iFi iDSD Micro DSD512 / PCM768 DAC and Headphone Amp. Impressions, Reviews and Comments.

[Dobrescu George]

I was not searching for the best DAC under a certain price... i was searching for the best portable DAC ever made
 
This is why i feel like anything but hugo is going to make me feel like i bought the right one..
 
about hd audio.. why?.. i am just curious why? there is clear evidence that you cannot hear above 20khz, if you go to an audiologist, you might want to know that you hear even under 20k... so i don't care about file types and such, only SQ... i know that chord hugo is here to stay for as short as a few years more, it reached the state of art afterall...
 
all the comments around here made me understand that ifi idsd micro is not able to beat up chord hugo, no matter what. it will probably sound like a side-grade from my fiio x5, not a total full upgrade in all senses... a concept about what is truly better, is what is totally more transparent, more soundstange, more dynamic, more micro details, more UN-Coloured, more analytical, more layering of instruments, more these things, not another sound signature... my x5 already sounds better than i expected, and chord hugo is only 4-5% better. i wanted to know that at 25% of the price idsd is at least 3-4% better than fiio x5, but i guess that nobody around here has an x5 for comparation...
 
anyways thanks for all the help!

 
 
Have a good listening!

 

[Dithyrambes]

  I was not searching for the best DAC under a certain price... i was searching for the best portable DAC ever made
 
This is why i feel like anything but hugo is going to make me feel like i bought the right one..
 
about hd audio.. why?.. i am just curious why? there is clear evidence that you cannot hear above 20khz, if you go to an audiologist, you might want to know that you hear even under 20k... so i don't care about file types and such, only SQ... i know that chord hugo is here to stay for as short as a few years more, it reached the state of art afterall...
 
all the comments around here made me understand that ifi idsd micro is not able to beat up chord hugo, no matter what. it will probably sound like a side-grade from my fiio x5, not a total full upgrade in all senses... a concept about what is truly better, is what is totally more transparent, more soundstange, more dynamic, more micro details, more UN-Coloured, more analytical, more layering of instruments, more these things, not another sound signature... my x5 already sounds better than i expected, and chord hugo is only 4-5% better. i wanted to know that at 25% of the price idsd is at least 3-4% better than fiio x5, but i guess that nobody around here has an x5 for comparation...
 
anyways thanks for all the help!

 
 
Have a good listening!

I think dx90 sounds better than x5. I had the dx90 and though ifi micro was a huge upgrade. There is a reason people use dx90 as a transport, even though it sounds pretty great alone. Its not about what's "better", its more about your pref of sound and it has to do with what you pair with it. 

 

[d1sturb3d]

I was not searching for the best DAC under a certain price... i was searching for the best portable DAC ever made


 


This is why i feel like anything but hugo is going to make me feel like i bought the right one..


 


about hd audio.. why?.. i am just curious why? there is clear evidence that you cannot hear above 20khz, if you go to an audiologist, you might want to know that you hear even under 20k... so i don't care about file types and such, only SQ... i know that chord hugo is here to stay for as short as a few years more, it reached the state of art afterall...


 


all the comments around here made me understand that ifi idsd micro is not able to beat up chord hugo, no matter what. it will probably sound like a side-grade from my fiio x5, not a total full upgrade in all senses... a concept about what is truly better, is what is totally more transparent, more soundstange, more dynamic, more micro details, more UN-Coloured, more analytical, more layering of instruments, more these things, not another sound signature... my x5 already sounds better than i expected, and chord hugo is only 4-5% better. i wanted to know that at 25% of the price idsd is at least 3-4% better than fiio x5, but i guess that nobody around here has an x5 for comparation...


 


anyways thanks for all the help!

 


 


Have a good listening!

 


you would not possibly know that unless you try them both side by side and doing a A/B in them..but good for you..you have that kind of money to buy blindly on those high tiered goodies

 

[Dobrescu George]

  I think dx90 sounds better than x5. I had the dx90 and though ifi micro was a huge upgrade. There is a reason people use dx90 as a transport, even though it sounds pretty great alone. Its not about what's "better", its more about your pref of sound and it has to do with what you pair with it. 

this is the problem, i don't want a sound signature... i want something that is totally transparent.. sound coloration should be in iems headphones and that is it... amps and DACs i want transparent, soundstage, details, layers of instruments, details, micro details, everything that can be with as less coloration as possible..

 

[Sound Eq]

   
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.

thanks

 

[citraian]

I was not searching for the best DAC under a certain price... i was searching for the best portable DAC ever made

This is why i feel like anything but hugo is going to make me feel like i bought the right one..

about hd audio.. why?.. i am just curious why? there is clear evidence that you cannot hear above 20khz, if you go to an audiologist, you might want to know that you hear even under 20k... so i don't care about file types and such, only SQ... i know that chord hugo is here to stay for as short as a few years more, it reached the state of art afterall...

all the comments around here made me understand that ifi idsd micro is not able to beat up chord hugo, no matter what. it will probably sound like a side-grade from my fiio x5, not a total full upgrade in all senses... a concept about what is truly better, is what is totally more transparent, more soundstange, more dynamic, more micro details, more UN-Coloured, more analytical, more layering of instruments, more these things, not another sound signature... my x5 already sounds better than i expected, and chord hugo is only 4-5% better. i wanted to know that at 25% of the price idsd is at least 3-4% better than fiio x5, but i guess that nobody around here has an x5 for comparation...

anyways thanks for all the help!  

Have a good listening!

The iDSD is clearly superior to the X5 in all aspects. And, while the Hugo might have a slighly better DAC this has a way better amp. I wouldn't go for the Hugo considering the price difference vs the iDSD.

 

[Dobrescu George]

The iDSD is clearly superior to the X5 in all aspects. And, while the Hugo might have a slighly better DAC this has a way better amp. I wouldn't go for the Hugo considering the price difference vs the iDSD.

slightly... what means slightly?
i mean, if chord hugo is going to be like better the way it is better to x5, there is no point in spending another 500$ on idsd
if it is going to be just slightly, like the difference between cowon j3 and sansa clip+ i might be interested... 
if you can make a comparation on how it is better, i would be forever greatfull!

 

[cheznous]

slightly... what means slightly?
i mean, if chord hugo is going to be like better the way it is better to x5, there is no point in spending another 500$ on idsd
if it is going to be just slightly, like the difference between cowon j3 and sansa clip+ i might be interested... 
if you can make a comparation on how it is better, i would be forever greatfull!

Both Micro and Hugo will be vast improvement over X5 on its own.
If you can easily afford it then get Hugo. If it's too expensive get Micro.
I have both but could live with either.

 

[citraian]

slightly... what means slightly?
i mean, if chord hugo is going to be like better the way it is better to x5, there is no point in spending another 500$ on idsd
if it is going to be just slightly, like the difference between cowon j3 and sansa clip+ i might be interested... 
if you can make a comparation on how it is better, i would be forever greatfull!

I don't have both (iDSD and Hugo) to compare side by side but as I said, the iDSD is way better than X5 in all aspects. There are people that heard the Hugo and iDSD side by side and stated that the Hugo is a bit more refined in the DAC but the iDSD has a better AMP (way better if you ask me). Just search the thread. It's hard to describe the difference in your terms given that you consider the Hugo to be only 5% better than the X5 but for me the difference is way bigger.

 

[Dobrescu George]

Both Micro and Hugo will be vast improvement over X5 on its own.
If you can easily afford it then get Hugo. If it's too expensive get Micro.
I have both but could live with either.

okay, then what are the exact differences between hugo and idsd micro?... if i could know, i could actually just leave asking question... 

 

[cheznous]

okay, then what are the exact differences between hugo and idsd micro?... if i could know, i could actually just leave asking question... 

One costs 1400 pounds the other 415 pounds.

 

[Dobrescu George]

One costs 1400 pounds the other 415 pounds.

what are the exact sound differences between them? 

 

[wisnon]

  what are the exact sound differences between them? 

The Micro is going to slay the Hugo in DSD, but the Hugo may have the edge in PCM (my opinion that is commonly shared). The Micro is way more versatile, perhaps too much so for some people who suffer from overwhelm. However, you need to demo them yourself and make up your own mind. We can only lead the horse to water, its the horse that must do the drinking...

 

[maricius]

  I think dx90 sounds better than x5. I had the dx90 and though ifi micro was a huge upgrade. There is a reason people use dx90 as a transport, even though it sounds pretty great alone. Its not about what's "better", its more about your pref of sound and it has to do with what you pair with it. 

I agree with the DX90 being better than the X5 and the iDSD being significantly better than the DX90. I haven't A/Bed the iDSD and X5 but my previous sentence should indicated the iDSD is significantly better than the X5.
 

  okay, then what are the exact differences between hugo and idsd micro?... if i could know, i could actually just leave asking question... 

  this is the problem, i don't want a sound signature... i want something that is totally transparent.. sound coloration should be in iems headphones and that is it... amps and DACs i want transparent, soundstage, details, layers of instruments, details, micro details, everything that can be with as less coloration as possible..

 
You should really learn how to use the search function but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. Impressions from ClieOS:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/728236/ifi-idsd-micro-dsd512-pcm768-dac-and-headphone-amp-impressions-reviews-and-comments/1425#post_11040178
http://www.head-fi.org/t/728236/ifi-idsd-micro-dsd512-pcm768-dac-and-headphone-amp-impressions-reviews-and-comments/1575#post_11068857
http://www.head-fi.org/t/728236/ifi-idsd-micro-dsd512-pcm768-dac-and-headphone-amp-impressions-reviews-and-comments/1590#post_11069322
http://www.head-fi.org/t/728236/ifi-idsd-micro-dsd512-pcm768-dac-and-headphone-amp-impressions-reviews-and-comments/1920#post_11136796
 
There are more from other members and even from other forums. 

 

[ultraman]

People have certainly pointed it before but I'll say it again.
When the batteries runs out, there is no indication before it dose it. At least it could start blinking with 1h juice left.
This is very irritated every times it happens.
Hopefully a firmware update can fix it.