I really don't like when company says limited edition and don't give the number of Unit they are planning to make or market they are going to release to. We never know if it is some marketing gimmick or what.
I really appreciate Sennheiser for it. When they launched HD800SA they upfront told that they would make some 850 or 750 Unit of it to mark 75th anniversary which makes sense but making this Unit which was supposed to be incremental upgrade of BL as special edition is beyond my comprehension.
From my perspective it is just a marketing strategy since price difference would not cover additional manufacturing costs. As you pointed out there would be a specific number of units made on the iFi site and maybe handmade numbering scheme would be used. Keep in mind that Snickers bars used to come in limited edition too for like 2 years and in billions.
From my perspective it is just a marketing strategy since price difference would not cover additional manufacturing costs. As you pointed out there would be a specific number of units made on the iFi site and maybe handmade numbering scheme would be used. Keep in mind that Snickers bars used to come in limited edition too for like 2 years and in billions.
Hopefully iFi will send a unit for measurement to Amir at ASR. Would be nice to see if it measures well. And before everyone jumps saying measurements don't mean good sound please keep in mind that many devices measuring we'll also sound good.
I would gladly bypass my iphone dac. The ROMI BX2 Plus amp is close to the price of the signature amp and would pair great with the Hiby R8 since it has no built in dac.
Hmmmmmm.... after his Zen Dac review and his comments on Amazon it would surprise me but who knows... maybe they will...
Shiit is another brand not having amazing measurements for all their amp/dacs but sounding really good anway, it's an interesting complex topic I would say.
Damn this looks nice. Unfortunately, way too expensive (for me) given how infrequently I'd use something like this; cost-benefit just isn't there for me. Still, I'll follow this just to revel in it's likely awesomeness.
Really thinking of getting this since I was already looking at the Black. I love my Hip Dac so if this has that sound signature but with better staging and overall SQ I'm in.
Not at all. I spend quite a bit of time at ASR and I do not agree at all that all reviews are negative, there are many positive reviews. If the device measures poorly across enough domains it will receive the appropriate negative review. The iFi iOne also measured very poorly, but I still enjoyed the sound. The Burr Brown that iFi use seem to be very relaxed in their implementation so for some listeners it will be a little smooth sounding, but for others they will characterize the sound as grain and fatigue free. It is all personal preference no right or wrong. I also owned the iDSD Nano and very much liked it. I do think that sometimes the poor measurements are simply from sloppy engineering and while the results may not always be audible companies should do a better job. ASR has found many products where the issues were simply sloppy engineering that was easily avoided.
Rather than getting our noses out of joint because ASR finds technical issues with the brands and products we like and own we should thank them for revealing correctable issues. If you don't hold companies accountable they will simply repeat the same mistakes over and over again. Look at Schiit. They had several terrible reviews at ASR, and deservedly so as the issues were all avoidable. Since being publicly called out by ASR Schiit is on a major tare putting out really great products that also measure extremely well. The moral of the story is that Schiit could and should have been doing better, but to their credit and extreme respect to them for doing so, they upped their game. I have more respect for Schiit now, not less, and I am more inclined to buy their products now, not less. With iFi, until I start seeing some technical reviews from ASR demonstrating that the issues that are easily corrected are, I do have a little hesitation. In my opinion sounding good is not enough, if the engineering solutions are there and the devices can also measure better than that should be the goal. IMO.
I think people get to hung up on how something measures. While that can be an important part it's just part of the picture and I've heard dacs that don't measure all that well but sound quite good, like my Mimby and the Bimby. I know ASR hammered the Bifrost Multibit but to me, it sounded very good and I'm still thinking about getting one to replace my Modi Multibit which is also good. Regardless of how something measures if it sounds good when listening to it that's all that matters.
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