iFi audio iDSD Signature - The saga continues!

[mRaaghava]

Did anyone compared Signature with DAPs like Cayin N6ii, Lotoo Paw 6000 or Sony WM1A?

 

[cybergalaxy]

Nope. That's something entirely new



Well, hip-dac is way below micro iDSD Signature but also worth taking into account if you don't want to spend too much.

I love my hip dac and wanted to try out micro signature, but noted the latter lacks 4.4mm true balanced connection. Will that degrade the sound quality? I am listening on Sony Z7m2 with the stock 4.4mm cable.

 

[newkid7]

I love my hip dac and wanted to try out micro signature, but noted the latter lacks 4.4mm true balanced connection. Will that degrade the sound quality? I am listening on Sony Z7m2 with the stock 4.4mm cable.

If it was true balanced, it might still sound identical with single end, so you'll never know.

 

[cybergalaxy]

How does iDsD Signature compare against Neo iDSD? Are they in the same league? For me, while mobility is helpful for me, if the SQ will be far better, I am okay to just sit at my desk station to enjoy the music. For me, I take the Hip Dac with me to bed / sofa at times : )

 

[Currawong]

I love my hip dac and wanted to try out micro signature, but noted the latter lacks 4.4mm true balanced connection. Will that degrade the sound quality? I am listening on Sony Z7m2 with the stock 4.4mm cable.

No. Sound quality has nothing to do with whether the amp has a balanced circuit or not.

 

[bnupy]

I think trying out the different modes, I've noticed the differences in how vocals and instrument presentation and imaging changes from filter to filter.
Standard is the one most in your face. (sort of intense midrange wise)
Minimum is the middle point.
Bit perfect is furthest out (this sort of feels relaxed).

I tested this through the IER-m9 and elex.. FW 7.2b

 

[Sebastien Chiu]

I think trying out the different modes, I've noticed the differences in how vocals and instrument presentation and imaging changes from filter to filter.
Standard is the one most in your face. (sort of intense midrange wise)
Minimum is the middle point.
Bit perfect is furthest out (this sort of feels relaxed).

I tested this through the IER-m9 and elex.. FW 7.2b

This is very accurate to our ears too! Thanks!

 

[tdx]

Quick question can this unit drive hungry headphones like the Susvara or do I need the Diablo for that? They can be found for a much lower price than the Diablo hence my question... Thanks!

 

[DecentLevi]

Hey guys, my iDSD Black label's DAC basically crapped out on me, and the hiss bothers somewhat too. Was thinking to upgrade to the Signature but the lack of analog input (gee, who whould've thunk people would actually use as AMP as an amp, LOL!) is a deal breaker for me. Any thoughts on a better replacement for the iDSD Black label that also has analog input? Thanks...

 

[Johnfg465vd]

Hey guys, my iDSD Black label's DAC basically crapped out on me, and the hiss bothers somewhat too. Was thinking to upgrade to the Signature but the lack of analog input (gee, who whould've thunk people would actually use as AMP as an amp, LOL!) is a deal breaker for me. Any thoughts on a better replacement for the iDSD Black label that also has analog input? Thanks...

The only thing that comes to mind is the xDuoo XD-05 Plus/BAL. They are both "Transportable" and have a lot of I/O options except for Pre-Amp, pretty powerful too... Other than that, maybe the xCAN? I was not a fan of it's internal DAC or mirror like finish though.

 

[alekc]

Hey guys, my iDSD Black label's DAC basically crapped out on me, and the hiss bothers somewhat too. Was thinking to upgrade to the Signature but the lack of analog input (gee, who whould've thunk people would actually use as AMP as an amp, LOL!) is a deal breaker for me. Any thoughts on a better replacement for the iDSD Black label that also has analog input? Thanks...

@DecentLevi While this could be a pricey option if you are after ifi house signature and you don't care about channel imbalance at low volume I would consider Signature as a dac/amp combo and try to buy ifi micro iCan SE as a separate amp. There isn't that much difference between iCan SE and BL unless you need all the BL output power.

 

[whitedragem]

Does anyone know if this works with Nintendo Switch and PS5?

I understand that you have had answered, and checked (and used) the Nintendo Switch, and confirmed working...
Just wanted to chime in on the other part of the question; yes Playstation support extends to the Playstation 5 console. Doesn’t appear to be UAC1 mode either, as the LED colours suggested a high sampling rate (although i could be wrong here- I moved to using the GTO filter so now the LED is mostly yellow).

GTO mode does upsample input via USB, and I would encourage use with the Switch AND Playstation family using GTO firmwares..
I am NOT a fan of upsampling, generally, preferring NOS (non oversampling) methods and clean/good digital feeds..
The GTO method does ‘good upsampling’ and does make excellent use of CPU power evolution over the decades.. (ie DSD made sense as a way to improve REDBOOK audio (becoming Scarlett book, yes?).. GTO doesn’t impact soundfield/soundstage negatively, but makes music incredibly lifelike from digital chains.
Octopath Traveller (and many awesome Switch games) will sound better for it. In fact I tested the iFi Diablo in GTO mode with Skyrim on the Switch, and then on the Playstation.
Was one of the better renditions of the opening music I have yet heard.

Hey guys, I got my Signature 2 weeks ago and I'm curious about the firmwares, which one do you guys prefer? So far I've tried 7.0, 7.2b & 7.3c and really like 7.0. an interesting thing is that I prefered the GTO (5.3c filter) with the Zen DAC but did not like the GTO filter (7.3c) with the signature, weird.

Also, has anyone tried connecting something like the Topping BC3 to the Signature for bluetooth input? I'd be curious to know if there is a good way to add wireless connectivity to the signature.

7.3x (hadn’t heard about this branch before.. hmm, will go look this one up) smiles - thanks for info...

I used a Fiio BTA30 (BTR30?), and was a nice little add on box. Consensus is (from this thread) that the Topping beat out a few of the other options (like the A&K entry level part, and some of the more ‘pebble like’ products..)
I would stand by the Fiio BTA30 as I set it up in a test rig when trialing a Denafrips ladder DAC. (more on that in a second...)

The budget FiiO part can send bluetooth (TX), receive bluetooth (RX) and double as a DAC (where it can also convert USB to TosLink/SPDIF). Due to supporting APT X HD and LL (and LDAC etc), and being configurable via an app (using our phones/tablets etc); the many ways in which I have used this device reaffirms that it was a good purchase (I bought it as it converted playstation USB to SPDif I could then use to feed the Diablo.. Sadly the store that sold me the part didn’t know the Diablo had access to a firmware that could have bypassed this need)
I did gain some bluetooth modes though, and happily report that this part is AWESOME.

I gave it to the friend who had just supplied the Denafrips trial to me...
The testing process went this way: BTA30 using cheap fibre optic cable ($5), into Denafrips. Set to RX (receive mode), connected several devices; (all files lossless)
Sony Walkman connected via SBC protocol- test file- INXS ‘The Gift’: this is a powerful song, with A LOT going on. The R2R DAC sounded excellent with Michaels vocals (very real/exceptional playback) but the bluetooth compression creating distortion in the rest of the ’wall of sound’ was horrible. I wanted to rip it off instantly, but persevered enough to hear brilliant guitars..
(clearly the DAC was able to do excellence with a low quality feed)
So, switched to a Samsung Note phone - Samsung DO NOT SUPPORT LHA/APT X HD OR APT X LL, so the connection was Apt X ‘only’..
I then proceeded to throw on a test track I have been using for decades: T J Eckleberg “To Inches of Darkness’;
The track opens with a fairly subtle drummer off to the right and ‘set back’ on the set.. (they supply an uncomfortable ‘self stimulation’ sound for the duration of the track, and getting this sense of distance ‘right’ is a large part of the reason for using this test track...(also that the man T.J. himself is a Sydney ‘street poet/artist‘ if you will; his voice is briliant- gravelly if need be, but so sweet when commanded to do so)- the recording is 301 studios (Sydney) and the whole album is a reference playback and desert island disc worthy for those who have a heart and love music that evokes strong feelings of ‘being human’..
Anyhow, that opening drum setup sounds 10ft back on crap setups and crap consumer fi. Anything moderately musical and the worse bluetooth into stereo headphones, SHOULD *hopefully* render the stage at least 20ft back. (I wouldn’t listen beyond this point in the song if it was only twenty feet, but hey,.. )
A mini system with that can reproduce music should obtain 30ft...(but more distance means ‘better’ system)
Surround receivers of decent quality should push a bit harder than 30ft, and this is an easy way to see if the surround amps ‘2 channel performance’ is worthwhile...
Great (flagship) surround receivers will bite towards 50ft distance here... Dedicated processors and nice 2 channel dacs south of ‘big money’ generally hover in this zone...
And then this smegging Denafrips shows off this crappy Bluetooth part (budget fi) as rendering a freaking 70ft distance and my jaw is on the floor for the entire song. (Yes I want a Denafrips)
The bluetooth ‘dongle’ fed SUCH A GOOD FEED (over the worlds cheapest fibre optic cable) that every aspect of the song (via APT X non HD variant) probably sits as the best I have heard that song sound.

Now I cannot say if it is equal to the Topping that others here seem to promote..
The FiiO part is an inoffensive price point (for me was an unresearched purchase, which seldom happens), and the capabilities are excellent.
Its a bit of a MacGuyver.. and I used it happily to take the feed from the Playstation and convert it to an input into my Diablo, but also could use it to use some bluetooth headphones, which is what I was looking to do on the basis that iFi didn’t look like dropping a firmware with console USB audio support *any time soon* (it HAD ACTUALLY BEEN OUT FOR MONTHS, and I was annoyed by this fact as I checked the firmware pages every few weeks).
After I bought the FiiO part, I didn’t like the latency using LDAC Transmit, so I bought some Sennheiser RS headphones (x2), that had low latency, (and needed the FiiO part to do DAC duty from the Playstation) and then some Sennheiser ear buds that supported APT X LL.
The FiiO part as a DAC into those Sennheiser RS wireless parts was exceptional and clear sound,.. when I fed an iFi Diablo into those same RS Sennheiser headphones, even though the headphones do an ADC pass, the improved quality of having a high end feed into the Diablo (including an inline iPurifier I bought on my birthday this year), the sound was noticably better again..

Basically the FiiO part as a DAC is alright, but as a transport it is REALLY GOOD, and can be set to upsample and a ‘few other tricks’.
Suggest to check it out.
That Denefrips owner is vey happy with it, and is likely using LDAC or APT X HD, and given that APT X was transparent, I can only guess that the sound is ‘beyond good’.

Now I am going to go read about the 7.3 family of firmwares cause I certainly cannot trust iFi to keep me in the loop

 

[Johnfg465vd]

7.3x (hadn’t heard about this branch before.. hmm, will go look this one up) smiles - thanks for info...

By bad, meant to type 7.2c but must have gotten confused with my Zen DAC's firmware (5.3c).

 

[whitedragem]

By bad, meant to type 7.2c but must have gotten confused with my Zen DAC's firmware (5.3c).

I had hoped that was what had happened.

Thankyou for clarity, admitting your thoroughly whippable error in a public space.
I will cancel the men in black from doctoring your coffee..

 

[AliSaud02]

Talking about PS5, @Sebastien Chiu Any news to add the support to the old Signature who only limited to 5.3.
I already talked to support about it, they said on August, now we're on the end of September still no firmware.