[Womaz]

5 to 6 hours on your iPhone or the BL? Make sure you have your phone on before you connect the BL to it. And when you connect it, make sure that the BL is on already or else it will draw power from your iPhone.

The other main factor is the power setting on the BL. Econ will last longest but will be insufficient to drive you HD800S. Normal will be ok but Turbo would give you the best sound out of the HD800S. Turbo, obviously will drain the fastest and 5 to 6 hours probably sounds about right but others can confirm that. Enjoy your BL!

Yes sorry I meant the BL battery . I am using it in normal mode too .

 

[iFi audio]

The other main factor is the power setting on the BL. Econ will last longest but will be insufficient to drive you HD800S. Normal will be ok but Turbo would give you the best sound out of the HD800S. Turbo, obviously will drain the fastest and 5 to 6 hours probably sounds about right but others can confirm that. Enjoy your BL!

Yes, I can confirm all this. Thank you!

Make sure you have your phone on before you connect the BL to it. And when you connect it, make sure that the BL is on already or else it will draw power from your iPhone.

...and 'yes' again!

I think the sound quality from this little thing is amazing .

Thanks a lot! Is there anything specific you enjoy sound quality wise?

I think I am only getting around 5 or 6 hours before the battery goes. Is this normal ?

With headphones such as HD800S, 5 to 6 hours is reasonable considering how tough on an amp these cans are.

 

[CoffeeDog]

Well, this is a new one for me: the iFi iDSD micro FIRMWARE was causing my PC to crash, big time! After a Windows 10 update in Feb, 2020, my PC would not boot properly. It would sometimes take well over 15 minutes, replete with BSODs, auto-restarts, failed (and successful) auto-repairs (multiple per start-up), and even necessitating CMOS BIOS resets to factory defaults. This went on for a couple of months and I was about to re-install Windows when I'd come across an error code on my ASRock motherboard's 2 digit display indicating a USB fault. It had thrown numerous codes before but before this one. I've had my Black Label hooked up almost continuously; it's my main DAC now, and unplugging it solved the problem instantly. I'm back to 15 second start-ups.

I had previously updated the firmware to one of the MQA versions (I don't remember seeing any warning against doing so back when I'd done it) and all had worked well until that Win 10 update. Reverting back to 5.2A solved it all, and boot-up is just fine with the iDSD plugged in and powered up. I'd searched here at Head-Fi but didn't see any reports of this, hence this post. Maybe iFi had added the 5.2A warning in response to this issue? Anyway, if any of you are experiencing such issues, give this a try. It's just as well, for I never used MQA anyway.

 

[PureViewer4t1]

For anyone who wonders how to connect Gemini to micro iDSD: I contacted iFi and asked about this. They suggested that using an iPurifier with female type-A connector between Gemini and iDSD is the best sounding option (even better than iDSD's own adaptor, if you have Gemini with USB 2.0 connector).

 

[PureViewer4t1]

Well, this is a new one for me: the iFi iDSD micro FIRMWARE was causing my PC to crash, big time! After a Windows 10 update in Feb, 2020, my PC would not boot properly. It would sometimes take well over 15 minutes, replete with BSODs, auto-restarts, failed (and successful) auto-repairs (multiple per start-up), and even necessitating CMOS BIOS resets to factory defaults. This went on for a couple of months and I was about to re-install Windows when I'd come across an error code on my ASRock motherboard's 2 digit display indicating a USB fault. It had thrown numerous codes before but before this one. I've had my Black Label hooked up almost continuously; it's my main DAC now, and unplugging it solved the problem instantly. I'm back to 15 second start-ups.

I had previously updated the firmware to one of the MQA versions (I don't remember seeing any warning against doing so back when I'd done it) and all had worked well until that Win 10 update. Reverting back to 5.2A solved it all, and boot-up is just fine with the iDSD plugged in and powered up. I'd searched here at Head-Fi but didn't see any reports of this, hence this post. Maybe iFi had added the 5.2A warning in response to this issue? Anyway, if any of you are experiencing such issues, give this a try. It's just as well, for I never used MQA anyway.

AFAIK, this is a problem from Microsoft's side. They've been struggling with faulty updates since last year. I had some issues with my drivers too, but reinstalling solved them. The only thing I can suggest is to roll back your Windows to v1807 (if you haven't cleaned up automatic backups that Windows made after updates) and prevent automatic updates either with pausing them in settings or setting a group policy if you have Windows 10 editions that support it.

 

[iFi audio]

AFAIK, this is a problem from Microsoft's side. They've been struggling with faulty updates since last year.

That's what we know as well.

Well, this is a new one for me: the iFi iDSD micro FIRMWARE was causing my PC to crash, big time!

As @PureViewer4t1 explained, this issue is most likely related to your OS. But please feel free to open up a ticket at our support platform here:

https://support.ifi-audio.com/

 

[Andrew Rieger]

Has anyone used the iEMatch (High) with the power setting on normal for full-size headphones? It sounds like the consensus is that that the amp sounds best in normal power mode but I'm worried I'll run into issues with channel imbalance in normal mode. Just curious if there is any kind of quality hit when iEMatch is used with power settings other than Eco.

 

[Belimaxim]

Hello.

I have a question about the technical part of ifi micro idsd (original/black label) usage.

Is it possible to output sound from the DAC amplifier to the headphones on it and at the same time connect the inter-blocks to a separate amplifier, thereby providing two independent outputs with volume control? So like there are two types of analog signal flowing out at the same time.

I consider in rare cases to output sound to twice the headphones for joint listening, connecting the inter-units to a simple amplifier.

Thank you for your attention!

 

[iFi audio]

Is it possible to output sound from the DAC amplifier to the headphones on it

If you can, could you please explain from which output you go to which input please?

 

[Belimaxim]

If you can, could you please explain from which output you go to which input please?

Ok. I’m going to charge from different outputs at the same time. First output is 6,3 headphone jack which is the front side of the device. The second output is double rca outs which are located in the center of the back side of ifi micro idsd models. The income signal charges to digital usb input.
Thanks for helping me!

 

[iFi audio]

Ok. I’m going to charge from different outputs at the same time. First output is 6,3 headphone jack which is the front side of the device. The second output is double rca outs which are located in the center of the back side of ifi micro idsd models. The income signal charges to digital usb input.
Thanks for helping me!

OK, now I understand. You can send signal to a headphone out and RCA outs at the same time and both these outputs will be subject to the same volume control. But this also means that, if you have headphones plugged in AND i.e. a stereo amp and speakers as well, you'll hear sound on both headphones and speakers.

 

[Belimaxim]

OK, now I understand. You can send signal to a headphone out and RCA outs at the same time and both these outputs will be subject to the same volume control. But this also means that, if you have headphones plugged in AND i.e. a stereo amp and speakers as well, you'll hear sound on both headphones and speakers.

Thanks. However just one more thing that I’m not sure I got right from your message. Do you mean that the round volume switch controls the level of amp on both headphones‘ and RCA outs ?

 

[superuser1]

Thanks. However just one more thing that I’m not sure I got right from your message. Do you mean that the round volume switch controls the level of amp on both headphones‘ and RCA outs ?

Yes

 

[iFi audio]

Thanks. However just one more thing that I’m not sure I got right from your message. Do you mean that the round volume switch controls the level of amp on both headphones‘ and RCA outs ?

Yes. You can bypass volume regulation for RCAs though, there's a switch on the product to engage this.

 

[tonehk]

Re: Channel imbalance

Hi, I understand there has been some posts on channel imbalance. I recently bought the idsd bl, and noticed that channel imbalance doesn’t clear up until 10 to 10:30 compared to 9 o’clock per below article. This is irrespective of the settings (power, iematch). Would this be considered normal or does the unit seem defective? I like to listen at low volume levels so once I get past channel balance there is not much volume play before it becomes quite loud. This is even with something like Sennheiser HD650. I know I can mitigate this somewhat by using the eco mode and ultra iematch. any comments would be appreciated.

http://support.ifi-audio.com/kb/faq.php?id=516