[rafaelo]

I am using ione with the ipower 5v and my personal opinion is that I have seen great improvement by using the ipower adapter. Although they have the same cancellation noise technology in ione with the ipower a good power supply increase substantially the sound quality for ione.

By placing the first version of ione in the top rack and with some of my devices in relative good distance I can use adequately Bluetooth. However, according to my opinion Bluetooth is not for prime time yet sound quality wise. It needs maybe Bluetooth 5 or new formats. I cannot even compare the quality coming from my USBRIDGE with Bluetooth. Bluetooth is more convenient for sure but not sufficiently enough to compensate for the amazing quality I am getting from a usbridge or my raspberry pi. Nevertheless, ione has the best Bluetooth implementation sound quality wise in the market especially for iPhones/iPads with the aac format.

Another observation is that the ione has the functionality of the ipurifier for spdif but I am not sure for the usb input. That was a question in a previous post but I think never answered. I made the following comparison: laptop usb to nuforce usb to spdif converter then to ione Vs laptop directly to ione usb. Suprinsingly, The former had a more open better sound.
I am not claiming that ione should have included a better RCA cable for free but a reasonable investment for an rca improves the sound even further. And in contrast with the whathifi review after burn in and with a chord c-line cable I am finding the ione signature slightly warm. Even further, I use a cheap Chinese tube preamp with some nos mullard valves with a 12v ifi ipower and the sound is not only warm but you can say properly hot....

All in all, The spdif implementation for me is perfect 11 out of 10. The usb input still produces the best sound quality with the appropriate care. The whathifi review is a joke.

The ione is great for 200£ I am looking forward for a 400£ black version so to accommodate more ifi technologies in one convenient package which has more inputs, straight DC input, a remote control, a streamer maybe and the aluminium enclosure of the first version.

Amazing device, this is a first version of an innovative product, we cannot expect everything perfect from the first versions, I hope ifi takes our feedback in good spirit for future product offerings.

 

[superuser1]

Wow, I have to admit I personally would have returned a Bluetooth enabled device that didn't work well. Just today I was using the iOne via Bluetooth and I really appreciate the connectivity option. Ultimately if you are happy that is all that matters. I made a point of calling the vendor who I purchased from and even had them open the box before shipping to confirm it was indeed the plastic face version as for me Bluetooth was very important.

You are right. I would have however, due to logistical problems i decided to stay with it. Thank god i dont use BT much or else i would definitely got the plastic face one.

 

[iFi audio]

Has anybody else experienced a high frequency hum coming from the included AC adapter? The noise is surprisingly loud. Not loud enough to be heard over music playing, but without music it is easy to hear. I wonder what exactly the cause of this noise is?

Hi Sonic Defender

I am so sorry to read this.

Can you please open a ticket on our support system? Here's the link: http://support.ifi-audio.com

Many thanks

iFi audio Team

 

[Sonic Defender]

Hi Sonic Defender

I am so sorry to read this.

Can you please open a ticket on our support system? Here's the link: http://support.ifi-audio.com

Many thanks

iFi audio Team

Just to be clear, the noise isn't heard through the headphones, only through the air. Once I unplug the adapter there is about one second of the noise that dies out so there is some definite activity in the adapter piece itself. If I had a meter that could read the hertz cycle of the noise I would test that for you, but I don't. It is a pretty high pitched noise so not a deep hum, more of a whine, like a mechanical mosquito might make!

 

[Sonic Defender]

Just used the iOne with an optical input from my Melodius Audio MX-U8 and I was very pleased that it worked perfectly! Sounded great as usual.

 

[iFi audio]

Just used the iOne with an optical input from my Melodius Audio MX-U8 and I was very pleased that it worked perfectly! Sounded great as usual.

Hi Sonic Defender

That's excellent news! Thank you for this awesome feedback.

Enjoy your music!

Best wishes

iFi audio Team

 

[cheungtsw]

Which BB chip the iOne uses? Thx.

 

[iFi audio]

Which BB chip the iOne uses? Thx.

It's Burrr-Brown DSD1793.

 

[Sonic Defender]

The DAC chip is well implemented. I find the iOne to just sound right. The right amount of detail, clarity and tonality so all round just a nice DAC. It enabled me to sell my NAD M51 and while that DAC was amazing, the iOne is providing me I'm sure 95% of the same goodness in terms of overall quality so certainly very pleased.

 

[rafaelo]

The DAC chip is well implemented. I find the iOne to just sound right. The right amount of detail, clarity and tonality so all round just a nice DAC. It enabled me to sell my NAD M51 and while that DAC was amazing, the iOne is providing me I'm sure 95% of the same goodness in terms of overall quality so certainly very pleased.

Great feedback, how it compares to mojo though (percentwise)? Many thanks

 

[Sonic Defender]

Great feedback, how it compares to mojo though (percentwise)? Many thanks

I just sold my Mojo so no direct comparison possible, nor did I ever use the Mojo as a DAC alone. That said, really, the iOne is a great DAC to my ears and a head-fier was over last night and he also really liked the iOne. If the NAD M51 didn't trounce the iOne the Mojo as nice as it is sure won't either. The iOne comes with Bluetooth where the Mojo requires you spend a great deal of extra cash on the Poly if you want Bluetooth functionality. For me, I would have zero hesitation getting the iOne over the Mojo as a DAC for the simple reason that it sounds fantastic and it has Bluetooth to really make it a flexible device. Hope that helps.

 

[rafaelo]

I just sold my Mojo so no direct comparison possible, nor did I ever use the Mojo as a DAC alone. That said, really, the iOne is a great DAC to my ears and a head-fier was over last night and he also really liked the iOne. If the NAD M51 didn't trounce the iOne the Mojo as nice as it is sure won't either. The iOne comes with Bluetooth where the Mojo requires you spend a great deal of extra cash on the Poly if you want Bluetooth functionality. For me, I would have zero hesitation getting the iOne over the Mojo as a DAC for the simple reason that it sounds fantastic and it has Bluetooth to really make it a flexible device. Hope that helps.

Many many thanks for your reply. That helps a lot and agrees with my instinct.

Mojo is so hyped and I was very curious for a comparison. To be completely fair though, a more fair comparison should have been between ione alone Vs ione (digital output) + mojo because mojo has not the ipurifier capabilities. If the latter combination is marginally better I do not care. But if it were a huge step I would. Somehow intuitively I think it is not since ione sounds so great, how much more improvement we can get in this price range I do not know. I would like to get more suited to living room products from ifi and I would love to see a streamer implementation from them.

 

[Sonic Defender]

Many many thanks for your reply. That helps a lot and agrees with my instinct.

Mojo is so hyped and I was very curious for a comparison. To be completely fair though, a more fair comparison should have been between ione alone Vs ione (digital output) + mojo because mojo has not the ipurifier capabilities. If the latter combination is marginally better I do not care. But if it were a huge step I would. Somehow intuitively I think it is not since ione sounds so great, how much more improvement we can get in this price range I do not know. I would like to get more suited to living room products from ifi and I would love to see a streamer implementation from them.

I can't imagine people can actually hear a difference with ipurifier or not, personally. I think people really assume they can hear these tiny, tiny, tiny amounts of noise, and over top of music playing..... well, not so sure in real blind listening tests that would pan out like many think. There is a huge difference between measureable and audible. So even if there was say a 100 times the improvement in noise, if the noise was already so low to begin with that even 500 times the improvement was inaudible would it matter? Anyway, this is a sound science question and we should avoid getting into it here so as not to take the thread OT. Cheers mate.

 

[cheungtsw]

I can't imagine people can actually hear a difference with ipurifier or not, personally. I think people really assume they can hear these tiny, tiny, tiny amounts of noise, and over top of music playing..... well, not so sure in real blind listening tests that would pan out like many think. There is a huge difference between measureable and audible. So even if there was say a 100 times the improvement in noise, if the noise was already so low to begin with that even 500 times the improvement was inaudible would it matter? Anyway, this is a sound science question and we should avoid getting into it here so as not to take the thread OT. Cheers mate.

Not sure about ipurifier. I can only a very small difference between iOne alone vs. iOne + nano iusb3.0

 

[rafaelo]

Not sure about ipurifier. I can only a very small difference between iOne alone vs. iOne + nano iusb3.0

Τhis is probably because ione have some signal regeneration abilities ( not sure about the usb input of ione). But the spdif in ione has an ipurifier for sure as per ifi official reply.

In my case, ipurifier to my marantz made the biggest improvement ever not only noticeable but day and night. This is because my system had jitter and it was in suboptimal state before. The dac of ione with a good RCA cable improved the sound even further considerably.

I was referring to the point that Hans beekhuyzen did about mojo not designed as a desktop situation and be improved by w4s remedy considerably.

For someone that has a lot of jitter or not a great implementation in spdif like me ipurifier is a must. I did not even need to do A-B test. Was like watching HD after SD. Obviously in my budget system with a 5£ optical cable.

Thank you guys for your feedback.