Cool it works on playstation
iFi audio iDSD Signature - The saga continues!
- Thread starter iFi audio
- Start date
srkbear
500+ Head-Fier
My apologies for the presumption. I am just inclined to recoil from totems of the ostentatious malw mid-life crises among men.
You misinterpreted my post. The photos were actually screen shots from a video shared in one of my chat groups. I wish I could show you the short clip in its entirety, but they only allow photo uploads here. Completely ridiculous scenario but funny and parallel to what we're talking about. Not me in the video (I don't own a Ferrari either) nor meant as a flex at all. You already bought and own your iDsd Signature and it seems that you're frustrated about it not being truly balanced like your much cheeper HipDac. It's just sitting in a drawer and you're not using it because it's not truly balanced? I'm assuming it sounds much better than the HipDac (never demo'd one so IDK) but you won't bother because you feel duped by iFi's marketing? Such a shame that this seemingly important detail wasn't researched before purchase.
Sorry you took offence with my Jamaican friend's analogy, perhaps I should have stuck with cars. Doubtful that should require interpretation but just in case - Find what works for you and enjoy.
Back to cars, you have an awesome sounding Ferrari just sitting in your garage, drive it or find a better cheese oops I mean car.
Nevertheless, you do seem to be persistent in distilling the point of my long diatribes down to my dissatisfaction with my Signature. It ain’t. My posts have been about iFi-Audio not being intuitive about their consumer demands or having a
My sincere apologies for the presumption. I’m just inclined to recoil from totems of the ostentatious male in a mid-life crisis I guess.
You misinterpreted my post. The photos were actually screen shots from a video shared in one of my chat groups. I wish I could show you the short clip in its entirety, but they only allow photo uploads here. Completely ridiculous scenario but funny and parallel to what we're talking about. Not me in the video (I don't own a Ferrari either
Sorry you took offence with my Jamaican friend's analogy, perhaps I should have stuck with cars. Doubtful that should require interpretation but just in case - Find what works for you and enjoy.
Back to cars, you have an awesome sounding Ferrari just sitting in your garage, drive it or find a better cheese oops I mean car.
Nevertheless, you seem to keep distilling the point of my long diatribes down to whiny dissatisfaction with my Signature. It ain’t. What I have attempted to convey is my view that iFi-Audio, despite being uncompromising in build quality, keeps cranking out retooled/repainted versions of that ol’ micro iDSD Black Label, at least in its price point.
Same ol’ Burr Brown chipset. Same ol’ obsolete connectors. No intuition about the innovations exciting their consumer base, and no attempts to stay ahead of the current (or even last year’s) technology. And not only that, they inexplicably keep taking back innovations folks seem to like, like xBass in the Neo iDSD. I guess they thought the Diablo red paint would thrill us without any features whatsoever.
Here’s a final example I’ll finish with and put it to rest. The Zen Dac and Zen CAN, even the standard varieties, both have Pentacom 4.4 jacks to pair them together. They make a very expensive male-to-male cable suited for this purpose, which I bought. For this price point, so far so good. But they put out a 4.4mm pentacom version of their Pro IDSD last year, but still have the Pro iCAN with no pentacom input to pair with it. So much for their flagship product fans, right? For those of us who already own their products, what the hell are they offering to entice us to trade up?
I’ll wrap it up there—I won’t dare speak another word about balanced connections. Now, I’m going to go listen to music on my $300 Zen DAC v2/Zen CAN combo, with $1,600 headphones, because the Zen Signature stack has no Xbass or TrueBass option. And I’ll hold off on upgrading to the Pro iDSD/iCAN until they release a version that can be connected together with something more exciting than RCA plugs. Peace!
Yea,
I was under the impression that you were complaining about your signature among other things. Probably because you came on here to the official Signature thread and complained about your Signature.
"I’m also dumbfounded that they went through all the trouble of putting the kitchen sink into the micro idsd Signature unit, then inexplicably short-changed the pentacom 4.4mm output jack with their fake balanced “S-balanced” circuit. This innovation is noble for folks with unbalanced 3.5mm cans, but for those of us who shell out for true balanced headphones, we do so specifically because we want the true interleaving and power advantages that a true balanced circuit offers.
And before iFi responds that their S-balanced feature does offer power advantages for both single ended and balanced connections alike, please spare me the marketing pitch. S-balanced and true balanced are not the same—which is why the far cheaper Hip Dac is arguably your only novel product (in its price range)—because the 4.4mm jack is true balanced, which makes the unit a steal for consumers because it can be enjoyed by those with all tiers of wired headphones—balanced or not."
To my understanding, the Signature has improved SQ over its predecessors. If you're unsatisfied with the way iFi makes incremental changes to their products, perhaps look at other companies offerings. So much out there! I personally like their approach but that's me, a guy wearing a watch boasting state of art technology from 1957. I'm not going to complain that it won't give me weather updates or answer phone calls. Just get one that does.
To quote the great Marques Brownlee "Expectations are the thief of joy."
Peace.
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IEMmasterRace
New Head-Fier
Hello, I own xd05 basic, is it worth to upgrade to signature? My main usage is for desktop
srkbear
500+ Head-Fier
srkbear
500+ Head-Fier
Yes but my 4.4mm headphones will plug into the Pro iDSD but not the Pro iCAN—and so the 4.4mm DAC, which costs $400 more than its single-ended predecessor, can only accommodate the feature without utilizing the companion CAN! This is why I’m sticking with the non-Signature Zen stack—so I can use my pentacom headphones AND TrueBass (a feature which I LOVE).They go together with XLRs too
Peace!
Of course, since I’m a high-end product kind of guy, I would be thrilled to upgrade to the Zen Signature line, but lo and behold, you guys ditched the bass on that combo and put some silly nod to Sennheiser headphone owners in its place! What if I don’t have Sennheisers—what am I to do with that HD6xx toggle?
Not to mention that paradoxically, your Pro iCAN has the xBass feature but the Pro iDSD has no post-processing options other than altering filters and the tube stage. I have open-ended headphones that need a bit of bass potentiation when listening to rock or R&B music, and very few software EQs function in Bit Perfect or DSD modes.
So I ask again—who is the consumer niche you’re targeting with these peculiar configurations during product development?
At least the word count in these thread posts is getting shorter
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I'm not really sure what answer you'd like us to give here.
The 6xx amp was designed for users specifically with 6xx and other Sennheiser headphones. Users who fill that niche, buy that amp.
The Pro iDSD was designed to be simply the best of the best, while if users wanted a little more flexibility and features that not all need, they have the iCAN to add as that option.
You answered your own question: "who is the consumer niche you’re targeting with these peculiar configurations during product development?"
Exactly that, consumer niches that exist. It's your choice to choose what works best for you.
If features aren't there, it's because we had a specific goal in mind, or, it wasn't a need in that niche. Everyone is different.
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Hi, do you think idsd signature sounds better than zen stack, by how much? I'm thinking about selling my Zen DAC getting a idsd signature.
Hi everyone, Does iDSD Signature sound better than Zen stack? by how much? They say iDSD Signature is not true balanced circuit is it true?
Donmonte
Head-Fier
I just received my unit, and everything seems to be working properly, but when I went to check which FW version it was on, it said 1.5
I read previously a few other members had this issue also, and when I checked my serial number it takes me to the 7. of Firmwares.
Is it safe to upgrade, and will the changes apply ?
Thanks !
I read previously a few other members had this issue also, and when I checked my serial number it takes me to the 7. of Firmwares.
Is it safe to upgrade, and will the changes apply ?
Thanks !
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Hi everyone,
Just a quick heads-up if you were not aware, we have a LED calculator live now that you can always refer to if you have any questions on what a specific LED means for your product.
https://ifi-audio.com/led-calculator/
Just a quick heads-up if you were not aware, we have a LED calculator live now that you can always refer to if you have any questions on what a specific LED means for your product.
https://ifi-audio.com/led-calculator/
Can you drop your serial number so I can double-check for you?
Yes, it does, it also provides a slightly different sound that I'd say is more neutral warm vs the zen stack which is clearly placed on the warm side in my book.
There are also a lot more benefits to switching to the Signature if you use them like its transportability. Some however prefer a desktop set-up which is why we give folks choice!
It is balanced, just our version of it being s-balanced, simply meaning the output power from 4.4 and 3.5 is the same.
If you'd like to read more up on what s-balanced does, check out a write up here we did for the xCAN (same general idea applies to the Signature): https://ifi-audio.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/iFi-audio-xCAN-S_BAL-Tech-Note.pdf
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