I also decided to do a little light A/Bing with my Schiit Jotunheim multibit, since they're side-by-side on my desk and both have balanced outs. Of course the Jotunheim can't decode MQA, so it's not exactly apples to apples, but c'est la vie.

The Schiit sounds a little warmer/sweeter to me, with the Diablo again sounding more reference/clinical. I am thinking the soundstage of the Diablo is a little easier to place individual instruments, but I'll need more listening time with both. Of course, I can't (easily) bring my Jotunheim to the living room to relax on the couch, so the Diablo is definitely a winner in that respect.

A few hours in, I'm pretty sure my PAW S1 won't be getting much use for a while, and my Jotunheim might not, either. The Diablo is looking like a winner so far.

 

[Gus141]

... I followed up with the team again in regards to this.

Really appreciate the iFi commitment to customer support and engagement on head-fi. Seriously, I’m an iFi fan; I have 4 pieces iFi kit and I’m just trying to make a decision to buy this or not; not trying to stir up trouble.

I’m probably going to buy the Diablo no matter what anyway. Thank you and @iFi audio: some companies don’t answer any questions here.

Cheers,
Gus

 

[Chibs]

The Diablo will remain magneta at this time. It's something I wouldn't dwell over.

Honestly, it’s the coolest colour anyways. Whenever the track changes and it turns back to green I’m like “Nooooooooo”
Team Magenta!!

 

[Gus141]

Honestly, it’s the coolest colour anyways. Whenever the track changes and it turns back to green I’m like “Nooooooooo”
Team Magenta!!

LOL. That made my day.

I do however have a preference for knowing when I’m listening to “MQA Studio” or just “MQA”. Per this website: http://bobtalks.co.uk/blog/mqa-philosophy/mqa-authentication-and-quality/
————————
“Provenance

• The MQA 'Studio' (blue light) gives confirmation directly from mastering engineers, producers or artists to their listeners. ...
• A second level, 'MQA' (green light) is available to indicate that although the stream is genuine, provenance may be uncertain or that it is not yet the final release.”

————————
TIDAL’s own app obfuscates these distinctions and just shows Master. I like how some of my other software/hardware show the difference when streaming MQA from TIDAL (e.g., mconnect or LUMIN). But I do agree: magenta is a great color to see on my xDSD and AQ Cobalt

 

[ianjturner]

You guys would go nuts with a Philips Hue. Haha! But seriously, it is really good to know exactly what is being converted. Even though I’m yet to be convinced that MQA is as good as proper DSD or even high res flac. Same as the Bluetooth headphones I use for fitness, it is great to have an indication that the hardware is doing its best possible job using aptX HD vs just aptx. However - it could be argued that these lossy or semi lossy type formats tend to cause us more uncertainty and therefore the indicator becomes more relevant. It sometimes feels a bit like something being taken away and sold back with these sorts of technologies. Btw my intention is not to create a massive MQA discussion here - honestly my ears are pricked mainly when I am hearing about sound signature / detail / quality, and it’s great to hear some feedback coming in. I haven’t had a chance to try out a Signature, just straight from BL -> Diablo so it’s pretty hard to figure out if I’m going the right way. If only there was an indicator for this choice!

 

[Gus141]

I agree, I’m not a total MQA believer either. In fact my primary streamer provider is Qobuz in terms of the hours I listen to each service (TIDAL next, then Apple Music on Airpods via Apple Watch; I tried Amazon HD but was underwhelmed [no bit-perfect playback on any of my DACs just upsampled]).

And yes, I’m a total Philips Hue nut (using iConnectHue app of course).

But in all seriousness, I am very attached to TIDAL’s discovery features (like My Mix). So, when exploring new music I want to hear it in the best presentation from that service. So if TIDAL is recommending “Masters” to me, I want DAC that will play them at their highest ability (i.e., an MQA rendering DAC). I then usually sync those new tracks over to Qobuz though since I don’t want to build playlists dependent on hardware for the best playback quality.

So I’m MQA agnostic.

Cheers,
Gus

 

[kuehkueh]

Received my Diablo today. At Eco and lowest volume, its way too loud for my Campfire Andromeda 2020. Any suggestions how can I reduce the volume please?

Also noticed that as I turn up the volume slowly from zero, I only hear sound in my left ear. As I continue turning the volume up, and by the time I hear anything in the right ear, its already way too loud.

 

[elira]

Received my Diablo today. At Eco and lowest volume, its way too loud for my Campfire Andromeda 2020. Any suggestions how can I reduce the volume please?

Also noticed that as I turn up the volume slowly from zero, I only hear sound in my left ear. As I continue turning the volume up, and by the time I hear anything in the right ear, its already way too loud.

That’s a know issue with all these iFi devices. You can try using an IEMatch but you will need an adapter. The other option is to return the unit.

 

[qsk78]

Well, it was clear from the beginning: Signature is a better option for IEM.

 

[Klmahnn]

Would like to know whether it can be run off the mains (in desktop mode) indefinitely without causing battery degradation (like the mojo) and whether the battery is serviceable?

Also if any protection circuits are in place? What happens if the battery craps out during playback etc?

 

[markel]

Received my Diablo today. At Eco and lowest volume, its way too loud for my Campfire Andromeda 2020. Any suggestions how can I reduce the volume please?

Also noticed that as I turn up the volume slowly from zero, I only hear sound in my left ear. As I continue turning the volume up, and by the time I hear anything in the right ear, its already way too loud.

Try to use the Andromeda's in the single-ended jack, rather than balanced, since I think it has less power. I connected my Campfire Andromeda 2019 to the balanced connecter and they worked in Eco Mode but I thought they sounded overpowered and I was scared I would accidentally turn the volume up and hurt my ears. When you turn the volume up, you need to turn it up a bit to get both channels to go, but it is pretty loud at that point, as you note. I used DSP volume reduction on my computer and phone, which worked fine to control volume lower. Normally, I like to leave DSP at max volume, but it doesn't seem to hurt sound quality. Overall, I just think the sweet spot for this amp isn't for super sensitive IEM's, since I felt like even when I got the volume down it wasn't optimizing the amp. I took off the Andromeda's and then tried the Drop x Noble Kaiser 10 (connected to the balanced connector) and they worked much better than the Andromeda's in Eco mode. Having the power in the Noble's drivers seemed to open them up pretty nice. I also spent some time with the LCDi4's yesterday, connected with the single-ended connector, and I got the best sound in Normal Mode (rather than Eco). Having the extra power for the LCDi4's really helped give the low-end bass extra power and it felt like a bigger planar headphone.

Overall, I still feel like this is a very resolving, neutral piece, with desktop amp power in a small package. The DAC appears to be excellent. My Diablo came with an ipurifer3, which I hooked up to the USB input and the sound coming from my laptop computer (using the Qobuz app), sounded perfectly clean. However, it is unforgiving. You need a good source and then it sounds amazing. There is lots of detail, so if it is a bad recording (which I noticed in some of the Qobuz streams), it sounds bad, similar to getting different pressings for vinyl LP's on a nice turntable. It also continues to sound more forward, with a big soundstage with lots of detail.

 

[Sebastien Chiu]

Really appreciate the iFi commitment to customer support and engagement on head-fi. Seriously, I’m an iFi fan; I have 4 pieces iFi kit and I’m just trying to make a decision to buy this or not; not trying to stir up trouble.

No worries at all!

Honestly, it’s the coolest colour anyways. Whenever the track changes and it turns back to green I’m like “Nooooooooo”
Team Magenta!!

I'm in the team magneta camp too, it's such a unique color!

Btw my intention is not to create a massive MQA discussion here - honestly my ears are pricked mainly when I am hearing about sound signature / detail / quality, and it’s great to hear some feedback coming in.

You're all good! That's' what we have the big MQA thread here for.

Received my Diablo today. At Eco and lowest volume, its way too loud for my Campfire Andromeda 2020. Any suggestions how can I reduce the volume please?

Also noticed that as I turn up the volume slowly from zero, I only hear sound in my left ear. As I continue turning the volume up, and by the time I hear anything in the right ear, its already way too loud.

That’s a know issue with all these iFi devices. You can try using an IEMatch but you will need an adapter. The other option is to return the unit.

@kuehkueh ~ I'd recommend what @elira said at as well, switching between eco and normal as well as the two sensitivity levels on IEMatch to see what is the best fit for you.

Would like to know whether it can be run off the mains (in desktop mode) indefinitely without causing battery degradation (like the mojo) and whether the battery is serviceable?

Also if any protection circuits are in place? What happens if the battery craps out during playback etc?

I will check on this and get back to you tomorrow