[gr8soundz]

  I have a question, why are people stacking the idsd with the ican, when the idsd has uber amount of power?

 
Power output isn't the only important spec for an amp. Even within the Micro series, the iCan amp outperformed the iDSD in sound quality. Not night and day, but improvement nonetheless.
 
Plus, this time with the Pro series, iFi is removing the xbass and 3d from the Micro and the only the iCan has balanced headphone outs (unfortunately).

If all you need is the extra power from the dac, go for the iDSD.
 

 

[technobear]

I have a question, why are people stacking the idsd with the ican, when the idsd has uber amount of power?

The iCAN runs in pure class A, has enough power for all but the hungriest headphones, has two levels of XBASS, crossfeed, a more out there 3D than the iDSD and sounds fantastic.

 

[iFi audio]

The iCAN runs in pure class A, has enough power for all but the hungriest headphones, has two levels of XBASS, crossfeed, a more out there 3D than the iDSD and sounds fantastic.

 
Hi,
 
Pretty succinct. We would only add that there are many good Class A headphone amplifiers on the market that sound great. But what makes the micro iCAN a little above and beyond in a sea of headphone amps is the TubeState^® circuit which AMR developed for the micro iCAN. Something that gives it the 'Factor X.' The micro iCAN uses a discrete circuit that deliberately and nicely models the way tubes amplify audio. We call it TubeState^®.
 
From our own R&D testing, we can assure you that the Tubestate® circuitry dishes out quite a large dollop of sonic improvement and is the core ngredient behind its sonics, more so than the pure Class A. This is what you are getting that gives the iFi micro iCAN that extra ‘Factor X’ – over and above other mains powered Class A headphone amplifiers. So yes, the iCAN is better than the micro iDSD on the headphones but it is also nicer sounding than many other desktop headphone amplifiers too, because it is deliberately made to sound like a good tube headphone amplifier. And so, mains power is needed for TubeState^® so not possible on battery/USB power at this juncture.
 
But all is not lost, while the micro iDSD has neither the battery current nor the circuit board space to include the ‘Tubestate^®’ circuit, in its place there is a (Burr Brown ‘SoundPlus^®’) Op-Amp, one of the best you can get and close in character to the Tubestate^® circuit, but just not quite as warm, ‘tubey’ sounding.
 
Other than this change from Tubestate^® discrete pre-stage to Soundplus^® Op-Amp and extra Class A current in the output stage, the Headphone Amplifier of the micro iCAN  and of the micro iDSD are essentially identical in circuit design and structure, when the iDSD micro is set to 'normal.'
 
Ultimate, TubeState does not match real tubes but it just gets darn close.
 
Cheers.

 

[proton56]

Hi,
 
 
I would like to use a micro iDSD with a SAMSUNG S4 and QOBUZ, can you tell me if it's compatible ?
I it's not compatible I could use a LG G3.
 
 
Thanks you
 
Proton

 

[goodyfresh]

   
Power output isn't the only important spec for an amp. Even within the Micro series, the iCan amp outperformed the iDSD in sound quality. Not night and day, but improvement nonetheless.
 
Plus, this time with the Pro series, iFi is removing the xbass and 3d from the Micro and the only the iCan has balanced headphone outs (unfortunately).

If all you need is the extra power from the dac, go for the iDSD.
 

So the iCan does sound noticably better than the iDSD?  In terms of power, does it have enough to drive headphones like, say, the Mr. Speakers Alpha Primes to their full potential?  How about something like the HD650?

 

[Faber65]

The SQ is very subjective and I cannot comment the difference between the iDSD and the iCan, but I can assure you that the combo iCan-HD650 works very well. For sure the iCan has enough power reserve to drive the Senn's with a certain degree of authority.

 

[gr8soundz]

 
So the iCan does sound noticably better than the iDSD?  In terms of power, does it have enough to drive headphones like, say, the Mr. Speakers Alpha Primes to their full potential?  How about something like the HD650?

 
Can't say for sure as I think the iCan doesn't put out quite as much power as the iDSD (whose battery gives it more juice when needed).
 
I have the iDSD Micro but not the iCan. Only found out about the difference when I (and others) asked why bother building an iFi stack since the iDSD appeared to have everything. Many others (check much earlier in this thread) swore by the iCan and and have the stack to prove it.
 
Man, I really wish iFi had found a way to put all this tech into one box.........
 

 

[goodyfresh]

The SQ is very subjective and I cannot comment the difference between the iDSD and the iCan, but I can assure you that the combo iCan-HD650 works very well. For sure the iCan has enough power reserve to drive the Senn's with a certain degree of authority.

Sweet!  Around what setting do you have to put the volume pot to in order to get a truly loud, but not painful, volume level from the HD650?
 
Edit:  Oh and, with which gain-setting?

   
Can't say for sure as I think the iCan doesn't put out quite as much power as the iDSD (whose battery gives it more juice when needed).
 
I have the iDSD Micro but not the iCan. Only found out about the difference when I (and others) asked why bother building an iFi stack since the iDSD appeared to have everything. Many others (check much earlier in this thread) swore by the iCan and and have the stack to prove it.
 
Man, I really wish iFi had found a way to put all this tech into one box.........
 

I know right?  But I guess they didn't want to make things bigger, they seem to take pride in being able to fit their devices into a very small form-factor.  It is pretty damn impressive, to be honest.

 

[gr8soundz]

 
Sweet!  Around what setting do you have to put the volume pot to in order to get a truly loud, but not painful, volume level from the HD650?
 
Edit:  Oh and, with which gain-setting?
I know right?  But I guess they didn't want to make things bigger, they seem to take pride in being able to fit their devices into a very small form-factor.  It is pretty damn impressive, to be honest.

 
I wouldn't care if was as big as the Retro 50. Makes little difference unless they're trying to make the Pro series "transportable" (only the Micro and Nano stuff can work as portables).
 
Speaking again of the Retro, that's twice (this year) iFi missed an opportunity to put EVERYTHING together (dac, balanced in and out, hybrid tubes, bluetooth, etc.). I still support them and the great stuff they make though.
 
Looking forward to the day they make a true, end-game, all-in-one device (i.e: no stack, just one big-ass tabletop box that needs nothing but a power cord and maybe a headphone cable).

 

[Faber65]

I wouldn't care if was as big as the Retro 50. Makes little difference unless they're trying to make the Pro series "transportable" (only the Micro and Nano stuff can work as portables).

Sweet!  Around what setting do you have to put the volume pot to in order to get a truly loud, but not painful, volume level from the HD650?

Edit:  Oh and, with which gain-setting?
I know right?  But I guess they didn't want to make things bigger, they seem to take pride in being able to fit their devices into a very small form-factor.  It is pretty damn impressive, to be honest.

Never exceeded pot at 3 o'clock at gain 0.
For normal recording levels 1-2 o'clock is fine.

 

[Maxpain]

Does anyone use the micro with an amp of the little dot series? I think of getting a tube amp and use the micro only as a dac, I could use some advice on that...would the tube amp take away some of the detail and clean sound of the micro? I have never had any experience of tube sound.

 

[technobear]

Does anyone use the micro with an amp of the little dot series? I think of getting a tube amp and use the micro only as a dac, I could use some advice on that...would the tube amp take away some of the detail and clean sound of the micro? I have never had any experience of tube sound.

Allow me to recommend this posting:

http://www.head-fi.org/t/728236/ifi-idsd-micro-dsd512-pcm768-dac-and-headphone-amp-impressions-reviews-and-comments/4650#post_11978878

 

[Maxpain]

Thank you for replying, I am also considering the ican because of its reputation and it will defenately be a good match for the micro. I never had experience with tubes and I allways had the bug of getting to know why so many people praise the tube sound. So ican is allways on the list and I am searching for more options to make the most of it.
 
But in the end the micro alone is an extremely quality product that keeps me hooked to my music everyday of the week 

 

[kevinq]

A question for iFi (or anyone else that might know)...
 
Just got my ifi Micro iDSD yesterday, and am thoroughly enjoying it. One thing I can't figure out, though...
 
How can I use the optical input while the iDSD is connected to a USB charger brick?
 
When the iDSD is connected to my computer (Macbook Pro) via a USB cable, I'm able to use the iDSD's optical input just fine. As long as there's no USB audio signal playing from the computer into the iDSD, the iDSD is able to recognize that there's no USB signal, and it automatically switches to the optical signal, if there is one. This is great. No need to unplug the USB cable from the computer when I want to use the optical input.
 
However, if I've got the iDSD connected, via a USB cable, to a USB charger brick (iPad charger), the iDSD seems to think there's a constant USB signal coming in, or something like that, because I can't get the iDSD to "let go" of the USB port, and let me use the optical input. As long as the USB charger brick is connected, the iDSD's LED glows a constant orange (yellow?), which tells me, I believe, that the IDSD thinks it's receiving a USB audio signal, when there really is none.
 
Basically, I want to leave the USB charger connected all the time, and still be able to use the optical input. (I'd like to use the iDSD's optical input 100% of the time, as it's fed by the optical output of an Airport Express, which receives WiFi signals from all my Apple devices, which is very convenient.) Is there a trick to doing this? Or, do I really have to unplug the charger every time I want to listen to music (via the optical input)?
 
Any suggestions, anyone?
 
By the way, I did re-flash the firmware this morning with version 5.00 Vanilla. (Thank you, iFi, for the Mac-based updater!) Prior to that, System Report showed me that I was already running version 5.00, but I re-flashed it anyway, in case my unit was actually running version 5.00b or something.

 

[HotIce]

 
Hi,
 
But all is not lost, while the micro iDSD has neither the battery current nor the circuit board space to include the ‘Tubestate^®’ circuit, in its place there is a (Burr Brown ‘SoundPlus^®’) Op-Amp, one of the best you can get and close in character to the Tubestate^® circuit, but just not quite as warm, ‘tubey’ sounding.

 
Thanks God, in name of all the ones which just wants the sound which is actually recorded in the audio tracks, to be reproduced.
And not a even-harmonic-distorted, though pleasing to some, version of it.