[Dobrescu George]

I already own fiio x5, so i have  pretty high standard already... hugo makes i don't know, 5% difference, if idsd can make 4% for 20% of hugos money, im in!
 
Just to be clear, the differences between x5 and chord hugo are not more than in the 5% range... x5 is already superb, and does everything almost perfect... i just wanted that 5% more, but as chord hugo costs 7Xfiio x5, i just thought to myself that even with diminishing returns law, it is a bit much compared to what i expected... ultrasone signature dj was 20% better than ultrasone dj one pro at around 4Xthe price, so it is a much better deal... also ie800 is around 35%better than ie8 at 3X the price...
 
I know that law of diminishing retuns apply, but chord hugo is kind of a bad reason to spend that much... i might want an edition 8 or even edition 5 unlimited, and if iFi iDSD micro, the device in question here, can bring 4% more over to fiio x5, it is more than enough, and it is more than what i need, and what i expect from paying 30% of the price of chord hugo..
 
I am sad that i have to buy without testing, but i think that i can get over this, the shop i buy from is not from my country, but it is from a neghibouring country, hungary, and the shop from there seems to sell lots of things to Romania all the time...

 

[Edric Li]

 
I'm waiting for iDSD and Aurender Flow comparisons.

 +1

 

[jaica]

  Hi guys,
 
anyone knows if the micro idsd will pair well/be powerful enough for the HE-560 ?

I have a new iDSD Micro and a new set of HE-560.  They are still in breaking so I can not comment with complete certainty on the synergies.
 
I can comment on the power.  No problem at all I am running it in normal mode and I have not needed to put the volume control pass 3:00.  I tried it in turbo mode and it works too probably keep it below 12.  
 
About 8 hours in.  I think they sound very good together I expect everything to get better.  I like a lot of different style music, but I am listening to mainly classical with some rock and pop in between.  I am now using red book cd's in bit perfect mode. I have the nano iDSD and the micro is better out of the box. 
 
I will probably comment in about 2 weeks.

 

[fleemur12]

I just opened my iTube in anticipation of completing my iFi micro rack, but it is in less-than-decent shape!  It looks like the case is out of alignment with the inside components.  When I flip the Digital Antidote Plus or 3D HoloSound switches, something rattles inside.  The hex screws look scored to me as well, like the unit has been opened, which is unusual b/c the unit came in a sealed box.  I purchased it from musicdirect.com, so I will ask for an exchange or refund tomorrow.  They've sent me excellent merchandise up to this point.  Just a little bummed, as I was looking forward to hearing all the micro units together tonight and I am impatient.  With yet another snowstorm on the way, it will probably be another week before I can get a properly functioning unit. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kapanak]

  I just opened my iTube in anticipation of completing my iFi micro rack, but it is in less-than-decent shape!  It looks like the case is out of alignment with the inside components.  When I flip the Digital Antidote Plus or 3D HoloSound switches, something rattles inside.  The hex screws look scored to me as well, like the unit has been opened, which is unusual b/c the unit came in a sealed box.  I purchased it from musicdirect.com, so I will ask for an exchange or refund tomorrow.  They've sent me excellent merchandise up to this point.  Just a little bummed, as I was looking forward to hearing all the micro units together tonight and I am impatient.  With yet another snowstorm on the way, it will probably be another week before I can get a properly functioning unit. 
 

 
That definitely looks like it was serviced after production, perhaps in QC or something after at the distributor. Sealed or not, it's naive that many of us think our units were untouched.
 
Your choice is wise, return it and get a refund or exchange it. Good luck!

 

[EVOLVIST]

It's unfortunate; I know it sucks, but Music Direct is a top flight outfit. They'll take care of you.

 

[fleemur12]

Thanks guys. 

 

[Dobrescu George]

So, is this ifi idsd micro the same thing as chord hugo, but cheaper, or not?...

 

[EVOLVIST]

  So, is this ifi idsd micro the same thing as chord hugo, but cheaper, or not?...

 
It's a different company, really. Though both are based in the UK, one of them reads "Hugo" on the box, while the other reads "iFi." Moreover, the iDSD micro uses a more standard burr-brown DAC chip configuration, where I don't believe they consulted the people over at Chord to see if that was okay. In fact, I'm pretty sure their designers and engineers are different people, though there is a good possibility they are all rather smart, at least sharing human genomes and basic structural DNA.
 
Otherwise they are quite similar products. From what I've been told, the IDSD micro shares a similar sonic signature to the Chord Hugo, but the Chord Hugo cannot decode all of the files that the iDSD micro can.
 
By my watch, it is probably time you get an iDSD micro. Or, you might spend too much on a Hugo. Or, you might wait for the desktop model from iFi, the iDSD Pro, which will surely put an end to the debate between the Hugo and the iDSD...at least as far as SQ, if the iDSD micro's superb sound is anything to go by.

 

[Edric Li]

   
It's a different company, really. Though both are based in the UK, one of them reads "Hugo" on the box, while the other reads "iFi." Moreover, the iDSD micro uses a more standard burr-brown DAC chip configuration, where I don't believe they consulted the people over at Chord to see if that was okay. In fact, I'm pretty sure their designers and engineers are different people, though there is a good possibility they are all rather smart, at least sharing human genomes and basic structural DNA.
 
Otherwise they are quite similar products. From what I've been told, the IDSD micro shares a similar sonic signature to the Chord Hugo, but the Chord Hugo cannot decode all of the files that the iDSD micro can.
 
By my watch, it is probably time you get an iDSD micro. Or, you might spend too much on a Hugo. Or, you might wait for the desktop model from iFi, the iDSD Pro, which will surely put an end to the debate between the Hugo and the iDSD...at least as far as SQ, if the iDSD micro's superb sound is anything to go by.

 
The desktop version is called mini iDSD. 

 

[Dobrescu George]

   
It's a different company, really. Though both are based in the UK, one of them reads "Hugo" on the box, while the other reads "iFi." Moreover, the iDSD micro uses a more standard burr-brown DAC chip configuration, where I don't believe they consulted the people over at Chord to see if that was okay. In fact, I'm pretty sure their designers and engineers are different people, though there is a good possibility they are all rather smart, at least sharing human genomes and basic structural DNA.
 
Otherwise they are quite similar products. From what I've been told, the IDSD micro shares a similar sonic signature to the Chord Hugo, but the Chord Hugo cannot decode all of the files that the iDSD micro can.
 
By my watch, it is probably time you get an iDSD micro. Or, you might spend too much on a Hugo. Or, you might wait for the desktop model from iFi, the iDSD Pro, which will surely put an end to the debate between the Hugo and the iDSD...at least as far as SQ, if the iDSD micro's superb sound is anything to go by.

I agree with you and all, but i would not be able to buy a desktop version of idsd, because i need something portable..
 
but chord hugo has got them magics in it... but with all seriousness, i have a real problem deciding, i cannot listen to ifi thingy, because the only shop from which i can buy is in hugary, around 800km distance from me... it would have been simpler if i could had listened to it before trying to decide...

 

[EVOLVIST]

The desktop version is called mini iDSD. 

Cheers! I believe they changed the title from the "Mini" to the "Pro." There's a thread in here that states that I believe. But who knows what the final product will be called.

 

[knorris908]

I agree with you and all, but i would not be able to buy a desktop version of idsd, because i need something portable..

but chord hugo has got them magics in it... but with all seriousness, i have a real problem deciding, i cannot listen to ifi thingy, because the only shop from which i can buy is in hugary, around 800km distance from me... it would have been simpler if i could had listened to it before trying to decide...

I feel your pain Skerry2006aj.

I had the same concerns, but eventually just took the plunge based on feedback that I was hearing. I LOVE my iFi iDSD Micro, but admit that I got lucky as I wasn't able to pre-audition them either. But I've not heard anything for less than $1000 that even comes close in either portable or desktop formats. And nothing at all that supports as many file types. Easily the best $499 that I've spent on audiophile gear to date, including my Sennheiser HD-650s since the iDSD Micro makes not only them sound great, but everything else I have sounds better with it as well!

If you're willing to part with $2500 for a Chord HUGO, you have my admiration and eventually, envy, but I'm satisfied with the sound im getting now. Also remember, the Chord HUGO is getting a little "long in the tooth", and doesn't have compatibility with the latest and greatest file formats (Octo DXD is the highest support that ice seen in practical application.). There may be a new version of the HUGO right around the corner, so I'd investigate that possibility first before dropping the better part of 3 grand on a soon to be obsolete device... Nothing against the HUGO. Wish I had one to compare with!

Just my 2 cents.

Ken N.

 

[Sound Eq]

guys i need help setting my ifi dsd with river and the ifi driver
 
in the ifi driver do u choose minimum latency and what buffer size u use
 
i messed up the settings so much 
 
kindly can someone share what are the settings they use for optimal use with ifi dsd
 
from phase, to buffering, to buffer size, etc , to conversion up sampling, and the other various effect in the dap studio of jjriver

 

[EVOLVIST]

  guys i need help setting my ifi dsd with river and the ifi driver
 
in the ifi driver do u choose minimum latency and what buffer size u use
 
i messed up the settings so much 
 
kindly can someone share what are the settings they use for optimal use with ifi dsd
 
from phase, to buffering, to buffer size, etc , to conversion up sampling, and the other various effect in the dap studio of jjriver

 
It all depends on your computer. in JRiver, using ASIO, the buffer size is recommended at 500 milliseconds. In the iFi driver settings, this greatly depends. Optimally, for the best sound and clocking, your USB Streaming Mode will be set to: Minimum Latency. The only way to tell if your machine can handle it, is to listen. If you hear no clicks, pops, skips in the songs, then you're probably good at Minimum Latency. But also consider the ASIO buffer size, which recommended at 8192 samples.
 
You will only know by trying. Start off with 2048 samples and "Safe" USB Streaming Mode. If you could none of the aforementioned problems, then kick it up a notch to 4096 samples and "Reliable" in the USB Streaming Mode. While you're doing this, you can always check your CPU usage, by going to your task manager and check. You can even go to the resource monitor and double check. In other words, if you're trying to get to Minimum Latency and 8192 samples, you can see how much CPU and memory your machine is using to process all of this data.
 
For instance, me, I might peak out at 23% CPU usage, while really putting my computer through the paces with DSD files.  That's not too bad. I usually have about 2GB of memory in reserve, too. Often before listening I'll do a quick restart, just to make sure my machine is running the smoothest it can.
 
Even at that, though, if I'm doing anything else on my computer while taxing it a bit, I'll get a little stutter in the audio, which tells to stop screwing around and just listen.
 
So, basically it's trial and error. You'll get there.

 
 
Oh, and in your options for Bitstreaming, set it to DSD. You shouldn't have to upsample anything from there, unless you really feel the need to (it's debatable if you'll hear the difference). If you don't want to jack with upstreaming, make sure in your DSP output format dialog box, that you're Output Encoding is set to: None. Your channels are set to: Source Number of Channels and your Sample rates are set to "No Change" all the way down the row.