iFi iDSD Micro DSD512 / PCM768 DAC and Headphone Amp. Impressions, Reviews and Comments.
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Engell
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Mine have this feature/problem as well, its not sleep mode, I loose half a second of playback happens after just 10 seconds of no data on the USB. Got some lame answer from ifi that i could just run a program in the background that would output empty audio constantly. There is not indication on the device or any of the programs that it is in some kind of USB off mode.
this has happened with all the firmwares i have tried so far, and both on PC and Phone
Sonic Defender
Headphoneus Supremus
So did a little further testing and with a half hour of music playing the battery on my phone went down by 3%. The same time period with nothing happening on the phone and the screen off (I also play my music with the screen off) the battery on my phone went down by only 1% so clearly the Micro will more or less triple the hit to your phone battery even when it is playing in battery mode (meaning turning the Micro on first before the OTG connection is made). I assume this is not actually the Micro drawing power but simply what happens when you play music and the USB out circuitry is engaged so this does make sense. I guess my next little test will be to play music for half and hour with no OTG functionality and see how much the battery drops. Anyway, it doesn't appear to be a significant issue, just the reality of using OTG on the phone.
This could be power management on the PC putting USB ports into a low power state when they go quiet. I've seen this mentioned elsewhere along with details of how to stop it happening.
It went something like this:
> Computer Management > Device Manager > Universal Serial Bus Controllers > Generic USB Hub
You will have several Generic USB Hubs and you need to find the one that your DAC is attached to or you could do all of them.
> Generic USB Hub > Right-Click > Properties > Power Management > Untick the relevant box
The Walrus
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That's interesting. I experience this only at the beginning of the first song. Not a glitch after that. Even if I pause the song, wait for a minute then resume, no problem. Again with PC,no problem. Just the beginning of the first song with phone or Sony A17 Strange...
Engell
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Already did this and it doesn't help, could just disable power saving in general but that is pretty suicidal on a laptop.
Basically it should be the Drivers provided by iFi that tells the PC that it is not allowed to sleep that port/device , i know this is also an issue on some onboard pc soundcards where people have found registry hacks disable the feature, but it requires that the driver has some kind of awareness in regards to sleep modes to activate/deactivate it
networkn
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OK well I was about to order the Ifi Micro DSD from Amazon (My preferred supplier) when I realized I don't get prime shipping. $35 for shipping, but in the suggested for you area was the Chord Mojo and reviews for this are pretty good as well, but is $599 and free shipping.
As best I can tell it's probably pretty good for my CANS (T1 and HD650), but the IFI is brighter sounding, and the IFI has better battery life. The Chord is MUCH smaller, and has worse battery life.
Anyone compared the two and can make a commnt?
Was surprised I couldn't find a better deal than $499 on the IFI, but 2 places I emailed didn't even respond!
As best I can tell it's probably pretty good for my CANS (T1 and HD650), but the IFI is brighter sounding, and the IFI has better battery life. The Chord is MUCH smaller, and has worse battery life.
Anyone compared the two and can make a commnt?
Was surprised I couldn't find a better deal than $499 on the IFI, but 2 places I emailed didn't even respond!
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I prefer micro IDSD over the Mojo. To my preferences, the warmth, the dynamic, soundstage on the IDSD micro is better
networkn
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Is MusicDirect.com a reasonable place to purchase from?
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I never tried them, but have you tried
http://www.ttvjaudio.com/SearchResults.asp?Search=Idsd
networkn
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Try your music direct then, as long as you pay by credit card or Paypal, you are safe
HotIce
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I got mine there. No issues with the purchase but I never had to deal with them as far as customer support.
gr8soundz
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MusicDirect is ok but their customer service could be better.
Recommend checking out http://www.avataracoustics.com
Got my Micro and iPower from them. iFi stuff is one of their specialties and better service imo.
Sonic Defender
Headphoneus Supremus
If the price is the same, I would go Amazon as when they fulfill the order their return policy is excellent and they even pay return shipping. At least they have for me every time I needed to do a return.
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