[BryceS]

Our support staff responded with the correct answer. DCA Aeon headphones are a load below 16 Ohms and not particularly sensitive on top of that. Nonetheless this feedback was passed to our staff, so shortly we should know more. Thanks!

Thank you ifI.

For clarification my comment was not intended as a criticism of the people I dealt with just an observation that they were working with the information available to them and not perhaps the more technical insight that your R and D team may be able to provide.

Thank you again.
Bryce

 

[whitedragem]

@BryceS: so polite and ensuring that fair acknowledgement exists; true it is so easy for a posts' context to be lost (no 'tone of voice'),.. I feel that communication is key, and BryceS does so in a way that uplifts the spirit/'represents the life we ascribe to'; the ideal self....
Glad to have a new member stand tall and stand true..(welcome to head-fi, hope to see you around more often! )

 

[BryceS]

@BryceS: so polite and ensuring that fair acknowledgement exists; true it is so easy for a posts' context to be lost (no 'tone of voice'),.. I feel that communication is key, and BryceS does so in a way that uplifts the spirit/'represents the life we ascribe to'; the ideal self....
Glad to have a new member stand tall and stand true..(welcome to head-fi, hope to see you around more often! )

Why thank you so much Whitedragem. It is very easy to hide behind a keyboard and very little extra effort to be polite

 

[HiFiRobot]

iFi iDSD Diablo has good synergy with my Hifiman Edition X. I think the Diablo is a step away from my other iFi units soundwise. Diablo has more focus on clarity and high technicalities. Less of the iFi house sound which I am hearing more from the original iFi Micro iDSD Silver and Zen Signature HFM set, without the Diablo becoming too sterile and analytical. To me the synergy is better with the Hifiman Edition X than with my Focal Clear OG.

 

[iFi audio]

Thank you ifI.

For clarification my comment was not intended as a criticism of the people I dealt with just an observation that they were working with the information available to them and not perhaps the more technical insight that your R and D team may be able to provide.

Thank you again.
Bryce

All good, criticism is also okay, we don't mind honestly

As for shutdowns with DCA Aeons and any other demanding cans rated below 16 Ohms, I'm sure that folks here would like to know some specifics and I've asked for any extra info on the subject, so we're on it, thanks!

 

[BryceS]

No word from ifI yet.

In the meantime I did a bit of experimentation with the issue I was having with the Diablo "Glitching" off and on under high load and on the higher gain settings. That is the Diablo would stop audio momentarily then restart on and off depending on the load that the volume and music put on the power supply. I have since found out that this is technically called "Hiccup Protection" for pretty obvious reasons. On a power adapter under high load with the 13 Ohm Aeon the Diablo would "hiccup" until the load was reduced.

Additionally, as indicated in my posts above, on battery power only, under high load with 13 Ohm Aeon the Diablo will shut down completely and needs to be connected to a charger to reset it. I have some information on that issue which I'll share soon but I was hoping for a response from ifI before I did so.

In the meantime I have tested 4 different power adapters, a small iPhone 5 watt charger, a larger iPad 12 watt charger, a Samsung 25 watt USB-C fast charger and the supplied ifI power adapter.

In order of success:

With the ifI power adapter the Diablo would hiccup very readily at even moderate volume, very odd that this is the power supply provided.

The small 5 watt iPhone charger was a bit better but the Diablo would hiccup readily but at a higher volume level than the ifI power adapter.

The iPad 12 watt charger was better and did pretty well with volume needing to be quite high and on Normal or Turbo mode to hiccup the Diablo.

The 25 watt Samsung USB-C fast charger was very good and I could not make the Diablo hiccup at all even on Turbo and around 3 o'clock on the volume pot, At that point the Aeon's were complaining and I had more respect for my hearing than to push further ! The other nice thing with the 25 watt charger was the Diablo remained very cool to the touch seemingly indicating that the charger was doing all the work and the battery was not draining even under the relatively high demand. The charger itself didn't get warm either, again presumably meaning that it wasn't working overly hard running the Diablo.

 

[BryceS]

Further Diablo experimentation !!

IfI Diablo users.

I’ve seen reviews online where they show a Diablo with a 4.4mm line in going into the rear 4.4mm line out of the Diablo.

I’ve also seen comments from ifI that this doesn’t work and the Diablo can be used as a DAC/Amp or as a DAC only but most certainly not as an Amp only.

I tried this myself some weeks ago and sure enough it didn’t work. However, in online conversations with a gentleman he insisted it did work and even provided a video of it working. My Diablo definitely did not work that way, an early run of units perhaps ?

I believe at that time my Diablo was running 7.3 firmware and I have since updated to 7.4 firmware.

Just recently I received a private message from a gentleman well and truly in the know about the inner workings of the Diablo and he indicated that the line in feature was a bit of a secret “Easter Egg” for testing the Amp and it was definitely real but may have been subsequently deactivated by firmware changes. Apparently it also only worked with nothing plugged into the USB ports. This of course inspired me to try it again !

Well, on the latest 7.4 firmware, I assume that is what made the difference, I can confirm that the 4.4mm rear port will now most definitely accept a balanced line in. I am listening to my Diablo with my M11 Plus providing a line in as I type and I earlier tried the Gryphon line out into the Diablo rear 4.4mm and that works also.

This opens up various possibilities for the Diablo’s excellent Amp even if just using a different DAC now and again for a change of pace, an R2R balanced dongle perhaps ?

One caveat is that the interconnect cable needs to be a 5 wire so that both channels and the earth are connected. That may present issues if the DAC end isn’t earthed.

The cable pictured below is a four wire one and while it will make sound there is background hum and the bass is very weak, sounds like something is out of phase. Once I had some indication that the line in actually worked I rigged up a simple earth wire, very easy in this case since the outer barrels of the interconnect are metal, I just temporarily clipped a wire to the barrels and the hum disappeared and the bass returned.

I’ll be buying a five wire ifI 4.4mm to 4.4mm interconnect cable shortly. The gentleman I had a conversation with who insisted line in worked used an ifI cable and with a multimeter also confirmed that the ifI cable uses five wires to connect all five terminals of the Pentaconn.

Hopefully that is of some value to somebody.

 

[801evan]

Further Diablo experimentation !!

IfI Diablo users.

I’ve seen reviews online where they show a Diablo with a 4.4mm line in going into the rear 4.4mm line out of the Diablo.

I’ve also seen comments from ifI that this doesn’t work and the Diablo can be used as a DAC/Amp or as a DAC only but most certainly not as an Amp only.

I tried this myself some weeks ago and sure enough it didn’t work. However, in online conversations with a gentleman he insisted it did work and even provided a video of it working. My Diablo definitely did not work that way, an early run of units perhaps ?

I believe at that time my Diablo was running 7.3 firmware and I have since updated to 7.4 firmware.

Just recently I received a private message from a gentleman well and truly in the know about the inner workings of the Diablo and he indicated that the line in feature was a bit of a secret “Easter Egg” for testing the Amp and it was definitely real but may have been subsequently deactivated by firmware changes. Apparently it also only worked with nothing plugged into the USB ports. This of course inspired me to try it again !

Well, on the latest 7.4 firmware, I assume that is what made the difference, I can confirm that the 4.4mm rear port will now most definitely accept a balanced line in. I am listening to my Diablo with my M11 Plus providing a line in as I type and I earlier tried the Gryphon line out into the Diablo rear 4.4mm and that works also.

This opens up various possibilities for the Diablo’s excellent Amp even if just using a different DAC now and again for a change of pace, an R2R balanced dongle perhaps ?

One caveat is that the interconnect cable needs to be a 5 wire so that both channels and the earth are connected. That may present issues if the DAC end isn’t earthed.

The cable pictured below is a four wire one and while it will make sound there is background hum and the bass is very weak, sounds like something is out of phase. Once I had some indication that the line in actually worked I rigged up a simple earth wire, very easy in this case since the outer barrels of the interconnect are metal, I just temporarily clipped a wire to the barrels and the hum disappeared and the bass returned.

I’ll be buying a five wire ifI 4.4mm to 4.4mm interconnect cable shortly. The gentleman I had a conversation with who insisted line in worked used an ifI cable and with a multimeter also confirmed that the ifI cable uses five wires to connect all five terminals of the Pentaconn.

Hopefully that is of some value to somebody.

Quite impressive

 

[801evan]

What I really need is an easter egg of mqa toslink and I can have peace of mind

 

[ljnew]

Let me hijack this post too!

Can I use this as an amp for my dap? If so how?

 

[whitedragem]

Can I use this as an amp for my dap? If so how?

any comment from iFi on this would be good…

we can use a microphone as a speaker, but is isn’t necessary ‘good’ for it…

please can we confirm how healthy this is for our devices, and, ‘if so’ when can we expect an iFi branded cable/adaptor…

otherwise; as said above regarding 5 pole 4.4mm (pentaconn) balanced cable..
(does your DAP have a balanced output - ideally being 4.4mm (pentaconn)?)

 

[Sebastien Chiu]

Further Diablo experimentation !!

IfI Diablo users.

I’ve seen reviews online where they show a Diablo with a 4.4mm line in going into the rear 4.4mm line out of the Diablo.

I’ve also seen comments from ifI that this doesn’t work and the Diablo can be used as a DAC/Amp or as a DAC only but most certainly not as an Amp only.

I tried this myself some weeks ago and sure enough it didn’t work. However, in online conversations with a gentleman he insisted it did work and even provided a video of it working. My Diablo definitely did not work that way, an early run of units perhaps ?

I believe at that time my Diablo was running 7.3 firmware and I have since updated to 7.4 firmware.

Just recently I received a private message from a gentleman well and truly in the know about the inner workings of the Diablo and he indicated that the line in feature was a bit of a secret “Easter Egg” for testing the Amp and it was definitely real but may have been subsequently deactivated by firmware changes. Apparently it also only worked with nothing plugged into the USB ports. This of course inspired me to try it again !

Well, on the latest 7.4 firmware, I assume that is what made the difference, I can confirm that the 4.4mm rear port will now most definitely accept a balanced line in. I am listening to my Diablo with my M11 Plus providing a line in as I type and I earlier tried the Gryphon line out into the Diablo rear 4.4mm and that works also.

This opens up various possibilities for the Diablo’s excellent Amp even if just using a different DAC now and again for a change of pace, an R2R balanced dongle perhaps ?

One caveat is that the interconnect cable needs to be a 5 wire so that both channels and the earth are connected. That may present issues if the DAC end isn’t earthed.

The cable pictured below is a four wire one and while it will make sound there is background hum and the bass is very weak, sounds like something is out of phase. Once I had some indication that the line in actually worked I rigged up a simple earth wire, very easy in this case since the outer barrels of the interconnect are metal, I just temporarily clipped a wire to the barrels and the hum disappeared and the bass returned.

I’ll be buying a five wire ifI 4.4mm to 4.4mm interconnect cable shortly. The gentleman I had a conversation with who insisted line in worked used an ifI cable and with a multimeter also confirmed that the ifI cable uses five wires to connect all five terminals of the Pentaconn.

Hopefully that is of some value to somebody.

Can I use this as an amp for my dap? If so how?

Yes - you can, like with the example Bryce showed us above.

 

[BryceS]

any comment from iFi on this would be good…

we can use a microphone as a speaker, but is isn’t necessary ‘good’ for it…

please can we confirm how healthy this is for our devices, and, ‘if so’ when can we expect an iFi branded cable/adaptor…

otherwise; as said above regarding 5 pole 4.4mm (pentaconn) balanced cable..
(does your DAP have a balanced output - ideally being 4.4mm (pentaconn)?)

Since the Diablo accepts a line in, and I have been told it was always designed to do so, it surely must be perfectly safe. I can’t imagine for a moment that this just happens to work as a result of some design quirk.

Obviously the DAC has to be balanced with either 4.4mm Pentaconn out as with the M11 Plus or Gryphon in my case or via dual 3 pin XLR as would be the case with a balanced desktop DAC, say a Schiit Modius just for example. The Diablo ships with a 4.4mm to dual 3 pin XLR cable that could be used in the latter application.

IfI already make a 4.4mm to 4.4mm cable which I am advised uses all 5 poles, I’ve just ordered one so I can report back in a few days or so when I have it in hand.

 

[BryceS]

Yes - you can, like with the example Bryce showed us above.

Thanks Seb.

Do you know if this feature has been “unlocked” with recent firmware ?

 

[Sebastien Chiu]

Thanks Seb.

Do you know if this feature has been “unlocked” with recent firmware ?

We're waiting for more clarification on that!