[rafaelo]

Thanks rafaelo for your answer. Here I was going to upgrade it before I’d even heard it!

So I got it in the mail today. I installed the latest firmware,

My first impression is that it sounds very “bright” and not as much deep thump to the bass. Definitely a cleaner sound. Maybe I need to get settled in and accustomed to the iOne.

Has anyone noticed a change to a “warmer” sound after burn in?

The bass can be substantially improved with an upgraded RCA cable. This is what happened to me. Before ione I was looking my floorstanders with disbelief regarding to their bass capabilities . Now I have the opposite problem, too much bass!!! This is not because there is a problem with ione bass but because the full potential of my floorstanders is now realised and their are simply too big for my small room .

Ione slightly bright initially but personally not many problems because of my Marantz amp which is warm. After adding tubes the sound signature is clearly warm now. So Marantz + tubes + ione definely warm but I do not know what headphone amp exactly to suggest in your case.

 

[hawkwindx]

Thanks. I have hd650 sennheisers and Bottlehead Crack amp, so I may need to give it some time. I may try some different RCA’s in the future.

 

[frogmeat69]

Maybe try some tube rolling in your BH Crack if you haven't already.

 

[hawkwindx]

Maybe try some tube rolling in your BH Crack if you haven't already.

Yes I have done this, I have Tung Sol 5998 that sounds great. Thanks

 

[Sonic Defender]

Waiting for my new iFi Audio iOne to arrive today!

I will be using it with an iMac and separate headphone amp. May never need the bluetooth capability.

I am interested in getting the iFi ipower supply, but doesn't look like I'll be able to use it if I'm using the USB for computer connection.

Since I'll be using the USB connection to the computer, is there any way to have a separate clean power supply on a budget?

Don't buy into the Bluetooth is inferior in audio quality line, it isn't, Bluetooth when well implemented sounds fantastic. Most of the time even though I have USB easily available, I couldn't be bothered as I can't at all hear a difference when I use Bluetooth or a wired connection. It would be a shame to not use the Bluetooth in the iOne, it works like a charm and sounds sublime IMO.

 

[rafaelo]

Thanks. I have hd650 sennheisers and Bottlehead Crack amp, so I may need to give it some time. I may try some different RCA’s in the future.

You have a great system then. Amazing headphones combined with a tube amp and great source. Just give it some time and see how it goes.

 

[iFi audio]

You have a great system then. Amazing headphones combined with a tube amp and great source. Just give it some time and see how it goes.

Yup, that's what we suggest.

 

[GHoldridge]

If someone’s was so inclined could you connect 2 iones together over Bluetooth? Use the 1st as a highend Bluetooth transmitter for a pc then a 2nd ione as the receiver connected to whatever. Since most stock Bluetooth solutions are hit or miss quality wise, like in a pc. Seems like the pc’s Bluetooth would hold back the full potential of the iones Bluetooth well at least in this example.

 

[rafaelo]

If someone’s was so inclined could you connect 2 iones together over Bluetooth? Use the 1st as a highend Bluetooth transmitter for a pc then a 2nd ione as the receiver connected to whatever. Since most stock Bluetooth solutions are hit or miss quality wise, like in a pc. Seems like the pc’s Bluetooth would hold back the full potential of the iones Bluetooth well at least in this example.

I think it is not possible because ione is a bt receiver only.
I wish it was a highly quality transmitter as well, in that way I could transmitt from to TV to BT headphones or bt receiver and then to headphones. That would be similar to what you are trying to achieve through your pc.

I hope I understood your question correctly and what you trying to achieve, surely your logic makes sence. But if a PC has a good codec like APTx this is not a big problem I personally think. If it has only SBC yes then it is.

Example: I used a transmitter from my TV to Bluetooth headphones and the quality was attrocious. I added a spdif ifi purifier after my TV and before bt trasmitter ( I chose this trasmitter because it had a coaxial input so to be a good match to ipurifier). It is not certain to have apt-x (conflicting info in Amazon) but I guess it does not because the quality received by headphones was crap and ipurifier could not help as it was placed before the transmitter which screw the signal completely.

 

[GHoldridge]

I think it is not possible because ione is a bt receiver only.
I wish it was a highly quality transmitter as well, in that way I could transmitt from to TV to BT headphones or bt receiver and then to headphones. That would be similar to what you are trying to achieve through your pc.

I hope I understood your question correctly and what you trying to achieve, surely your logic makes sence. But if a PC has a good codec like APTx this is not a big problem I personally think. If it has only SBC yes then it is.

Example: I used a transmitter from my TV to Bluetooth headphones and the quality was attrocious. I added a spdif ifi purifier after my TV and before bt trasmitter ( I chose this trasmitter because it had a coaxial input so to be a good match to ipurifier). It is not certain to have apt-x (conflicting info in Amazon) but I guess it does not because the quality received by headphones was crap and ipurifier could not help as it was placed before the transmitter which screw the signal completely.

Yea you understood me i wasn’t sure if it was a transmitter or not thanks for the answer.

 

[rafaelo]

The most beautiful DAC and the second most beautiful DAC....

 

[superuser1]

Reminds me of the Neoplatonic doctrine of The One.

 

[rafaelo]

Reminds me of the Neoplatonic doctrine of The One.

That's a great title for a review...

"The Neoplatonic doctrine of the iOne..."

Where we mean the One as the one and true master clock that brings hapiness to life I guess....

On more practical terms I discovered a nice trick with xDSD that I never expected. I was considering how it behaves with both usb and spdif inputs attached the same time. For xDSD usb has always priority so I thought this makes xDSD not convenient as the iOne.

However, with my USBRIDGE I could have both inputs plugged and listen music from Usbridge but if I was turning volumio off from my phone app immediately the source changed to spdif and I could listen my TV.

So when TV plays some adverts you switch on volumio and you play music from usb source. If you listen music and suddenly you want to listen from TV something you turn volumio off and xDSD plays from spdif. In my case, that was like having a remote control and changing between sources and was even more convenient than ione that you need to get up and change source. i was really surprised that I could do that.

 

[superuser1]

A quick question: For people who are using a wall power adapter would you be kind enough to tell me the power specs of the said wall adapter. Thanks

 

[rafaelo]

A quick question: For people who are using a wall power adapter would you be kind enough to tell me the power specs of the said wall adapter. Thanks

Ifi ipower through usbridge and not directly which means the power supply is getting even cleaner.

On that note, I want to follow on previous conversations and in combination with my xDSD review to say that ione (and xDSD) clearly improves with good power supply and actually any hint of brightness is eliminated further. I am currently in trial period of the audirvana windows version and notice a difference from playing DSD upscaled tidal files through usbridge and audirvana upnp in comparison to laptop directly. The sound is better from Usbridge although the DSD upscaled is only 64 since my network cannot handle anymore. From surface book directly DSD is 256. Even when I was listening TV but using power from my laptop I discovered this brightness that I experienced with xDSD and ione in the old days .

I am a convert, power supply is very important and once again my little precious ione can play even better with upscaled DSD! More analogue sound!

I hope that not only I answered your question but also the spirit of your question...