[Noneya]

We won't deny it, things are about to happen!

Um, when exactly? How soon is "very soon"? Has a definite ETA been set yet?

 

[Roscoeiii]

They'll tell us when they are ready to announce it. Relax.

 

[iFi audio]

Very exciting news. Is that an antenna I see coming out the back?

It is indeed!

 

[iFi audio]

They'll tell us when they are ready to announce it. Relax.

Yup, this community will be the very first one to know.

 

[iFi audio]

Preview – Pro series - part 2/5
Jaw-dropping features

1) Quad DAC section

The iDSD Pro uses a Quad ‘stack’ of the iFi Bit-Perfect DSD and DXD DAC by Burr-Brown in a custom ‘interleaved’ configuration. This enables a total of eight pairs of differential signals to be used and mixed – that’s four pairs of signals per channel.



While the iDSD Pro includes field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) for digital remastering duties – where we believe they excel – there are also external D/A sections, with a limited number of elements. In the iDSD Pro we use four interleaved 64-Element converters, to create a 256-Element DAC per channel, manufactured at high level of precision.

All signals to the DACs are re-clocked with the low-jitter Global Master Timing® master clock derived from the AMR DP-777.


2) Studio DSD Remastering

Bit-Perfect or Upsampled

All digital processing is Bit-Perfect, without employing an Asynchronous Sample Rate Converter (ASRC), or by up-sampling unless digital filters are explicitly selected. A variety of digital filters (including Bit-Perfect mode without digital filtering) are available.

The iDSD Pro supports both USB 3.0 Type B connections. All inputs (including USB) are galvanically isolated and the USB input is self-powered. The SPDIF inputs use technology derived from the AMR DP-777 including a new, solid-state implementation of the HD-VDi, memory buffer and the Global Master Timing® clock system.

Click on this link for more information on iFi’s SPDIF solution:

http://www.amr-audio.co.uk/html/dp777_tech-papers_spdif.html


Next Generation X-Core 200



The iDSD Pro features the new XMOS XU216 X-Core 200 Series 16-Core processor with a maximum of 2,000 MIPS (two billion instructions per second) calculation power in dual-issue mode as a USB interface. It can decode signals from all Inputs, from USB (up to 768kHz/DSD512), AES/EBU or S/PDIF (up to 192kHz/24Bit) and Wifi/Network/Mass-storage (up to 192kHz/32Bit).

Stay tuned!

 

[Celt16]

The above says 2 of 5 - I didn’t see #1 - was it posted? Are the others coming?

 

[iFi audio]

The above says 2 of 5 - I didn’t see #1 - was it posted? Are the others coming?

One page earlier there's the first part and yes, more is coming.

 

[Roscoeiii]

Most intriguing, exciting lil bit in there is underlined below:

"It can decode signals from all Inputs, from USB (up to 768kHz/DSD512), AES/EBU or S/PDIF (up to 192kHz/24Bit) and Wifi/Network/Mass-storage (up to 192kHz/32Bit)."

 

[gr8soundz]

Good to see the worlds's first usb 3.0 dac is finally a reality. Sounds like the iGalvanic might be built-in too.

However, the pic in part 1 shows DSD at 49MHz suggesting DSD1024. Is the 'simulated' screen real or is DSD512 at 22/24MHz still the max (like the iDSD Micro)?

 

[GHoldridge]

Good to see the worlds's first usb 3.0 dac is finally a reality. Sounds like the iGalvanic might be built-in too.

However, the pic in part 1 shows DSD at 49MHz suggesting DSD1024. Is the 'simulated' screen real or is DSD512 at 22/24MHz still the max (like the iDSD Micro)?

Well I could be wrong about the usb but I think it’s refering to USB 3.0 and 3.1 type connectors both on a dac at the same time as a worlds first. It doesn't say it’s actully a usb 3.0 dac

 

[Khragon]

Usb 3.0 bandwidth and 2 billion ips does that mean it can potentially process surround sound without requiring software mixing. Maybe even do virtual room 3D mixing?

 

[Matez]

However, the pic in part 1 shows DSD at 49MHz suggesting DSD1024. Is the 'simulated' screen real or is DSD512 at 22/24MHz still the max (like the iDSD Micro)?

My bet is that DSD1024 is the real thing here. I also see no reason to fabricate stuff as important as this. It also makes sense to push the limit higher in the Pro range.

 

[iFi audio]

Preview – Pro series - part 3/5
Even more jaw-dropping features

Hi-Res Network Audio



As the flagship in iFi Audio’s formidable fleet of DACs, the iDSD Pro is extremely highly specified. In addition to traditional inputs, it features:

• WiFi/network playback system with leading streaming services (see below)
• MQA decoding onboard for the maximum quality of playback via MQA music files or streaming.
• Wide protocol support including Airplay and USB Memory/Hard Drive/SD Card playback to make a full standalone streamer/network audio player with 32 Bit/192kHz & DSD64 support.

The iDSD Pro gives you plenty of options for playing music online. Here are a few of them:

1. Play direct from SD card
2. Airplay Network Audio Playback from iPhone, iPad, Mac Computers
3. Use Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) to playback from smartphones, tablets and Windows/Linux computers
4. Stream playback from Amazon Music, Audible, Spotify, TIDAL, Napster, Spotify Connect, and QQPlayer
5. Playback from Hard disk drive, USB Memory or SDHC Memory Card
6. Playback from Network Attached Storage (NAS)

Zero Jitter for all inputs

For all inputs data is sent to the aforementioned Memory Buffer, which iFi describes as ‘large’ and ‘elastic’. Here it is de-jittered to eliminate any transmission of source jitter to the DAC output. The data from the Memory Buffer is further re-clocked by with the low-jitter Global Master Timing® clock, which also drives the X-Core 200 & FPGA.

Click on this more information on iFi’s jitter solution:

http://www.amr-audio.co.uk/html/dp777_tech-papers_jitter.html

Studio Remastering

While the X-Core 200 is favourable for USB Audio, AES/EBU/SPDIF decoding and decoding MQA, DSD, it is not the best platform for DSP, digital filters and PCM-to-DSD conversion. This is where the iDSD Pro’s Studio DSD Remastering system comes in. It excels at handling the Upsampling and Digital Filter duties and has at its heart the Crysopeia FPGA Digital Engine for digital filtering and PCM to DSD remastering, up to DSD1024.



Upsampling in hardware, on board has enabled iFi Audio to overcome the current USB limitation of DSD512 as well as implement multiple filters optimised for specific time-domain behaviour, including that of the DAC and Analogue stage, a level of optimisation not possible in generic software upconversion (as found in Foobar et al).

The five filters available are:

1. ‘Bit-Perfect’ No digital filtering is applied, 1 Tap
2. ‘Bit-Perfect+’ No digital filtering is applied, 1 Tap
3. ‘Minimum Phase’ Minimum filtering, no pre-ringing, minimum post ringing, 32 Taps
4. ‘Apodising’ Modest filtering, no pre-ringing, modest post ringing, 128 Taps
5. ‘Transient Aligned’ Max filtering, max Pre-Ringing, maximum Post-Ringing, 16,384 Taps

Stay tuned, there's more!

 

[Roscoeiii]

Can the buffer be disabled for times when you need audio synced with video? Or is any lag insignificant enough that audio and video wouldn't appear to be out of sync?

Lots of cool stuff here folks!

 

[Wildcatsare1]

Preview – Pro series - part 3/5
Even more jaw-dropping features

Hi-Res Network Audio



As the flagship in iFi Audio’s formidable fleet of DACs, the iDSD Pro is extremely highly specified. In addition to traditional inputs, it features:

• WiFi/network playback system with leading streaming services (see below)
• MQA decoding onboard for the maximum quality of playback via MQA music files or streaming.
• Wide protocol support including Airplay and USB Memory/Hard Drive/SD Card playback to make a full standalone streamer/network audio player with 32 Bit/192kHz & DSD64 support.

The iDSD Pro gives you plenty of options for playing music online. Here are a few of them:

1. Play direct from SD card
2. Airplay Network Audio Playback from iPhone, iPad, Mac Computers
3. Use Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) to playback from smartphones, tablets and Windows/Linux computers
4. Stream playback from Amazon Music, Audible, Spotify, TIDAL, Napster, Spotify Connect, and QQPlayer
5. Playback from Hard disk drive, USB Memory or SDHC Memory Card
6. Playback from Network Attached Storage (NAS)

Zero Jitter for all inputs

For all inputs data is sent to the aforementioned Memory Buffer, which iFi describes as ‘large’ and ‘elastic’. Here it is de-jittered to eliminate any transmission of source jitter to the DAC output. The data from the Memory Buffer is further re-clocked by with the low-jitter Global Master Timing® clock, which also drives the X-Core 200 & FPGA.

Click on this more information on iFi’s jitter solution:

http://www.amr-audio.co.uk/html/dp777_tech-papers_jitter.html

Studio Remastering

While the X-Core 200 is favourable for USB Audio, AES/EBU/SPDIF decoding and decoding MQA, DSD, it is not the best platform for DSP, digital filters and PCM-to-DSD conversion. This is where the iDSD Pro’s Studio DSD Remastering system comes in. It excels at handling the Upsampling and Digital Filter duties and has at its heart the Crysopeia FPGA Digital Engine for digital filtering and PCM to DSD remastering, up to DSD1024.



Upsampling in hardware, on board has enabled iFi Audio to overcome the current USB limitation of DSD512 as well as implement multiple filters optimised for specific time-domain behaviour, including that of the DAC and Analogue stage, a level of optimisation not possible in generic software upconversion (as found in Foobar et al).

The five filters available are:

1. ‘Bit-Perfect’ No digital filtering is applied, 1 Tap
2. ‘Bit-Perfect+’ No digital filtering is applied, 1 Tap
3. ‘Minimum Phase’ Minimum filtering, no pre-ringing, minimum post ringing, 32 Taps
4. ‘Apodising’ Modest filtering, no pre-ringing, modest post ringing, 128 Taps
5. ‘Transient Aligned’ Max filtering, max Pre-Ringing, maximum Post-Ringing, 16,384 Taps

Stay tuned, there's more!

I wish I could hit love, I would most definitely do so! I cannot wait for the Tour for the of iDSD Pro!