[chad.is.rc]

I bought the ifi idsd nano bl as a portable dac and headphone amp that has Mqa rendering. The driver for this decision is the ability to stream Tidal Master Mqa.

My unit arrived with 5.3 firmware, and am on Mac - updating the firmware to 5.3c fails.

The first second or 2 of every Tidal Mqa song has the first second or 2 cutoff. Is there a way to correct this? Is it a known and accepted error with no fix? This is a deal sealer or breaker for me.

If you had the same problem, did you find another unit that played Mqa flawlessly in the same price range and audio quality?

Thanks in advance for your help!

I am using a Windows machine so I can't comment on MAC. I also had to upgrade the firmware, and change the settings on Tidal. Just make sure that the settings on more settings are as follows. You don't want to pass through the MQA. Any of the MQA tracks work flawlessly, and I don't have hiccups, but like I said I don't have a MAC, so I unfortunately no experience with that. I can tell you from a sound quality perspective this thing is really really good for the money for any tracks, and it is even better with MQA files.

 

[CEddy10165]

I am using a Windows machine so I can't comment on MAC. I also had to upgrade the firmware, and change the settings on Tidal. Just make sure that the settings on more settings are as follows. You don't want to pass through the MQA. Any of the MQA tracks work flawlessly, and I don't have hiccups, but like I said I don't have a MAC, so I unfortunately no experience with that. I can tell you from a sound quality perspective this thing is really really good for the money for any tracks, and it is even better with MQA files.

Thanks so much Chad! Glad to hear it works correctly for you. I have all my settings correct and still have the starts cut off. Have a ticket in with iFi. Maybe this an apple iOS issue? I’ve done tons a research and see others with the problem, but 99 percent of the reviews don’t mention it. Otherwise the unit sounds great for the price point. Mqa is the reason I bought it though and if I can’t get it corrected I’ll have to return and review accordingly. Would be a shame because the power, clarity and soundstage are impressive.

 

[Navodar]

Thanks so much Chad! Glad to hear it works correctly for you. I have all my settings correct and still have the starts cut off. Have a ticket in with iFi. Maybe this an apple iOS issue? I’ve done tons a research and see others with the problem, but 99 percent of the reviews don’t mention it. Otherwise the unit sounds great for the price point. Mqa is the reason I bought it though and if I can’t get it corrected I’ll have to return and review accordingly. Would be a shame because the power, clarity and soundstage are impressive.

Well I have observed this and raised with ifi in past by submitting a ticket. See the attached screenshot. What they say basically there is an unmute delay for MQA files which is not the case for non MQA files. This is due to the circuit design...
Since then I have switched from Tidal on Mac to Audirvana to stream Tidal tracks. I do not observe the unmute problem in this setup, this may perhaps be due to the track pre-load where I have a large buffer allocated, see the other screenshot. I can only more than recommend moving from the Tidal player to Audirvana, as with Tidal I always have had issues - see the very beginning of tis thread and those actually never disapeared. Audirvana has a far better device management and it actually works.

 

[CEddy10165]

Well I have observed this and raised with ifi in past by submitting a ticket. See the attached screenshot. What they say basically there is an unmute delay for MQA files which is not the case for non MQA files. This is due to the circuit design...
Since then I have switched from Tidal on Mac to Audirvana to stream Tidal tracks. I do not observe the unmute problem in this setup, this may perhaps be due to the track pre-load where I have a large buffer allocated, see the other screenshot. I can only more than recommend moving from the Tidal player to Audirvana, as with Tidal I always have had issues - see the very beginning of tis thread and those actually never disapeared. Audirvana has a far better device management and it actually works.

Thank you for the feedback and suggestion. Yes, I read your posts, but saw they seemed to be left unaddressed. That’s a bummer. Seems to be an iOS issue mainly?

Seriously stinks that you’d need to buy another 80 dollar application to get the original application and hardware to function correctly! It’s kind of unfathomable.

Especially with all of the MQA controversy, to introduce a product that actually really does lose actual music is nuts. It validates haters, and drives away potential adopters.

I thought a part of the Mqa benefit is that they vetted hardware comparability as well?

Surprised that in everything I’ve seen no one else is having this problem, and if they are they aren’t talking about it.

 

[Navodar]

Thank you for the feedback. Yes, I read your posts, but saw they seemed to be left unaddressed. That’s a bummer. Seems to be an iOS issue mainly? Seriously stinks that you’d need to buy another 80 dollar application to get the original application and hardware to function correctly!

Well perhaps, I can only speculate. As far I know, windows needs a special driver to enable usb audio (it has been at least like this for previous windows releases) and I think ifi provides such a driver you need to install. On the other hand, mac does not need this driver, usb audio is built in the Mac OS. Tidal seems to use the default diver, hence it gets perhaps the issues on Mac, where the driver is not hw optimised, whereas I am suspicious Audirvana uses their own drivers... It automatically detects the MQA enabled devices and "starts" its own audio interface during its launch. But this is only speculation, perhaps someone from Audirvana reds this thread and provides explanation...

 

[iFi audio]

I bought the ifi idsd nano bl as a portable dac and headphone amp that has Mqa rendering. The driver for this decision is the ability to stream Tidal Master Mqa.

My unit arrived with 5.3 firmware, and am on Mac - updating the firmware to 5.3c fails.

The first second or 2 of every Tidal Mqa song has the first second or 2 cutoff. Is there a way to correct this? Is it a known and accepted error with no fix? This is a deal sealer or breaker for me.

If you had the same problem, did you find another unit that played Mqa flawlessly in the same price range and audio quality?

Thanks in advance for your help!

In short, the cut off is due to a hardware change of PCM and MQA, and our 5.3C firmware handles this inconvenience. On MAC machines you must use a USB A port to install it, USB C won't work.

 

[CEddy10165]

In short, the cut off is due to a hardware change of PCM and MQA, and our 5.3C firmware handles this inconvenience. On MAC machines you must use a USB A port to install it, USB C won't work.

Thanks for the reply - happy to hear this. I tried running the update several times on max OS X using usb a and got the failure error each time. What should I do?

 

[iFi audio]

Thanks for the reply - happy to hear this. I tried running the update several times on max OS X using usb a and got the failure error each time. What should I do?

Is there a way you could try this on a non-Mac machine? This would help to cross Macs off the list (or not).

 

[CEddy10165]

Is there a way you could try this on a non-Mac machine? This would help to cross Macs off the list (or not).

I can try - I don’t have a windows machine. I hope it works. Seems like driving and hour to have a friend update the firmware on an Mqa approved device is putting a lot of expectation on a customer to make something work that is supposed to be quality controlled, Mqa endorsed, and should work out of the box. Most consumers would never go through this effort and just immediately return it when it didn’t perform as advertised. If this is what it takes to adopt Mqa, who’s going to bother? I am, but I’m in the 1%.

 

[CEddy10165]

Well perhaps, I can only speculate. As far I know, windows needs a special driver to enable usb audio (it has been at least like this for previous windows releases) and I think ifi provides such a driver you need to install. On the other hand, mac does not need this driver, usb audio is built in the Mac OS. Tidal seems to use the default diver, hence it gets perhaps the issues on Mac, where the driver is not hw optimised, whereas I am suspicious Audirvana uses their own drivers... It automatically detects the MQA enabled devices and "starts" its own audio interface during its launch. But this is only speculation, perhaps someone from Audirvana reds this thread and provides explanation...

Navodar, did you try the 5.3c update to solve the apple dropout error? As much as I appreciate your suggestion, I don’t like the idea of having to buy another 80 dollar app to make the first app and hardware work right. Thanks.

 

[Navodar]

Navodar, did you try the 5.3c update to solve the apple dropout error? As much as I appreciate your suggestion, I don’t like the idea of having to buy another 80 dollar app to make the first app and hardware work right. Thanks.

I did not. I am running 5.3 and see no point in upgrading. Even your problems upgrading are another reasons not to try this and to risk bricking the unit.
As for the lack of people interested into the MQA setup, it seems to me, most of the audiophiles do not use MQA, so they do not care. Even if you search for reviews of this unit on internet, you will see those guys just mention the MQA possibility, but did not test it. I have found only one reviewer testing the MQA capabilities and that was apparently just for curiosity, running an older version of firmware.
You should also know, that ifi did ship the product originally with a firmware version, which was not MQA capable at all. Then they released the first MQA release and you lost the correct identification of the stream quality by led colour. And from what I have seen, no users did really care too much about, they just stayed happy with the original non-mqa release I suppose.
MQA is apparently not very appreciated under audiophiles.
If you look to the unit as a package, even having this MQA issue, you still get a fabulous price/performance ratio. There is nothing which can compare to what you get at this price point.
I believe you will finally sort out your issues somehow (it took for me more than 6 months sort all out to level I was satisfied with) and then you will be happy with what the unit delivers for a long time...

 

[Womaz]

I am reading ‘this thread with interest as I am considering this item to use as a semi portable rig with my iPhone XR and HEK headphones . This thread concerns me a little as I am not that technical . Lots of firmware updates worries me as I tend to buy a product and just stick with it .
The muting of the first 2 seconds is a worry but I have read it’s just at the start of an album and not on every track. ? If it is every track then I will definitely steer clear .
I like the look of the ifi range of products and they do have a reputation for punching well above their weight

 

[Navodar]

I am reading ‘this thread with interest as I am considering this item to use as a semi portable rig with my iPhone XR and HEK headphones . This thread concerns me a little as I am not that technical . Lots of firmware updates worries me as I tend to buy a product and just stick with it .
The muting of the first 2 seconds is a worry but I have read it’s just at the start of an album and not on every track. ? If it is every track then I will definitely steer clear .
I like the look of the ifi range of products and they do have a reputation for punching well above their weight

Well the muting I have observed on Tidal client on Mac is at the beginning of every track, provided there is a gap in between the tracks. I think Audirvana sends a constant stream track by track without any gap which would cause the nano to go "standby" and wait what stream is coming, whereas Tidal client on Mac creates a gap between the songs which you have no means to influence. So far I know the Tidal on iOS has the option to set up a crossfade period (the Tidal on Mac does not provide this) so effectively there is no gap in between the songs and you should not have the issue whatever firmware you are running.
Talking "semi-portability", before using the nano BL, I have had the OPPO HA-1, which does not support MQA. The idea then was to have a fully portable setup which can be also used as desktop DAC/amp. The OPPO is far more "portable", you do not have the issue with the choice of cables - you have to use this ugly connector to connect the nano and then an adapter to connect to the iPhone. OPPO gives you the right cable anyway, and you can also buy an audiophile-grade one from various sources. However I found my self using the unit only connected to my Mac so I opted to sell the unit as the nano BL came out. The OPPO HA-1 produces some substantial black noise, so I have had to use a headset with higher impedance and I did not like it. Depending what you do understand under semi-portable, the nano might be a good option, provided you are ok with all the cable hassle you have to cary around. I ended up using a BT headset (B&O H8i) providing good enough quality when full portability is required, as I do have one MQA enabled setup at my home office and another one in work (Auralic Aries Mini/Beyerdynamic A20/ Beyerdynamic DT990Pro) and semi-portability is no need for me.
The other option I would be looking for "semi-portability" would probably be the new Dragonfly Cobalt, which has a better power management, so it can source headsets with higher impedance now, supports MQA and is most portable by far. However, it is limited to 24/96kHz

 

[Womaz]

Well the muting I have observed on Tidal client on Mac is at the beginning of every track, provided there is a gap in between the tracks. I think Audirvana sends a constant stream track by track without any gap which would cause the nano to go "standby" and wait what stream is coming, whereas Tidal client on Mac creates a gap between the songs which you have no means to influence. So far I know the Tidal on iOS has the option to set up a crossfade period (the Tidal on Mac does not provide this) so effectively there is no gap in between the songs and you should not have the issue whatever firmware you are running.
Talking "semi-portability", before using the nano BL, I have had the OPPO HA-1, which does not support MQA. The idea then was to have a fully portable setup which can be also used as desktop DAC/amp. The OPPO is far more "portable", you do not have the issue with the choice of cables - you have to use this ugly connector to connect the nano and then an adapter to connect to the iPhone. OPPO gives you the right cable anyway, and you can also buy an audiophile-grade one from various sources. However I found my self using the unit only connected to my Mac so I opted to sell the unit as the nano BL came out. The OPPO HA-1 produces some substantial black noise, so I have had to use a headset with higher impedance and I did not like it. Depending what you do understand under semi-portable, the nano might be a good option, provided you are ok with all the cable hassle you have to cary around. I ended up using a BT headset (B&O H8i) providing good enough quality when full portability is required, as I do have one MQA enabled setup at my home office and another one in work (Auralic Aries Mini/Beyerdynamic A20/ Beyerdynamic DT990Pro) and semi-portability is no need for me.
The other option I would be looking for "semi-portability" would probably be the new Dragonfly Cobalt, which has a better power management, so it can source headsets with higher impedance now, supports MQA and is most portable by far. However, it is limited to 24/96kHz

Great post so thank you.
I am not that concerned about the portability . It will be used to go in the bedroom so my GF deos not hear my loud music I think the Micro BL is my favourite option right now. I am thinking about using this as my main HP listening and selling my Auralic Taurus for the reasons stated above. My main kit is in the living room so its too loud for my GF and I dont want to go to closed backs as I love the HEKs.

Other options are the Topping NX4 and the Chord Mojo, but after a lot of research the Micro BL is s strong favourite
I admit to being a little concerned about missing the sound quality from the Taurus but I may have no choice.......I am still pondering

 

[Navodar]

Great post so thank you.
I am not that concerned about the portability . It will be used to go in the bedroom so my GF deos not hear my loud music I think the Micro BL is my favourite option right now. I am thinking about using this as my main HP listening and selling my Auralic Taurus for the reasons stated above. My main kit is in the living room so its too loud for my GF and I dont want to go to closed backs as I love the HEKs.

Other options are the Topping NX4 and the Chord Mojo, but after a lot of research the Micro BL is s strong favourite
I admit to being a little concerned about missing the sound quality from the Taurus but I may have no choice.......I am still pondering

Well I can compare my two above described sets if this helps you. I have to say, my home setup with Audirvana on Mac/nano BL/Audio Technica ATH-M70x sounds better to me comparing the office set of Auralic Aries Mini/Beyerdynamic A20/Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro, despite the fact it costs far less (when subtracting the Mac). The nano gives me kind of more detail. Those sets are probably not quite comparable, as the Aries is an universal source also feeding my Rotels and speakers and one of the cans is open and the other closed back, but you can probably compare the sound nevertheless...