[GlenAppleton]

1) I noticed a very clear difference on Amazon HD versus Tidal and Apple Music. I thought it sounded awful TBH.
2) I find the yellow is a bit green - it was way worse on DAC v1. If you use Tidal, you can use pure MQA passthrough. This will allow you to see the "real green." Its GREEN.
3) IMHO, Apple lossless and Tidal provide lossless sources that I can get into. Qoboz isn't available in Canada, so its a no go to even try. I would ditch Tidal completely if Apple Music had a proper lossless client on Windows, or allowed other apps to leverage the service (see Audirvana)
4) MQA is in some hot water for how they handle "lossless."

Good to know that I'm not mixing my colors in my vision in my old age.

I have read about MQA and their lossless claims which then changed to "better than lossless" (oh, really?). While Tidal might have an impressive library, I'm going to stay away from them mainly because they've moved from an open standard FLAC to the proprietary MQA format, even if it's supported by the Zen DAC v2. Hopefully, Qobuz will work out for me, and I like the fact that they pay artists more per stream, so that's good too! More money to the artists, and less money to Mr. Bezos.

 

[Effigy]

Good to know that I'm not mixing my colors in my vision in my old age.

I have read about MQA and their lossless claims which then changed to "better than lossless" (oh, really?). While Tidal might have an impressive library, I'm going to stay away from them mainly because they've moved from an open standard FLAC to the proprietary MQA format, even if it's supported by the Zen DAC v2. Hopefully, Qobuz will work out for me, and I like the fact that they pay artists more per stream, so that's good too! More money to the artists, and less money to Mr. Bezos.

When (hopefully soon) Apple releases a proper Apple Music client for Windows, I strongly suggest you look at Apple Music. Its honestly the best deal in the game. Almost the WHOLE catalog is available in no BS lossless... 10 bucks a month... it sounds amazing. I can't honestly wait to ditch Tidal. I hate spending 240 a year just for Windows.

https://www.whathifi.com/us/apple/music/review

 

[WolfP]

I have the Zen Dac V2. I tried to install the new 5.12 driver, but in the iFi folder there was no longer the iFiHDUSBAudio_dfuapp.exe file, needed to be able to upgrade the firmware and so I went back to version 3.2

 

[Effigy]

I have the Zen Dac V2. I tried to install the new 5.12 driver, but in the iFi folder there was no longer the iFiHDUSBAudio_dfuapp.exe file, needed to be able to upgrade the firmware and so I went back to version 3.2

Did you completely uninstall 3.2 first? Its absolutely necessary. This is done by way of the Windows control panel - add remove apps....

EDIT

Holy cow - you are right! I apologize for the reflex and not checking...

@iFi... Ummm .... dude???!!!??? This needs a fix!

 

[WolfP]

Did you completely uninstall 3.2 first?

Yes sure, uninstalled old, reboot and then installed the new

 

[Effigy]

Yes sure, uninstalled old, reboot and then installed the new

Sorry - see above....

 

[WolfP]

Sorry - see above....

I see ..... I hope for a quick fix

 

[Effigy]

Yes I see ..... we are waiting for a quick fix

They NEVER announced this as being a change, and never added it to the release notes as best as I can tell. This is an error, or an attempt at something else. Do you have any indication that they know this is a problem?

 

[WolfP]

Do you have any indication that they know this is a problem?

No .... sorry

 

[Effigy]

ifi… guys… I’m gunna go out on a limb and speak on behalf of an entire community and put this out there… please acknowledge and fix.

 

[GlenAppleton]

I have the Zen Dac V2. I tried to install the new 5.12 driver, but in the iFi folder there was no longer the iFiHDUSBAudio_dfuapp.exe file, needed to be able to upgrade the firmware and so I went back to version 3.2

@Sebastien Chiu - Please see the issue reported in the last few posts and report it to iFi support. Thanks!

 

[GlenAppleton]

One other thing I found today with the new driver, that wasn't happening yesterday: The iFi USB Audio Device Control Panel is showing "No devices connected", which is not the case. In fact, everything is still working as expected, so it just seems that the control panel can't find the device, for some reason.

 

[123peter]

Important
Please manually uninstall all previous XMOS related drivers (XMOS, AMR, iFi or from other vendors) and reboot the computer before installing this driver. Depending on the computer hardware, you may have to reinstall the driver again if the USB port to which the iFi USB Audio device is attached is changed.

 

[overhaze]

If you have 3.20 downloaded open up the .exe in 7zip (or winrar) and extract iFiHDUSBAudio_dfuapp.exe. I haven't tested it but it should work.

 

[Effigy]

If you have 3.20 downloaded open up the .exe in 7zip (or winrar) and extract iFiHDUSBAudio_dfuapp.exe. I haven't tested it but it should work.

It should, as that .exe has no apparent dependencies on installed libraries.

This is a good work around - let’s make it clear they need a fix. Full transparency, it’s the reason I didn’t simply recommend the same thing. I have no way to prove that of course, BUT, I do not want ifi feeling they can get “off the hook.” This is a big oversight, UNLESS a they are going to stop providing firmware updates/alternatives, in which case they need to announce that.

This is only going to hurt ifi - they will be receiving the support calls and have to deal with the issues. In other words, it will cost them. Many users are savvy and may stumble on a forum entry like this one, but general consumers who are new to ifi may not know how to work around this issue. If ifi intends to continue providing firmware updates / variants for its DAC line, this needs to stay simple… Apple simple.