[Mr BubbaHyde]

It is certainly nice to see that so far DACs connected via USB are reporting who and what they are!

In addition, the Gapless issue with Tidal Connect is also present on USB, although very much reduced to a type digital noise, instead of an actual Gap/Skip type sound.

Cheers!!

 

[stoicar]

What are the differences from denafrips to build in ifi dac ?
Much appreciated

 

[Mr BubbaHyde]

What are the differences from denafrips to build in ifi dac ?
Much appreciated

I promise I will get to those comparisons very soon! As of right now all I can say for sure is that I am extremely pleased with what I am hearing from the internal DAC on the NEO Stream, and I have at several different times said to myself, Is this all "I" need?

But I do not want to get ahead of myself or let the "Shiny new Toy syndrome" get the better of me and speak too soon!

Cheers!!

 

[stoicar]

I just receve a ifi neo stream , 4.4 to xlr and a farad super3 for ifi

 

[ES_EF]

I just receve a ifi neo stream , 4.4 to xlr and a farad super3 for ifi

let's see some pics / impressions once you can

 

[stoicar]

Speakers Diy pbn b741 with some mods from original project, power amp is a purifi audiophonics with sparkos and some mods ( all the conections ar straight in pbc, big caps for power supply) peramp is burson soluist with supercharger 3A, and stremer ifi zen stream and ifi neo stream with farad super3 ( no fuse) cables ar all mogami - powerAc and speakers ar 4mm2 x 4 per cable and interconect mogami but ifi need 4.4 to xlr and i buy from them this cable. Room is just too small i treat first refection sides and back an will be instaling in spring a 2d difuser for front wall s24.

 

[Mr BubbaHyde]

I am at a bit of an impasse in my mind with the testing of DACs and the NS so I have decided to pause here with an explanation of what's going on and to ask for suggestions on how the community would suggest proceeding.

Any of you who have been following my posts know that I ran into a bug/issue with Tidal that is causing me some grief in continuing forward until I find a resolution.

My plan was to test all of the DACs I own with the NEO Stream, much like I did with the services available to the NS previously here. I had hoped to methodically test/verify all of the available outputs of the NS to each of the DACs I own, and also briefly with each of the given streaming services to make sure all functionalities and outputs worked correctly, and there were no "Major" issues with those two topics in mind. And also at the same time, hopefully, gain an idea and formulate an opinion of the strengths and weak points of the NS with external DACs that you folks may want to pair it with.

Now I freely admit that the issue I am experiencing (gapless hiccups with Tidal) is not a big deal in the grand scheme and surely will be dealt with, but also as has been mentioned the NS in the app always defaults to software volume in the settings, after making a change from say Digital to USB DAC connection, making it a bit tedious to say listen to a DACs Optical input, then, compare it to USB or other. On the Zen Stream this was not an issue as it stayed where you set it after a firmware update, but in the NEO that is not so yet. This may only be on my unit as I had some help from @ctrlm to test the gapless issue, and he did not experience it using his equipment, and I would also like to take a moment to thank him for his help with it because it led to me discovering that I needed the MQA pass-thru setting set to "Off" on MQA pass-thru for Tidal to work for me, in the ZS I always had this set to "Auto" and never had an issue. Also I did not run into this issue using the NEO by itself with the internal DAC.

Long story short, I feel like I need to make sure I have a set sure-fire plan to check external DACs so I can accurately portray my impressions of them to you. I can surely check each DAC to make sure it is recognized (in USB) mode or on digital outputs and report only that to you, but I know most are looking for sound comparisons of the external vs. the internal DAC of the NEO, which I had no issues with in both operation or sound. Or, for example, differences in sound between say Tidal by the NEO itself, and Denafrips Ares II for example. I am not confident that I can do that at the moment, especially with the "Software" volume issue, and I would not want to even say that Tidal was better on one or the other (even to my ears), unless I can figure out where my current issue lies.

As an example, if using my SMSL M500 which is a full decoder DAC, The only way I could truly listen thru say "Dark Side of The Moon is to set the MQA pass-thru to Off, and although I know the resolution and MQA unfolding is right and I am hearing the same thing, I also know true Tidal and MQA lovers want to see that Blue or Green Indicator on the SMSL screen, the Magenta one just won't do, , and yes I know my OCD is shining thru horribly!

So do I get into the DACs using Qobuz and Roon, FLAC files I have ripped directly from the source CD, or do I go with my gut and say this will all be better in a week or so, and let it slide till then? My thought there is as we get more owners and opinions, plus reporting the issue to support, a solution can't be far behind, and I will be back on track!

Penny for your Thoughts!!

Cheers!!

 

[Mau10]

I am at a bit of an impasse in my mind with the testing of DACs and the NS so I have decided to pause here with an explanation of what's going on and to ask for suggestions on how the community would suggest proceeding.

Any of you who have been following my posts know that I ran into a bug/issue with Tidal that is causing me some grief in continuing forward until I find a resolution.

My plan was to test all of the DACs I own with the NEO Stream, much like I did with the services available to the NS previously here. I had hoped to methodically test/verify all of the available outputs of the NS to each of the DACs I own, and also briefly with each of the given streaming services to make sure all functionalities and outputs worked correctly, and there were no "Major" issues with those two topics in mind. And also at the same time, hopefully, gain an idea and formulate an opinion of the strengths and weak points of the NS with external DACs that you folks may want to pair it with.

Now I freely admit that the issue I am experiencing (gapless hiccups with Tidal) is not a big deal in the grand scheme and surely will be dealt with, but also as has been mentioned the NS in the app always defaults to software volume in the settings, after making a change from say Digital to USB DAC connection, making it a bit tedious to say listen to a DACs Optical input, then, compare it to USB or other. On the Zen Stream this was not an issue as it stayed where you set it after a firmware update, but in the NEO that is not so yet. This may only be on my unit as I had some help from @ctrlm to test the gapless issue, and he did not experience it using his equipment, and I would also like to take a moment to thank him for his help with it because it led to me discovering that I needed the MQA pass-thru setting set to "Off" on MQA pass-thru for Tidal to work for me, in the ZS I always had this set to "Auto" and never had an issue. Also I did not run into this issue using the NEO by itself with the internal DAC.

Long story short, I feel like I need to make sure I have a set sure-fire plan to check external DACs so I can accurately portray my impressions of them to you. I can surely check each DAC to make sure it is recognized (in USB) mode or on digital outputs and report only that to you, but I know most are looking for sound comparisons of the external vs. the internal DAC of the NEO, which I had no issues with in both operation or sound. Or, for example, differences in sound between say Tidal by the NEO itself, and Denafrips Ares II for example. I am not confident that I can do that at the moment, especially with the "Software" volume issue, and I would not want to even say that Tidal was better on one or the other (even to my ears), unless I can figure out where my current issue lies.

As an example, if using my SMSL M500 which is a full decoder DAC, The only way I could truly listen thru say "Dark Side of The Moon is to set the MQA pass-thru to Off, and although I know the resolution and MQA unfolding is right and I am hearing the same thing, I also know true Tidal and MQA lovers want to see that Blue or Green Indicator on the SMSL screen, the Magenta one just won't do, , and yes I know my OCD is shining thru horribly!

So do I get into the DACs using Qobuz and Roon, FLAC files I have ripped directly from the source CD, or do I go with my gut and say this will all be better in a week or so, and let it slide till then? My thought there is as we get more owners and opinions, plus reporting the issue to support, a solution can't be far behind, and I will be back on track!

Penny for your Thoughts!!

Cheers!!

Totally understand the feeling, I have been a bit stuck when doing comparisons for my review, because of that volume and settings issues too and due to a trip that kept me away from my system for more than a week. Your posts have been great and your words convey how much you've been enjoying yourself while doing your review. In my humble opinion, If the process is becoming frustrating, just take your time until iFi fixes the issue or you are able to complete your tests, to a point in which you feel comfortable with your conclusions. At the end, it's only worth it if you are having a good time.

 

[stoicar]

For me i set the volume to none in ifi.local as nd chage the rest of setting on page and save now I don’t change the volume and is starting desable. Mqa internal dac in not unfolding mqa and gto in not upsampeling . Probably im doing something wrong

 

[Mr BubbaHyde]

The Neo and The Schiit Modius…


Unless noted DAC testing, for now, will be based on Qobuz, with Roon in AIO mode, I will try to be sure to notate anything changes to this.

One of the first DACs I decided to include in this compilation was the Schiit Modius, it is one of the better “Measuring” Schiit DACs, offers a balanced output, and includes an AES/EBU input option, so including it here for that reason alone would have been enough. The Unison USB was also tested.

All inputs functioned as they should with no issues from the NS to it, and I was able to switch between “Digital” inputs on the DAC to compare the sound from 3 of the 4 available inputs without disturbing the stream which in this case was Qobuz.

To get it out of the way, the Unison USB was immediately recognized by the NEO Stream, and as usual, the Unison performed very well with everything I threw at it, (Yes I was always a fan of Unison, it just works well, plain and simple).

I had previously tested this DAC with the ZS, and Although I have not used it much lately as I had last year, I mainly used it with the Spdif out of the ZS, looking back I wrote and remembered that I just preferred this input on the Schiit Modius, this also held thru too the BF2 which I no longer own.


Switching thru the 3 outputs of the NS into the Modius, it was apparent that there is not a huge difference in how the Schiit sounded, if anything of note, I perceived a slight bit of clarity on the AES/EBU that wasn’t present on the optical or coaxial Spdif. Keep in mind this caveat, I never used AES/EBU on the Schiit before this as I didn’t have a streamer with this option, and it was convenient that Using the “Digital” output section of the NS was very convenient as all Digital outputs produce a signal when In that mode.

I ran into no issues with the sound or use of the Schiit in conjunction with the NEO Stream, not that I suspected I would, as Schiit makes a very good product.


My conclusion would be that if your favorite gear is Schiit, you will have no problem pairing this gear with the NS, in fact, you will benefit from using a streamer instead of a computer out thru USB, this would be a universal understanding in my mind, feel free to correct me if I am mistaken somehow.

Cheers!!


P.S.

These are basic functionality/pairing snippets, and not full blown nitty gritty down in the dirt write-ups because I don’t want to get too deeply into better/worse comparisons right now, so I will simply say head to head I will take the NEO internal for the win in this one! Lol,

More on those types of comparisons later.

 

[Mr BubbaHyde]

For me i set the volume to none in ifi.local as nd chage the rest of setting on page and save now I don’t change the volume and is starting desable. Mqa internal dac in not unfolding mqa and gto in not upsampeling . Probably im doing something wrong

Make sure in the settings under playback options, you have your MQA pass-thru options set to your particular needs. If using the internal DAC on the NEO just set it to auto, also make sure you have your Tidal settings in the Tidal app set to your Sub level, "Master" and not "HiFi".

Cheers!!

 

[ctrlm]

Doh!

My I2S channel inversion is fixed - the Spring 3 DAC has programmable HDMI pin configurations and Alt 2 has the correct channel orientation for both PCM & DSD.

Lesson learned - take more notice of the equipment manual in future.

 

[Mr BubbaHyde]

Doh!

My I2S channel inversion is fixed - the Spring 3 DAC has programmable HDMI pin configurations and Alt 2 has the correct channel orientation for both PCM & DSD.

Lesson learned - take more notice of the equipment manual in future.

That's awesome news!! Glad you found that!!

Enjoy!!

Cheers!!

 

[Mau10]

Doh!

My I2S channel inversion is fixed - the Spring 3 DAC has programmable HDMI pin configurations and Alt 2 has the correct channel orientation for both PCM & DSD.

Lesson learned - take more notice of the equipment manual in future.

That's great news!

 

[Mau10]

I finally got my Pi2AES HDMI I2S to work and it is outputting the correct Left/Right channels on my Wavedream, which clearly points at the NEO Stream being the problem.

It looks like the Wavedream can switch the I2s mode as well. @Clemmaster Were you able to solve the inverted channel issue too?