[iFi audio]

Actually you do really need to force it. It is very tight.

Indeed. If a battery is swollen, using force is the only way to remove the motherboard.

 

[pcsgcs]

Actually you do really need to force it. It is very tight.

You’re right. Will give it a last try when I’m in a better mood.

I'm sorry to hear that you had a bad experience with our support. 400 Euros for a brand battery for our micro range is nowhere near what we charge. Can you please provide me with details (a ticket number would help!) how that conversation went? I'll be more than happy to help you out

Not sure if I was talking by tickets with iFi UK and this is iFi US or other. All I know is it was a waste. The ticket number is #105148. I could upload all convo on this thread but might be against TOS so better not to.

In short, I firstly contacted iFi with a list of questions about this product which by the way cannot even be selected inside the dropdown menu when completing the required fields to send in the ticket. What I’ve got in return was this: "We appreciate your feedback and will pass it along to our product development team for consideration in the future but this device is now a legacy item no longer in production". While we cannot provide an estimated time of arrival for such an update at this time, please know that we take customer suggestions seriously and will do our best to incorporate them in future updates. Thank you for your patience and understanding."
Then I reopened the ticket myself and asked about an authorized iFi repair center in Barcelona some audio shop told me about. You surprisingly told me to contact an authorized local distributor from Barcelona. I did that but then that local distributor told me to either contact you or another 2 shop/repair centers. Unbelievable. And no, not gonna post here their names.

So I sent another message to iFi (same ticket) explaining what that "authorized local distributor" told me and also asked about the price of a brand new battery at one of your repair centers (the one from Poland). I’ve found browsing the web, you charge around 90 pounds for a battery change. Not sure if its true or not. Nonetheless, I got this answer: "The pricing of the out-of-warranty battery repair is at the discretion of the technician, we can not advise on their pricing."
Oh really! So if my device is out of warranty they can charge me whatever the **** they want (as they actually did). So if I buy a brand new Signature or Diablo and after 2 years something happens to the battery or God knows what, I’m getting robbed!

After some time I contact that authorized distributor again, they pass me over to one of the repair centers in Spain, they dont reply when I’m the one sending them the email. I recontact the distributor once more and that repair center finally sends me an email asking for details about the device’s issues. We talk about it. They stated there’s no other way to know if it actually is the battery at fault without examination. Although would be better to ask for a "Renove Plan" instead. They cannot inspect it themselves cause iFi doesn’t provide schemes of their own products and it is quite difficult to repair something blindly, If it truly is the battery at fault, I have to be the one being sure that is the actual problem before sending in the device to their center. An alternative would be sending the device to either UK or Poland (Holland too?) for a close inspection. And of course, they told me the price which would be more than 300 eur and on top of all that I have to add the VAT. As I said, this goes beyond scam, is legit robbery.

After I got told all of that, sent another email to the authorized local distributor and asked for a "Renove plan" to acquire a brand new Signature with a discount by sending the broken one to them. To my amazement, they told me the micro iDSD Signature has just stopped production thus they don’t have any units left to do this exchange. How is this even possible? Didn’t the micro iDSD Signature just release on the market in 2020????? Oh well, all they can do is offer me an XDSD Gryphon with a 35% discount by sending mine in. What a joke!

Once again, not sure if this iFi account is separate from the support center team. Although, I asked some stuff like "the purpose of the polarity switch" and got NO RESPONSE. Heck, other users got interested too and expected your answer to this, not only me.

Quite the contrary! We service old and long-discontinued products as long as we have spare parts for them and we've been fixing even old micro iDSDs ever since I can remember

Then what the heck is happening??? If the Signature is no longer in production (brand new installment coming in soon?), the Black Label is gonna become obsolete in no time! I’m legit scared of purchasing an iFi product.

If you'd like to dismantle the product on your own, the guide above nails it. Here's the correct order of doing this:

1. Remove the volume knob
2. Remove the screw that holds the pot in place
3. Remove the front plate
3. Remove all rubber buttons
4. Remove the rear plate
5. Gently push the PCB towards the rear until it goes out

"2. Remove the screw that holds the pot in place" Which screw are you referring to? All screws I’ve seen are 8, 4 on each plate.

Here it's worth knowing that if your battery is old, it's most likely swollen inside.

I’ve looked inside briefly and doesn’t look swollen. Might’ve just lost voltage by being left uncharged.

That's why removing that PCB with the battery on top may require some force. Once the PCB is out, you may want to very gently remove the battery as it's firmly glued to capacitors and you don't want to remove these too. That's the gist of it!

Got it.

Indeed. If a battery is swollen, using force is the only way to remove the motherboard.

Alright.

 

[iFi audio]

Not sure if I was talking by tickets with iFi UK and this is iFi US or other. All I know is it was a waste. The ticket number is #105148. I could upload all convo on this thread but might be against TOS so better not to.

Okay, I've just looked at your ticket. Those prices you've mentioned in your previous post aren't those we charge for our repairs. To make it short, you can send your product to our facility in Poland, where the product will be inspected and if it needs a battery swap, it's not going to be anywhere near the sum you were told. We can discuss details via PMs if you like

I’ve looked inside briefly and doesn’t look swollen. Might’ve just lost voltage by being left uncharged.

That is rather difficult to determine by just looking inside the product, but in gerenral: if a motherboard requires any force to come out, its battery is swollen.

Then what the heck is happening??? If the Signature is no longer in production (brand new installment coming in soon?), the Black Label is gonna become obsolete in no time! I’m legit scared of purchasing an iFi product.

I'm not quite sure what you mean here, but, as I've said, we constantly repair products out of warranty and some of them more than a decade old.

"2. Remove the screw that holds the pot in place" Which screw are you referring to? All screws I’ve seen are 8, 4 on each plate.

My bad, I meant a nut that goes on a volume pot shaft to keep it firmly on the front panel.

 

[pcsgcs]

Okay, I've just looked at your ticket. Those prices you've mentioned in your previous post aren't those we charge for our repairs. To make it short, you can send your product to our facility in Poland, where the product will be inspected and if it needs a battery swap, it's not going to be anywhere near the sum you were told. We can discuss details via PMs if you like

Then why didn’t your customer support tell me this from the very beginning????? Now by trying to take the volume knob out, the chassis, the knob and other parts of the shell are damaged. Thank you very much, seriously. But sure, we can discuss it on dms.

I'm not quite sure what you mean here, but, as I've said, we constantly repair products out of warranty and some of them more than a decade old.

What I mean is that by your "Japanese company-like" policy (as it seems to me -when it works, is the best product ever; issues appear all of a sudden and say goodbye to proper customer support as there is any-), if the device is considered obsolete, i.e, is no longer available to select in the customer service menu like the micro idsd v1 currently is, there is not gonna be a place to send it in as proven by the messages sent by iFi in that ticket.

My bad, I meant a nut that goes on a volume pot shaft to keep it firmly on the front panel.

Alright, will have it in mind.

 

[iFi audio]

if the device is considered obsolete, i.e, is no longer available to select in the customer service menu like the micro idsd v1 currently is, there is not gonna be a place to send it in as proven by the messages sent by iFi in that ticket.

OK, just to make it clear: we service ALL our products no matter how old they are. I'll take a note that the original micro iDSD isn't available in our customer service menu, but it should be there and we take care of these products.

...and you have a PM

 

[Gogoawy]

My charging board was broken, and I will need to replace it. Have any of you encounter the same issue?

 

[nightflight1973]

I own a micro iDSD V1 that is at 10 years old and have always run it in USB (Desktop) mode. The battery finally gave up the ghost.
A. Disassembly was easy if you follow the directions above. Use a jar opener/gripper to pull the volume knob off.
B. The battery was swollen making the board a little difficult to remove.
C. Ifi will in fact send you a battery.
D. Cost for said battery is $130.00 (US)
E. I am still vacillating on whether or not to purchase the iFi battery.
I realize that this thread is old but I thought that this was the best one to post in, anyhow; have a great day and if you need any help just ask.