At $900 AUD, this is a hard pass. Considering the xCan went for AUD350, this is simply not worth it.
Better to buy a DAP for $900 at this point.
Heck, I got my iMicro Black Label iDSD for AUD1100 with a set of Audeze LCD-2 bundled from Adorama and it was one of the first ones in late 2016.
Well I never challenge anyone’s priority to mind their wallets, and I’ve been grumpy for awhile about a few of ifi’s recent premium tier releases that are otherwise very tempting but frustratingly, are missing a dealbreaker or two.
But don’t you think this new thing is considerably more capable and feature rich than the xCAN? That was just a portable amp. This tiny thing is packed with:
—a high quality DAC and quite powerful AMP after all, with a 16 core chipset and XMOS pulled right from the Pro iDSD
—5.1 Bluetooth with a full set of codecs
—a more advanced and discrete power supply circuit, and fastidious methods to achieve noise isolation
—a slew of inputs/outputs (including a true balanced pentaconn jack that acts as either an input or an output, and unlike the micro iDSD Signature it has a
true balanced pentaconn headphone jack
—ieMatch, PowerMatch, xBass AND xSpace
—full MQA decoding, for those who like that
—more advanced tone controls than any DAC/AMP I know of other than the RME adi-2
—an actual digital GUI, with useful info!
Honestly, I’m pretty amazed with this thing—and I think if it lives up to its specs it’ll run circles around the micro iDSD—I have a Signature and it doesn’t have near the wow factor of this one. just can’t think of any other product in its category that does anywhere close to as much as what they’ve packed into this thing.
And I can’t say I’ve found DAPs to be interchangeable with DAC/amps myself—I had a FiiO M15 that I ended up using as a doorstop because it was such a closed ecosystem that belied any sound customization. Even the flagship DAPs out there don’t have hardware tone controls—which can really come in handy with open-backed cans or to bump up the excitement of genres like rock or hip hop—and I like ifi’s xBass and TrueBass functions because they add a little oomph without mucking with the overall sound.
But to each their own, and I’ll withhold my raves until I actually hear it.
@Sebastien Chiu
Im going to buy the new xdsd, but It will ve nice if ifi make it ROON TESTED
https://help.roonlabs.com/portal/en/kb/articles/roon-partner-programs
Could send this message for me?
Any images of the packaging? It will be nice to know what extras comes with the Gryphon
My friend, I along with legions others have sent many a message to iFi begging them to update their Roon options, to no avail—there are six Roon tested iFi products and none of them came out before the original xDSD. Fortunately they chose to pack it into their recent Zen Stream (which I love), but no such luck for the Pro iDSD, despite it being a streamer.
I’m praying that since the original xDSD was Roon Tested, this one might just work by accident! Fingers crossed…