[Metal-Fi]

That is exactly what that behaviour is, a current protection mode.

I like my Diablo but it is not at its best with low impedance and low sensitivity headphones. Dan Clark Aeon Noire at 13 ohms and around 92db/mw will trip the current limit protection as you describe.

Plug the Diablo into a good power supply and it will override the battery and the current protection. I have used a 25 watt Samsung charger which works great and is quiet. The supplied ifi power supply is next to useless except for charging only.

Into 300 ohm HD600 no such problem since voltage supply is plentiful and little current is needed.

Thanks for your reply. I may use a 33W smartphone charger, but I am afraid it would be a bit too much.

 

[BS5711]

Thanks for your reply. I may use a 33W smartphone charger, but I am afraid it would be a bit too much.

It will be fine so long as it is normal 5 volt nominal.

In terms of the amps available the Diablo will only draw what is needed so the charger can never be to much so long as it provides 5 volts which a normal USB charger will.

The high power chargers rely on the smart device (phone) to tell the charger to use higher voltage, the Diablo isn’t smart so the charger will default to 5 volts.

 

[BS5711]

I was just told that our headphone adapter would also work for your needs.

Hope this helps!

https://ifi-audio.com/products/headphone-adapter-3-5mm-to-4-4mm/

Cheers!!

Yes that will work with a 3.5mm to 2 x RCA cable of a 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable:

So how would I connect a single ended 3.5mm to the 4.4mm?

I have used the above linked iFi adapter and it works fine.

If the Diablo 2 still has the line in “Easter Egg” I would assume the internals are essentially the same as the original Diablo since that feature was something that Thorsten included as a means to test the amplifier section when developing the Diablo.

 

[Metal-Fi]

It will be fine so long as it is normal 5 volt nominal.

In terms of the amps available the Diablo will only draw what is needed so the charger can never be to much so long as it provides 5 volts which a normal USB charger will.

The high power chargers rely on the smart device (phone) to tell the charger to use higher voltage, the Diablo isn’t smart so the charger will default to 5 volts.

Not sure if it is actually 5V nominal...here is the charger I was mentioning:

 

[BS5711]

Not sure if it is actually 5V nominal...here is the charger I was mentioning:

That will be fine, it is 5 volt and 3 amps at that voltage. The higher voltage that are shown on there will only ever be output if a smart device tells the charger to use a higher voltage during the initial stage of a charge cycle from a low battery. The Diablo will never ask for anything so 5 volts will be output.

Try it, for me a Samsung 25 watt charger was sufficient and I would guess that one would be also.

I did notice that some chargers are noisier than others so you might want to experiment.

There is some reading back from around page 140 something, BryceS was my previous name here until I messed up my login details.

 

[BS5711]

Yes that will work with a 3.5mm to 2 x RCA cable of a 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable:


I have used the above linked iFi adapter and it works fine.

If the Diablo 2 still has the line in “Easter Egg” I would assume the internals are essentially the same as the original Diablo since that feature was something that Thorsten included as a means to test the amplifier section when developing the Diablo.

There is a bunch of reading about the use of the line in and out features from around page 144, BryceS was my old name here until I messed up my account.

This from page 150:

 

[Metal-Fi]

That will be fine, it is 5 volt and 3 amps at that voltage. The higher voltage that are shown on there will only ever be output if a smart device tells the charger to use a higher voltage during the initial stage of a charge cycle from a low battery. The Diablo will never ask for anything so 5 volts will be output.

Try it, for me a Samsung 25 watt charger was sufficient and I would guess that one would be also.

I did notice that some chargers are noisier than others so you might want to experiment.

There is some reading back from around page 140 something, BryceS was my previous name here until I messed up my login details.

That worked indeed - I tested again the Turbo setting in balanced mode with the Monolith AMT and I was able to turn the volume knob past 3PM with no issues. Thanks!

 

[fiddler59]

It SHOULD not be, but it is possible. Batteries are protected and have a circuit that drops the battery off line if they detect excessively high current.



Well, your believe is incorrect.

The charger IC used in the Diablo is a "battery bank" IC, meaning if external power is attached, it is supplied to the main power bus and the same power is used to charge the battery. The battery does not participate at all in the system, it is being charged via a switching charger util full, after that the switching charger stops.



First, 3.7V will be the "wrong" Voltage. It is equivalent to a 50% full/empty battery. A full battery is 4.2V or 4.3V.

Second, when operating from battery, a switcher will operate to make a constant 5V from the Battery.

Thus using a high quality supply via USB-C and letting the battery charge and enter "desktop mode" will likely be a better choice than supplying an equal quality power via the battery connection.

Additionally, to supply power via the battery connection, the unit needs to be opened up, voiding warranty and there will be no easy way to route the wires out of the unit looking nicely.



iDefender is useful only if there is a ground loop in the system, involving the source. Otherwise iPurifier is preferred, as it is a full USB signal repeater.

The idefender is designed the way it is as it should be placed on the source side of the system. It is not meant to plug into the "sink" device like an OTG adapter.

A really "extreme" system would use the iDefender on the source side with a 5V/1A+ linear PSU (or iFI iPower) providing power to the downstream iPurifier that is plugged directly into the audio device, which in turn is powered by a linear PSU (or iFi iPower).



That is what I remarked before. That seems a lot of work, for what is likely the worse quality solution compared to using USB-C.



Hmm, I find that interesting. The 3R is functionally identical to iPu but with a separate power supply, based on this:

https://www.avmentor.net/reviews/2017/ideon_audio_3r_usb_renaissance_1.shtml

Feeding a separate 5V line to the iPu via iDef may even out the results. Maybe not? Would need to be tried.



I strongly suggest you try a high quality 5V supply via USB-C. And try a separate powvia iDef to iPu BEFORE you make any changes that are not reversible, carry the risk of damaging things or voids warranty.

Well you made your point and made me cancel my orders on every iFi devices. Thanks

is this related to why my Gryphon kept eating batteries..?

 

[Thorsten Loesch]

That will be fine, it is 5 volt and 3 amps at that voltage. The higher voltage that are shown on there will only ever be output if a smart device tells the charger to use a higher voltage during the initial stage of a charge cycle from a low battery. The Diablo will never ask for anything so 5 volts will be output.

It doesn't quite work like that. If the attached devices doesn't ask for a specific voltage, there is no output. So Diablo explicitly asks for 5V because that is the internal working voltage of the battery management system.

And yes, attaching any proper USB-C charger is safe. Having 5V/3A is good, it provides full charging current to the battery and enough current for the DAC & Headphone to run, even in Turbo mode.

If the Diablo 2 still has the line in “Easter Egg” I would assume the internals are essentially the same as the original Diablo since that feature was something that Thorsten included as a means to test the amplifier section when developing the Diablo.

A quick look at the PCB makes it seem so, main change seems to delete the separate USB module and to extend the PCB into the empty space and locate the USB-C socket and USB Chip as well the battery management and power circuitry (that previously was on the piggyback board) onto the main PCB. The original CPU seems to have been deleted (I guess the new 16 Core XMOS takes over) meaning the "Line In" mode MAY have been programmed out.

They also seem to have bodged in a BT Subsystem, but the PCB pictures don't show a proper antennae, maybe it get's soldered to to the "ANT100" testpoint in the top right hand corner.

I don't really see major changes to the DAC or HP Amp part.

It seems that the former "normal" mode was renamed "Turbo" (with perhaps a change of gain) and what used to be "Turbo" is now nitro. As the power supply voltage for the HP Amp was maxed out already in the original, realistically there will no extra power.

The volume control has not been changed, so unless QA has been improved you get the usual lottery of imbalance.

As usual with recent iFi devices, I don't see anything to recommend the model except for cosmetic and minor usability changes (USB-C instead of USB-A) - for those who need it, the addition of BT with aptX lossless is likely welcome.

But the chance to solve fundamental issues has again been missed. And they now call down more than half of a Chord Hugo 2 in pricing.

Still, if the unit was 599 or 699 USD (fair on the basis of BOM cost) it would be an easy recommendation. At twice, the jury is out.

Thor

 

[Thorsten Loesch]

fiddler59 wrote:​

"is this related to why my Gryphon kept eating batteries..?"

No, not really. The battery issue with "Gryphon" is likely a design feature.

The old xDSD had a battery like this:

As iFi decided that the "Gryphon" needed to have a totally unnecessary OLED display that degrades sound quality as it leaks noise into the power supplies and audio circuitry, they needed a different battery shape:

You can actually see that this battery is made up out of two different batteries. I cannot now find the post, but someone took the battery apart and the two parts are different form factors and more crucially different capacity and are connected directly parallel.

Doing this is a definite no-no. Check any site that covers using multiple Lithium Polymer Batteries, they will all state that only identical batteries should be used directly in parallel and ideally they are capacity matched.

By combining two different capacity batteries, the stress for the smaller battery causes it to degrade rapidly, so you get eventually a puffy battery for the smaller battery:





The same Youtuber has replacement instructions where he uses two IDENTICAL batteries (this reduces capacity) and it appears this solved the issue for him.



Thor

 

[gikigill]

So much for AMR backing up ifi.

The Gryphon looks like a hack job. Heck, I'm an accountant and even I possess the knowledge that mixing different size lithium batteries is a bad idea.

Time to search for a new Bluetooth amp as my Gryphon is going up for sale.

 

[Thorsten Loesch]

Time to search for a new Bluetooth amp as my Gryphon is going up for sale.

Or maybe an old one? The original xDSD should sound better (unless your headphone's are very low sensitivity and need the extra voltage of the balanced output the Gryphon Headamp has) and has non of the problems. It should also be quite cheap now, 2nd hand.

Thor

 

[gikigill]

Or maybe an old one? The original xDSD should sound better (unless your headphone's are very low sensitivity and need the extra voltage of the balanced output the Gryphon Headamp has) and has non of the problems. It should also be quite cheap now, 2nd hand.

Thor

Would the xcan be a good substitute?

 

[Thorsten Loesch]

Would the xcan be a good substitute?

No, the xCAN is BT only limited to standard aptX or AAC (& SBC Codecs). It was poorly thought out as product concept.

It was originally meant to go inside a "nano" chassis as upgrade to the iCAN nano, because S&M requested that. BT was meant to be to be optional, but with a USB wired connection option.

Then, when it was mostly done, S&M went "it needs to have the new xDSD casework and BT as standard, but so it doesn't compete with xDSD it cannot have USB audio".

So it's not quite a curate's egg (because all the individual parts are good) but something like a committee designed and redesigned and redesigned camel, when the designer wanted to make racehorse.

With the xDSD you get in effect 100% of the xDSD gryphon in SE Mode (sonically), with the SE Mode being sonically superior to SE input, BAL output HP amp of the Gryphon IF the xDSD output is sufficient. Given I have run modified Fostex T50RP on the xDSD I think the xDSD output is sufficient for most headphones for civilised listening.

It's also minus the noisy OLED display and the unreliable battery forced by the OLED display.

You also loose the line in (meh), the midrange (presence) EQ (useful but limited, can live without) and LDAC/aptX Codecs (potentially useful, but I personally normally prefer aptX over LDAC, aptX HD source support is still not universal and apple devices are AAC only anyway) and the build in iEMatch, which if you use noise detector IEM's like I do, you will want to add the external iEMatch to the purchase price equation.

On the other hand a well kept xDSD will have been run in, it treats the battery gently so plenty of life should be left and commercial (non-iFi) replacement batteries can be found and fitted by any tech.

Thor

 

[iFi audio]

The line in "easter egg" is still included in the new Diablo 2, I have been using it briefly over the weekend, and works fine. I used it with XLR adapters to 4.4mm iFi cables, and also with the 4.4mm iFi cable from the NEO Stream output.

Cheers!!

Bubba