[Cuthbert 80]

Hello! Today my iFi Neo iDSD arrived. Tested with my Focal Elegia through 4.4mm the first impression is spectacular.

lol I'm not surprised by your reaction considering that you're using your NEO with a dynamic driver headphone that also happens to be a Focal, heh.

Now you're seeing why I've been gushing about the NEO+Focal combo in a slightly embarrasing fashion

 

[iFi audio]

Now you're seeing why I've been gushing about the NEO+Focal combo in a slightly embarrasing fashion

It's cool, I'll take such feedback

 

[JWahl]

My tour evaluation has officially begun. Early impressions are more positive than I was expecting. I’ll wait to make any strong statements but off the bat, the articulation on drums is phenomenal, and I’m a drummer. That alone is almost selling it for me.

Plot twist: I’m liking the RME the least of the three DACs so far when it’s added features are taken out of the equation.

 

[Sphere 57]

I'm particularly interested in comparisons with the xDSD and Pro iDSD.

Is anyone on the tour able to do this?

 

[Cotnijoe]

My tour evaluation has officially begun. Early impressions are more positive than I was expecting. I’ll wait to make any strong statements but off the bat, the articulation on drums is phenomenal, and I’m a drummer. That alone is almost selling it for me.

Plot twist: I’m liking the RME the least of the three DACs so far when it’s added features are taken out of the equation.

Enjoy your week with it! =)

 

[Joaqu2n]

lol I'm not surprised by your reaction considering that you're using your NEO with a dynamic driver headphone that also happens to be a Focal, heh.

Now you're seeing why I've been gushing about the NEO+Focal combo in a slightly embarrasing fashion

Appreciating the great sound quality of the Neo by 4.4mm with the Elegia, I have added the Musical Fidelity LX2-HPA headphone amp to the Neo iDSD. An absolutely wonderful combo!! All I can say is that if this sounds like this with an unbalanced amp I can't imagine what an iFi Neo iCAN can be, with everything balanced and much more power.

Impressive DAC.

 

[BattousaiX26]

My tour evaluation has officially begun. Early impressions are more positive than I was expecting. I’ll wait to make any strong statements but off the bat, the articulation on drums is phenomenal, and I’m a drummer. That alone is almost selling it for me.

Plot twist: I’m liking the RME the least of the three DACs so far when it’s added features are taken out of the equation.

where did you get your wooden rack if you don't mind?

 

[JWahl]

where did you get your wooden rack if you don't mind?

It's a bamboo monitor riser/shelf that I got from Amazon. It does make a nice little desktop rack for mid-size components, though.

Amazon.com : SONGMICS Bamboo Monitor Stand Riser, Laptop Stand, for Cellphone, TV, Printer, with 2-Tier Desktop Storage Organizer, Patented ULLD217 : Office Products

May I ask why you are unhappy with your ADI-2?

I'm not, to be honest. I love it. It's pretty much the performance/value sweet spot for me....

So I wanted to revisit this statement and add some more context after listening to both the Neo and Modius for awhile. It turns out that I don't love the ADI-2 as much I thought I did. I love the features, functionality, and engineering quality, but I've had the nagging feeling for a while that something has been missing that I couldn't quite put my finger on. It wasn't until directly comparing to the other two DACs that I figured it out. There's something off about the rendering of microdynamics on the ADI-2 that are supposed to convey small musical flourishes that gives music it's inherent artistic nature. Think of the subtle differences in intensity that a pianist can strike the keys, or the different velocities a drummer strikes a drum to create the feeling of a pocket groove. The ADI-2 kind of sucks the life out of those microdynamics.

Even the $200 Modius notably improves on this over the ADI-2, despite both using the same DAC chip, (different) IC Op Amp stages, and low distortion measurements. The Neo excels at this even more. Going back to the ADI-2, I realized the bass extension between it and the Neo is similar, but I don't feel the need for bass boost on the Neo. What I think I was trying to do with the EQ of the ADI-2 wasn't to correct frequency response; the brain does a pretty good job of that on its own. I was trying to add dynamic contrast to the ADI-2 that wasn't present to begin with. This is especially evident with older recordings, which sounded flat and dead on the RME, but lively and musical with both the Neo and Modius. The ADI-2 worked great with over-processed pop and hip-hop music recordings which, as many may know, tend to be very dynamically compressed in mastering. It's one of those things that doesn't jump out at you as sounding bad, but now that I know it's missing I don't think I can go back, despite the extra features.

This kind of leads into an interesting and unexpected observation about the Neo. I'm finding that the 4.4mm output of the Neo is the real star of the show; I keep finding myself wanting to go back and listen to it despite having a higher-end balanced amp. Does this mean I think the Neo's built in amp is better than my dedicated amp? No. The Soloist 3X and Neo actually share some similar sonic traits such that the effect is additive and maybe it can be "too much of a good thing": Like chocolate on chocolate ice cream. Both are spacious and a touch rich, so the combination can make the midrange feel a little more distant than ideal. The Neo's 4.4mm output strikes an ideal tonal balance, though; it's like chocolate and vanilla. Same with the Modius + Soloist 3X. The Modius is kind of a dry and midrange focused DAC (vanilla).

The built-in balanced-amp of the Neo also really shines with those microdynamic flourishes that I mentioned earlier. That's why I was getting such positive impressions with drums, for instance. I'll try to go into more details in my formal review, but I just thought I'd share thoughts as I go along. It also helps me organize my thoughts so I can come back to it when I'm writing the review.

 

[Brubacca]

It's a bamboo monitor riser/shelf that I got from Amazon. It does make a nice little desktop rack for mid-size components, though.

Amazon.com : SONGMICS Bamboo Monitor Stand Riser, Laptop Stand, for Cellphone, TV, Printer, with 2-Tier Desktop Storage Organizer, Patented ULLD217 : Office Products




So I wanted to revisit this statement and add some more context after listening to both the Neo and Modius for awhile. It turns out that I don't love the ADI-2 as much I thought I did. I love the features, functionality, and engineering quality, but I've had the nagging feeling for a while that something has been missing that I couldn't quite put my finger on. It wasn't until directly comparing to the other two DACs that I figured it out. There's something off about the rendering of microdynamics on the ADI-2 that are supposed to convey small musical flourishes that gives music it's inherent artistic nature. Think of the subtle differences in intensity that a pianist can strike the keys, or the different velocities a drummer strikes a drum to create the feeling of a pocket groove. The ADI-2 kind of sucks the life out of those microdynamics.

Even the $200 Modius notably improves on this over the ADI-2, despite both using the same DAC chip, (different) IC Op Amp stages, and low distortion measurements. The Neo excels at this even more. Going back to the ADI-2, I realized the bass extension between it and the Neo is similar, but I don't feel the need for bass boost on the Neo. What I think I was trying to do with the EQ of the ADI-2 wasn't to correct frequency response; the brain does a pretty good job of that on its own. I was trying to add dynamic contrast to the ADI-2 that wasn't present to begin with. This is especially evident with older recordings, which sounded flat and dead on the RME, but lively and musical with both the Neo and Modius. The ADI-2 worked great with over-processed pop and hip-hop music recordings which, as many may know, tend to be very dynamically compressed in mastering. It's one of those things that doesn't jump out at you as sounding bad, but now that I know it's missing I don't think I can go back, despite the extra features.

This kind of leads into an interesting and unexpected observation about the Neo. I'm finding that the 4.4mm output of the Neo is the real star of the show; I keep finding myself wanting to go back and listen to it despite having a higher-end balanced amp. Does this mean I think the Neo's built in amp is better than my dedicated amp? No. The Soloist 3X and Neo actually share some similar sonic traits such that the effect is additive and maybe it can be "too much of a good thing": Like chocolate on chocolate ice cream. Both are spacious and a touch rich, so the combination can make the midrange feel a little more distant than ideal. The Neo's 4.4mm output strikes an ideal tonal balance, though; it's like chocolate and vanilla. Same with the Modius + Soloist 3X. The Modius is kind of a dry and midrange focused DAC (vanilla).

The built-in balanced-amp of the Neo also really shines with those microdynamic flourishes that I mentioned earlier. That's why I was getting such positive impressions with drums, for instance. I'll try to go into more details in my formal review, but I just thought I'd share thoughts as I go along. It also helps me organize my thoughts so I can come back to it when I'm writing the review.

Oh boy.. I used to play drums and the sonics of drums is one of the main things I evaluate in a dac when doing analytical listening. There is a drum part in pearl Jam Go that gets blurred together on many dacs. The best I ever heard it was on a $7,500 Naim CDX2 CD player and it was able to articulate the individual drum strikes. Can't wait for my evaluation. (That CD player used a Burr Brown Dac if I remember correctly).

 

[JWahl]

Oh boy.. I used to play drums and the sonics of drums is one of the main things I evaluate in a dac when doing analytical listening. There is a drum part in pearl Jam Go that gets blurred together on many dacs. The best I ever heard it was on a $7,500 Naim CDX2 CD player and it was able to articulate the individual drum strikes. Can't wait for my evaluation. (That CD player used a Burr Brown Dac if I remember correctly).

Absolutely. There's these two videos of this Japanese drummer, that really illustrate the capabilities of the Neo. The first is a cover of a well known band's song. The second is an original instrumental but better illustrates her playing energy.





I can't stress enough how well-balanced the balanced headphone output is (no pun intended). It was honestly my lowest expectation going into the loaner, but it's really impressed me so far, and really drives up the value ratio as an all-in-one unit. The Soloist 3X with stock Vivid V6 just isn't as synergistic with it as I hoped. I think the SparkoS op-amps in the Soloist might be a better match for the Neo. I'm tempted to hook up the Burson Fun (with SparkoS), and maybe dig out the Gilmore Lite Mk. 2 just to see if the ADI-2 was the real reason I got bored with the latter. It might actually be a better match. I'm selling both, but the GLite Mk. 2 hasn't sold yet and has just been sitting in the box for several weeks. I'll try to stop be lazy and hook them up later to give people some more context of other amp combos. I suspect the built-in amp will hold it's own against the other two, which I hold in high regard at their price points.

 

[Sebastien Chiu]

My tour evaluation has officially begun. Early impressions are more positive than I was expecting. I’ll wait to make any strong statements but off the bat, the articulation on drums is phenomenal, and I’m a drummer. That alone is almost selling it for me.

Plot twist: I’m liking the RME the least of the three DACs so far when it’s added features are taken out of the equation.

Out of curiosity, is it the Neo a little too long for the compartments laying down? I'm looking for a better way to organize my desk / cables and this seems right up my alley.

I'd put the Neo on the bottom ideally, my ZEN CAN above, and my Signature on the third shelf.

Thanks for all your impressions so far, glad you're enjoying it!

 

[corgifall]

My tour NEO should hopefully be here later today. Looking forward to finding a spot to place it haha. I have like two stacks and a few portable devices all on/over my desk.

 

[JWahl]

Out of curiosity, is it the Neo a little too long for the compartments laying down? I'm looking for a better way to organize my desk / cables and this seems right up my alley.

I'd put the Neo on the bottom ideally, my ZEN CAN above, and my Signature on the third shelf.

Thanks for all your impressions so far, glad you're enjoying it!

It just barely fits, but there's about a millimeter of clearance on either side. I moved it to the bottom this morning to see how it looks laying down. I'll probably take it out though, because I don't want to scratch up the loaner which is what I'm worried about with so little clearance on the sides. I wanted to put it on the middle shelf and the Modius on the bottom, but the Modius is too wide for the bottom shelf. It just barely fits in the middle shelf.

 

[iFi audio]

My tour evaluation has officially begun. Early impressions are more positive than I was expecting. I’ll wait to make any strong statements but off the bat, the articulation on drums is phenomenal, and I’m a drummer. That alone is almost selling it for me.

Plot twist: I’m liking the RME the least of the three DACs so far when it’s added features are taken out of the equation.

Enjoy the ride

 

[Sebastien Chiu]

It just barely fits, but there's about a millimeter of clearance on either side. I moved it to the bottom this morning to see how it looks laying down. I'll probably take it out though, because I don't want to scratch up the loaner which is what I'm worried about with so little clearance on the sides. I wanted to put it on the middle shelf and the Modius on the bottom, but the Modius is too wide for the bottom shelf. It just barely fits in the middle shelf.

Thanks very much! Appreciate the info ~ I grabbed it. Looks like an awesome organizer.