[MothAudio]

I was hoping to get one for my 13 YO's iPhone 5c. Does Pure have an update? TIA 

 

[pinoyman]

i think PURE i20 isnt needed much in the market nowadays.
since, most companies like OPPO, AK10, SONY or most if not all dac amps created can bypass or directly get digital signal out of any i-gears from apple thru their own supplied usb.
as long as they pay a sum money to apple to bypass the ampdac internally.

 

[sheldaze]

I still wish there was a new version of the i-20 with the Lightning connector. I actually bought an older iPad to be used with my i-20. And here's why, and what I feel the i-20 does uniquely:
 

1. Provides power to the iPad, so it can be used for many hours without battery drain.
2. Provides digital to digital conversion, so the iPad can be used easily with any standard DAC.

 
I used it this way at a recent headphone meet - kept the iPad powered on for the full time. Used the i-20 to feed two separate DACs with the same audio stream. Now I'm not asking for the ability to send audio to two DACs. But it would still be nice to feed audio easily to practically any DAC while simultaneously feeding power back to the iDevice.
 
I've yet to find a way to do this - consistently. The latest Lightning to USB 3 camera adapter, recently released from Apple, does this. It just does not work in all cases. It relies on USB implementation in the DAC, which so far in my experience has been hit-and-miss.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pinoyman /img/forum/go_quote.gif

i think PURE i20 isnt needed much in the market nowadays.

since, most companies like OPPO, AK10, SONY or most if not all dac amps created can bypass or directly get digital signal out of any i-gears from apple thru their own supplied usb.

as long as they pay a sum money to apple to bypass the ampdac internally.

 

Actually the main point to the existence of devices like the Pure i20 then was precisely that other manufacturers have to pay money. The Onkyo equivelant was around $200, and the Wadia not surprisingly $400. Pure basically was large enough to pay that amount still and sell it at $120, but manufacturers that were making DAC-HPamps at the time like RSA couldn't.

 

What made these devices obsolete isn't that there are now DACs with dedicated iPod inputs (since they have to pay that too, but probably the rates are lower now than before), but that iOS devices can get around that restriction due to how the software works. It wasn't even originally intended by Apple - one guy here just tried out his iPad with the Camera Connection Kit USB adapter and a UDAC2, and it worked. Apple tried to silence this first by limiting the power output in iOS5, and then completely killed the feature in iOS6, that way they can get people to continue paying them for the MFi chip and badge.

 

The forum furor over iOS6 and likely coupled with how Android was discovered to be capable of streaming USB audio via OTG eventually had Apple putting the feature back in iOS7, and every newer iOS device can utilize it. That said, the cumbersome form factor off all these adapters especially with the smaller lightning port - which is meant to make everything compact, but necessitated a pigtail adapter so as not to stress the minimal surface area of the plug - guaranteed that there will still be companies willing to pay for the chip and MFi badge since there were people who wouldn't deal with cumbersome adapters. Hence, Oppo, AK, Sony, etc continued to pay (I'd bet it's probably lower now though), others who mostly use their gear at a stationary position anyway will still cough up $40 for the Lightning USB adapter, and Apple still profits either way.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by MothAudio /img/forum/go_quote.gif

I was hoping to get one for my 13 YO's iPhone 5c. Does Pure have an update? TIA 

 

Like I discussed above, check the thread in the link below first. If the 5c running iOS7 can do USB audio to a low power draw (via USB) DAC, then you can spend as little as $40 for the camera USB adapter. If your kid prefers having the phone upright, get the $40 sync dock from Apple, or use any certified third party sync docks (make sure it's a sync dock, not just a charging dock) like Griffin or Belkin, that way the software isn't going to go nuts over an uncertified product and cause issues with how the adapter works. AFAIK, iPhone5 and newer (but not sure about the 5c) works with USB audio with iOS7 and later.

http://www.head-fi.org/t/507559/list-of-dacs-that-work-with-ipad/930
 
Here's my iPad2 on the Apple dock and CCK.

 
Here's a shot of an iPhone working with the Ibasso D-Zero Mk2 from the Ibasso website

 
iPad dock with 30pin to CCK-USB adapter on the left, Samsung Galaxy S3 with OTG adapter on the right

 
Likewise, here's the Samsung Galaxy S3 USB audio

 
Ans also Samsung Galaxy Note 3 via USB audio

 

[MothAudio]

Wow more info than I expected. Here's what I found regarding my son's iPhone 5c...
 

Announced back in June 2013 at WWDC, iOS 7 actually made its way onto the likes of the iPhone 5 and 4S a couple of days before the 5C went on sale, but along with the iPhone 5S it was the first handset to actually ship with the new operating system.​

 
Didn't read the entire 63 page thread but I'm assuming the Schiit Modi 2 is on that list.
 
 
Decided to go in another direction - Marshall Kilburn speaker. Upgrade with an out-board DAC/AMP down the road.
 
 
 
Appreciate the information.  

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MothAudio /img/forum/go_quote.gif

Wow more info than I expected. Here's what I found regarding my son's iPhone 5c...

 

Didn't read the entire 63 page thread but I'm assuming the Schiit Modi 2 is on that list.

 

As long as the 5C can do USB audio there's a good chance the Modi2 Uber will work. Note how important the difference is between the regular version and the Uber - the regular version relies only on USB power while the Uber has its own PSU. That doesn't only allow SPDIF, but also means less power draw, hence, getting around any host power limitations of the iPhone.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by MothAudio /img/forum/go_quote.gif

 

Decided to go in another direction - Marshall Kilburn speaker. Upgrade with an out-board DAC/AMP down the road.

 

I wouldn't really bother with an outboard DAC with those. The main difference you get from a better DAC is mostly imaging and soundstage improvements, barring obvious flaws in how the device you're upgrading from handles the analogue signal out of its DAC chip, as well as a higher signal voltage if it's a desktop DAC or newer portables. The first is pointless on a speaker like that since you have all the speakers in one chassis, as opposed to having two separate cabinets that you can position far enough from each other to image a soundstage between them.

 

Apart from that, you can circumvent having to use the headphone output port in two ways - the iPhone sync dock from Apple, which has a Cirrus Logic DAC chip wired into it between the Lightning male port in the cradle and the 3.5mm line out port in the rear, or by using Bluetooth, which will transmit the signal conveniently (wireless) and avoid having a low level analog signal travelling through a cable. A DAC will only get in the way of the wireless convenience of such a speaker while its benefits will not be fully utilized anyway.

 

 

[MothAudio]

^^ I'm familiar with the importance to discrete / isolated power supplies in lowering ground noise, so that would be a route I would take. The reasoning behind the DAC would more to add weight and other no spacial factors to the presentation. 
 
The next audio upgrade for my 2-channel is the Schiit Bifrost, so we could piggy-back it to his system to get a flavor for the benefit of that ugrade path. I'm old school and believe a hard-wired connection is not only more reliable but delivers enhanced performance. But in his application I'm sure that would be preferred.
 
Thanks again, appreciate the advice!  

 

[NewNeophyte]

I have a Pure i-20 I'm looking to sell if you're still interested!