iFi audio iPower X - The Official Thread
Feb 28, 2020 at 3:52 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 505

iFi audio

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iFi audio iPower X
Silence improved

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Power - cleaner than ever

During the R&D stage of iPower, introduced into our portfolio in 2015, we challenged ourselves by aiming to manufacture the quietest power supply available and make it compliant with as many products as possible. The feedback from the audiophile community and the longevity of this product was very positive.

We never rest on our laurels and would now like to introduce the new higher model - more visually pleasing and suitable for more products than ever - the new iPower X.

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Active beats passive

iPower X uses our latest Active Noise Cancellation 2 (ANC2) technology to cancel all incoming EMI/RFI noise. This technology is, in principle, similar to how active noise-cancelling headphones work. The intelligent circuit inside of the iPower X measures the signal coming from the mains and injects an identical wave of the opposite-phase. The result - the initial wave and its mirror reflection interfere destructively cancelling out all noise pollution.

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Have you ever tried to compare passive and ANC headphones on a plane? The former is not capable of picking up the low-frequency noise, such as a loud engine inside of a cabin, but the latter neutralises it before the unwanted buzz reaches your ear.

Now, picture a regular wall-wart power supply as passive cans and our iPower X as an active product with the most potent version of the ANC tech on-board. The latest generation noise suppression method implemented in the iPower X is far more efficient than the regular filter blocks. It eliminates more unwanted noise and works across a far broader range, liberating your connected device from the oppression of unclean power!

Our previous iPower generation was quieter than even audiophile linear power supplies and 1,000x quieter than the standard SMPS wall adapters. The newly-optimised circuit, together with the new oversized power MOSFET and low leakage transformer implemented inside of the iPower X enabled us to surpass these multipliers even further.

The iPower X increased its previous generation’s input filter capacitance by 106% and its power supply capacitance for the adaptive multi-mode controller by 220%.

We also added the new aluminium conductive polymer solid capacitors and high-density output inductors as well as increased the output capacitance by 79% for better suppression of high-frequency noise.

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Modernised visuals, even broader usability

As much as we enjoy how our iPower looks like, its successor, iPower X features a brand new satisfying cream/harmonious beige chassis design. The captivating carvings on its top form an elegant pattern, behind which a pleasant soft blue LED indicates the connection with mains.

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We also managed to add more power to the previous generation of iPower, the new iPower X can deliver 150% more peak power than the original.

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Feb 28, 2020 at 6:27 PM Post #2 of 505
@iFi audio two questions:

1. when it will be available in stores
2. considering that iPower has been included in micro range for sometime already, do you specifically thought about any particular devices like iUSB 3 or iTube 2 for example?
 
Feb 29, 2020 at 2:43 PM Post #6 of 505
This kind of stuff is such non-sense.

Why didnt you just do it right the first time?

Is RFI and Emi similar to a virus where it adapts and changes over time?

Didn't think so.
99 quid in the UK.

At least the design change looks to fit in between the spacing of sockets of your average power par unlike the current design that effectively takes up 2 sockets. But no, I wouldn't pay 2X current price for that.
 
Mar 1, 2020 at 9:22 AM Post #7 of 505
99 quid in the UK

How do you know? Seems pricey when regular iPower already comes with such low noise. I highly doubt anyone could hear the difference.

Eventually, black iPower comes in cheapo Chinese OEM enclosure(identical to the wallwart that came with my elliptical bike lol) and also my 3yo iPower started going nuts whining & outputting +50% voltage randomly so I would expect 50% price increase to provide longer life.
 
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Mar 1, 2020 at 9:30 AM Post #8 of 505
How do you know? Seems pricey when regular iPower already come with such low noise. I highly doubt anyone could hear the difference.

Eventually, black iPower comes in cheapo Chinese OEM enclosure(identical to the wallwart that came with my elliptical bike lol) and also my 3yo iPower started going nuts whining & outputting +50% voltage randomly so I would expect 50% price increase to provide longer life.

lol. it's 99 EUR, so it seems they just doubled the price compared to the original ipower, no matter which currency. you can check the dealer links on the ifi-homepage..
 
Mar 1, 2020 at 10:02 AM Post #9 of 505
How do you know? Seems pricey when regular iPower already come with such low noise. I highly doubt anyone could hear the difference.

Eventually, black iPower comes in cheapo Chinese OEM enclosure(identical to the wallwart that came with my elliptical bike lol) and also my 3yo iPower started going nuts whining & outputting +50% voltage randomly so I would expect 50% price increase to provide longer life.

Found on Amazon.
 
Mar 1, 2020 at 11:13 AM Post #10 of 505
Found on Amazon
Touché, I think regular iPower at 49 bucks is too cheap for the SQ it provides(even if it only lasts 2-3 years) but double price for inaudible improvement is pushing it IMHO. They'd have to stop selling the old one to give it a chance, the slight amperage increase is the least to expect for double price.
 
Mar 1, 2020 at 3:17 PM Post #11 of 505
Touché, I think regular iPower at 49 bucks is too cheap for the SQ it provides(even if it only lasts 2-3 years) but double price for inaudible improvement is pushing it IMHO. They'd have to stop selling the old one to give it a chance, the slight amperage increase is the least to expect for double price.

I guess the proof will be in the proverbial pudding.
 
Mar 1, 2020 at 5:23 PM Post #12 of 505
One week ago I had posted this https://www.head-fi.org/threads/ifis-new-ipower-x-is-already-available-on-amazon-uk.926384/ because I randomly found the new ipower browsing through their amazon uk page....so yeah it is 99 pounds which is actually more than 99 euros guys....

Anyway, in my humble opinion ifi made a new version mostly to increase its reliability...to be honest there were many reports of ipowers that either died early on or went crazy like @leeperry said, sometimes killing the device attached to them. As far as I could tell that was mostly a problem with early revisions, maybe less with the more recent ones (v2)

Maybe it was an issue with the way they were engineered or maybe the chinese OEM factory that made them cut some corners to keep production cost low who knows....

Like it has been said above, me too I always found the price of regular ipower a bit too low compared to what it was offering, so IMHO 100 pounds dollars whatever is still a very good price provided that this time they are not fault prone and long lasting.

I remember that Amirm guy was accusing the original ipower to "leak mains current", I have no idea if that was true or not but maybe they also fixed that.
 
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Mar 1, 2020 at 6:17 PM Post #13 of 505
Anyway, in my humble opinion ifi made a new version mostly to increase its reliability...to be honest there were many reports of ipowers that either died early on or went crazy like @leeperry said, sometimes killing the device attached to them. As far as I could tell that was mostly a problem with early revisions, maybe less with the more recent ones (v2)

Maybe it was an issue with the way they were engineered or maybe the chinese OEM factory that made them cut some corners to keep production cost low who knows....

Like it has been said above, me too I always found the price of regular ipower a bit too low compared to what it was offering, so IMHO 100 pounds dollars whatever is still a very good price provided that this time they are not fault prone and long lasting.

I remember that Amirm guy was accusing the original ipower to "leak mains current", I have no idea if that was true or not but maybe they also fixed that.
All 9V iPower's are rev1.6 AFAIK? I've never seen any 2.0 even my newest ones, 5V included.

Provided that your audio device runs a voltage regulator on its power input that'll save you from ipower malfunction and also mask any potential SQ improvement between old and new one IMHO.

OTOH if your device uses power input as-is then yes new one would make sense. I think I'll wait for my local reseller to give 40% discount as they do once a year then I'll get the new one because I would like to feed 5V to my DAC USB input but that's too risky with the old one.

Old one already comes with zero noise so I don't see any need to for even less lol: https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/31119-power-supply-8-group-test-lps-and-smps/
 
Mar 1, 2020 at 6:23 PM Post #14 of 505
All 9V iPower's are rev1.6 AFAIK? I've never seen any 2.0 even my newest ones, 5V included.

Provided that your audio device runs a voltage regulator on its power input that'll save you from ipower malfunction and also mask any potential SQ improvement between old and new one IMHO.

OTOH if your device uses power input as-is then yes new one would make sense. I think I'll wait for my local reseller to give 40% discount as they do once a year then I'll get the new one because I would like to feed 5V to my DAC USB input but that's too risky with the old one.

Old one already comes with zero noise so I don't see any need to for even less lol: https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/31119-power-supply-8-group-test-lps-and-smps/

I've got one 5V and one 12V and they are both rev 1.8 . If you check this forum's official ipower thread, some users were mentioning an ipower "rev.2" and comparing its sound quality to the previous ones ( apparently it was said to be "less bright" ) however I have never seen one in real life.
 
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Mar 1, 2020 at 6:32 PM Post #15 of 505
I've got one 5V and one 12V and they are both rev 1.8 . If you check this forum's official ipower thread, some users were mentioning an ipower "rev.2" and comparing its sound quality to the previous ones ( apparently it was said to be "less bright" ) however I have never seen one in real life.
I guess I got myself some pretty old NOS then, my newest 1.6 9V is 1 month old for that matter. Oh well, will most likely get the new one soon ^^
 
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