iFi Audio nano iDSD Black Label (TOUR details - PAGE 12 / TOUR participants - page 26 post #386)

[Matez]

A note to the iFi Audio guys... I just got my Nano Black last night... so this morning I setup a test on my desk top computer... the test setup was with a couple different headphones and a couple different IEM... I started out setting up the silver micro and utilizing JRiver Media Center 22 I loaded up all of my test tracks that go all the way up to DSD256 songs... tested the output with all test tracks using the silver micro... every song played back perfectly... closed down JRiver... setup the Nano Black and started JRiver once more.. verified that JRiver saw and recognized the Nano... started playing back the test tracks again... and every file played back fine until it tried to playback DSD256...
NO GO .... plays back everything perfect except those files.. No DSD 256 output at all... the firmware that was shipped with the Nano was 5.3D ... now I see where there is a newer dated firware... 5.3C ... just now updated firware to 5.3C and played back the test songs and all songs play back including DSD256 (blue LED)... so that issue seems to be fixed now... thanks...
I'm still trying to work my way around Tidal and the master files... what is interesting is that I setup Tidal to no longer perform software MQA conversion in an attempt to push the conversion to the Nano... it seems to work but a interesting thing is I can also set up Tidal to output to my computer speakers with the same settings.. so something seems wrong on the Tidal side of things... because I know my computer isn't MQA and yet Tidal reports " Master " playback with or without the Nano plugged in... I'm still playing with that... but it looks like Tidal isn't quite telling the truth there... and... the Nano does not change the led color no matter what quality setting in Tidal.... so you can't tell if the Nano is doing anything for playback of MQA files.... again, not sure Tidal is reporting correctly on the Desk top version.. there is no MQA on the moble app...

On to iphone... I tested the Nano out on the iphone 6+.. using Onkyo HF Player with all of the settings and the Nano worked perfectly now on all files... I really like the sounds of the Onkyo when its setup to real time DSD conversion at 5.6mhz ... the IEM I matched up are the Audeze iSINE20... the combination of those IEM and the Nano are fantastic....

Still testing... will report if I find anything else... at this time.. if the LED would change with Tidal then it would seem to work really well...

Nitpicking: 1) wish the balance input connector matched the one used on the AK120II.. simply because that is the only balanced cable I have...
2) wish the form factor was more aligned with a smart phone size wise so the Nano could be stacked with a smart phone better...

later...

Will give this new BL a go tomorrow. After all that's been said about it, my expectations are very high ATM.

 

[435279]

Hi Dixter,

Thanks for posting the update regarding the new F/W. I will try it now.

The Nano BL is a renderer only, so don't select the "pass-through" option and it should work, the light should show the correct colour.

The Nano does seem to pair nicely with Planar magnetic headphones, my PM-3 sound great driven from it too.

 

[Dixter]

Thanks for the reply Steve... with your input I went back to Tidal and changed the settings.... and now it is working perfect.... I am now seeing the Nano switch to led color purple when MQA files are being played back.. ( desk top version )

the setting used with the Nano is " Use Exclusive Mode " thats the only box checked....

 

[435279]

Thanks for the reply Steve... with your input I went back to Tidal and changed the settings.... and now it is working perfect.... I am now seeing the Nano switch to led color purple when MQA files are being played back.. ( desk top version )

the setting used with the Nano is " Use Exclusive Mode " thats the only box checked....

Yes, I should have said look for the purple light. "force volume" is also checked by default too in my app, which sets the volume at maximum I believe, then use the volume control on the Nano BL in the usual way.

 

[TVeye]

A note to the iFi Audio guys... I just got my Nano Black last night... so this morning I setup a test on my desk top computer... the test setup was with a couple different headphones and a couple different IEM... I started out setting up the silver micro and utilizing JRiver Media Center 22 I loaded up all of my test tracks that go all the way up to DSD256 songs... tested the output with all test tracks using the silver micro... every song played back perfectly... closed down JRiver... setup the Nano Black and started JRiver once more.. verified that JRiver saw and recognized the Nano... started playing back the test tracks again... and every file played back fine until it tried to playback DSD256...
NO GO .... plays back everything perfect except those files.. No DSD 256 output at all... the firmware that was shipped with the Nano was 5.3D ... now I see where there is a newer dated firware... 5.3C ... just now updated firware to 5.3C and played back the test songs and all songs play back including DSD256 (blue LED)... so that issue seems to be fixed now... thanks...

Edit here...updated... got the Tidal working now.. changed Tidal setting to "Use Exclusive Mode" and it works fine now... ( desk top version only )

On to iphone... I tested the Nano out on the iphone 6+.. using Onkyo HF Player with all of the settings and the Nano worked perfectly now on all files... I really like the sounds of the Onkyo when its setup to real time DSD conversion at 5.6mhz ... the IEM I matched up are the Audeze iSINE20... the combination of those IEM and the Nano are fantastic....

Still testing... will report if I find anything else... at this time.. if the LED would change with Tidal then it would seem to work really well...

Nitpicking: 1) wish the balance input connector matched the one used on the AK120II.. simply because that is the only balanced cable I have...
2) wish the form factor was more aligned with a smart phone size wise so the Nano could be stacked with a smart phone better...

later...

HI Dixter,

When you wrote "silver micro",did you mean silver idsd micro?
Have you compare it,sonicaly,to the nano bl?

 

[435279]

Who want to see what's inside? I did too. Looks well made.

 

[TVeye]

What a shame the XMOS is still the three years old version XU08.
I had hoped it will be a recent version like the XU208 (2016) or XU216 (2017).

 

[Dixter]

@TVeye ... Yes I was using the silver idsd micro as the setup rig... I have not compared the Nano Black to the Micro Black but so far knowing how the Silver Micro vs the Black Micro compare I'd say the Nano Black is pretty much a slimmed down version of the Micro idsd Black as far as sound goes... of course the Micro Black has more options/more power but i was surprised that I had the Micro on normal setting and the volume knob at 12 oclock.. and the Nano Black at 12 oclock and they pretty well matched in that setting... and of course if the micro had been switched to turbo there would not be that same matchup.. the headphone I tested was the AKG K7XX for that test...

the advantage of the Nano Black is the size ( about the size of a cigarette pack and slightly smaller than the older nano) and it has more power than the older Nano... so its more portable than the micro but has the nice DAC and more power... it really makes the Onkyo Player do its thing well with the iphone.. I purchased a pelican 1050 case and it fits the Nano Black and a set of Audeze isine20 phones perfectly for a nice travel setup...

 

[blue212]

I’m still anxiously awaiting someone to give this a classic head-fi complete and exhaustive review.

For now, it appears that for a portable rig using iPhone as source to IEM, a DFR may be preferable but the nano BL may be preferable for a harder to drive headphone. Does that sounds right?

My initial impressions: It works pretty good with my iPhone using the USB2 CCK. However, I sometimes have to unplug and re-plug it for the iPhone to find it, which never happens with the DFR. (Seems to be related to whether it is turned on before or after connecting, but I haven’t figured out the exact circumstances.)

Using it as a DAC only (feeding a Vali 2), I cant hear much difference between this and the DFR. Maybe the Nano is a little smoother and the DFR has a little more energy. But not much difference that is immediately noticeable.

As for the amp section, obviously the Nano BL has significantly more power, the option for balanced mode, and IEMatch for sensitive IEMs. It will drive a much wider range of headphones and IEMs than the DFR. (But still not every headphone out there. My headphones are T50RP-based, so 50 Ohm power-hungry planars. The DFR volume maxes-out trying to drive them. In single-ended mode, the Nano BL still doesn’t have enough power to make them sing, but at least the volume doesn’t max out at normal listening levels. I still plan to try the balanced mode, but single ended is not quite enough juice for these.)

Another really important consideration: The Nano BL has a great analog volume pot with a knob. The DFR has a great lossless digital volume control with no physical control. With the iPhone, you control the volume of the DFR using the side buttons on the phone, so it is super-convenient. The volume control on the Nano is excellent, but much less convenient when using with an iPhone.

@TVeye ... Yes I was using the silver idsd micro as the setup rig... I have not compared the Nano Black to the Micro Black but so far knowing how the Silver Micro vs the Black Micro compare I'd say the Nano Black is pretty much a slimmed down version of the Micro idsd Black as far as sound goes... of course the Micro Black has more options/more power but i was surprised that I had the Micro on normal setting and the volume knob at 12 oclock.. and the Nano Black at 12 oclock and they pretty well matched in that setting... and of course if the micro had been switched to turbo there would not be that same matchup.. the headphone I tested was the AKG K7XX for that test...

the advantage of the Nano Black is the size ( about the size of a cigarette pack and slightly smaller than the older nano) and it has more power than the older Nano... so its more portable than the micro but has the nice DAC and more power... it really makes the Onkyo Player do its thing well with the iphone.. I purchased a pelican 1050 case and it fits the Nano Black and a set of Audeze isine20 phones perfectly for a nice travel setup...

 

[bflat]

I’m still anxiously awaiting someone to give this a classic head-fi complete and exhaustive review.

For now, it appears that for a portable rig using iPhone as source to IEM, a DFR may be preferable but the nano BL may be preferable for a harder to drive headphone. Does that sounds right?

No and No.

No (1) - Use IEM match for sensitive IEMs. I have tried IEM match on my iCan pro with my Laylas and there are is no difference in sound with or without IEM match. IEM match gives you low noise and a much better volume control with IEMs.

No (2) - If you like your volume control to have 3 dB increments than DFR is fine (3-4 clicks and you are at 2X volume). If you would like more finer volume control like 1 dB, analog pot is the way to go (basically infinite amount of control). Analog pot is the original lossless as control is in the analog domain and not digital.

It comes down to your comfort level of the size difference and how each sounds.

 

[tim0chan]

I’m still anxiously awaiting someone to give this a classic head-fi complete and exhaustive review.

For now, it appears that for a portable rig using iPhone as source to IEM, a DFR may be preferable but the nano BL may be preferable for a harder to drive headphone. Does that sounds right?

Yes but i think that the iematch doesnt really work for me, the resolution takes a hit but i think for better sources, it wont be too much of an issue. On the inano, it is an issue. I also have issues with the dragonfly's volume control on my android phone as it is still not exact enough.

 

[Devodonaldson]

Yes but i think that the iematch doesnt really work for me, the resolution takes a hit but i think for better sources, it wont be too much of an issue. On the inano, it is an issue. I also have issues with the dragonfly's volume control on my android phone as it is still not exact enough.

Regarding your dragonfly and Android, USB audio Player pro allows you to adjust the hardware volume of the DAC, and upon exiting you can use the 15 steps of Android Volume to navigate your currently set hardware volume. Not super simple, but it works well

 

[TVeye]

@TVeye ... Yes I was using the silver idsd micro as the setup rig... I have not compared the Nano Black to the Micro Black but so far knowing how the Silver Micro vs the Black Micro compare I'd say the Nano Black is pretty much a slimmed down version of the Micro idsd Black as far as sound goes... of course the Micro Black has more options/more power but i was surprised that I had the Micro on normal setting and the volume knob at 12 oclock.. and the Nano Black at 12 oclock and they pretty well matched in that setting... and of course if the micro had been switched to turbo there would not be that same matchup.. the headphone I tested was the AKG K7XX for that test...

the advantage of the Nano Black is the size ( about the size of a cigarette pack and slightly smaller than the older nano) and it has more power than the older Nano... so its more portable than the micro but has the nice DAC and more power... it really makes the Onkyo Player do its thing well with the iphone.. I purchased a pelican 1050 case and it fits the Nano Black and a set of Audeze isine20 phones perfectly for a nice travel setup...

Thank you Dixter to share your experience with the two units.
For the sound,the Nano should have the advantage of the balanced output too.
Still waiting impatiently delivery of mine...

 

[Niyologist]

A couple of quick phone pictures, sorry for the poor quality.

The unit works with the Shanling M1, so that's good, with my cable it doesn't work with the HTC 10 though, which is a pity as I was going to test the pairing for RF interference. I currently have my phone right next to the Nano and there is no interference, which is something I can't do with Mojo, so that's a good start.

Initial impressions are that the sound is very similar to the DFR, from memory though, I haven't compared them directly yet.

Hopefully I can find some time to compare the Nano BL with the DFR and Mojo soon.

Wow. The Nano is small. It just as long as the Fiio E17K. Yet two times thicker. Interesting.

 

[435279]

Wow. The Nano is small. It just as long as the Fiio E17K. Yet two times thicker. Interesting.

Yes, the format is very close to the Chord Mojo, which makes sense. Here is my portable setup for yesterday and today.

Edit: Yes I know the PM-3 is plugged into the m2s directly, was checking the sound differences.