[radioactivesam]

I don't know if it would replace my desktop setup since I have a Mjolnir 2 and Gungnir MB amp and DAC setup and I do have some power hungry headphones (Argon Mk 3, HE-500), but I quite enjoy getting away from my desk while still being able to enjoy my music when sitting in my living room on the couch with just my phone, Gryphon, and IE600 IEMs. Since you use the word "replace", would you be selling your desktop rig to buy the Gryphon? It might in your case if you don't have any power hungry headphones. I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything on the Gryphon with my portable rig. I was thinking of ordering a Hart Audio cable so I can try the 4.4 balanced connection with my Argons to test the abilities of the amp..

yes unfurtonately, the xdsd gryphon is a little out of my budget to get with my Schiit Stack, so I can only buy it after getting rid of my stack. I would use it as a desktop dac/amp as well. I find myself having to set on my desktop to enjoy my headphones which isn’t quite enjoyable, though the sound quality of my stack is incredible with lots of power. So yeah the gryphon WILL REPLACE my stack and should be my all rounder dac/amp. I love the xbass and xspace features, also my moondrop aria and ksc75x would benefit from the iematch SE. so it check all the boxes right? can it be used as a clean desktop setup in studio to produce music with my 2Cs modded? (added fazors + ZMF hybrid fenestrated pads. now they sound like the X with better stage).

 

[singlestack]

FWIW, my Galaxy Note 20 Ultra will do LDAC Bluetooth, and it sounds ALMOST as good as a wired connection. Might be time to trade up!

I was reading about the new aptX Lossless codec last year which caught my attention and was waiting for new phones to come out with it. If that's around the corner it may be worth waiting. Hopefullly iFi will be able to support that when it becomes more mainstream.

 

[c69k]

From a Bluetooth perspective, my Galaxy S10+ seems only capable of aptx and the Gryphon is showing I'm just getting 44k. When I use it wired I'm getting 192K. I'm not sure I can really hear the difference when sitting at home listening. I probably wouldn't be able to notice the difference in quality on a slightly noisier commuter train. Also being able to keep my phone in my pocket with Bluetooth and just be working with my IEMs and Gryphon in the hand is much lighter and convenient.

In the Developer's options of Galaxy S10+, there is no option for LDAC? Just checking, as there might be ... but the option maybe can be changed/become available only after already connected to bluetooth with Gryphon.

 

[srkbear]

I don't know if it would replace my desktop setup since I have a Mjolnir 2 and Gungnir MB amp and DAC setup and I do have some power hungry headphones (Argon Mk 3, HE-500), but I quite enjoy getting away from my desk while still being able to enjoy my music when sitting in my living room on the couch with just my phone, Gryphon, and IE600 IEMs. Since you use the word "replace", would you be selling your desktop rig to buy the Gryphon? It might in your case if you don't have any power hungry headphones. I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything on the Gryphon with my portable rig. I was thinking of ordering a Hart Audio cable so I can try the 4.4 balanced connection with my Argons to test the abilities of the amp..
yes unfurtonately, the xdsd gryphon is a little out of my budget to get with my Schiit Stack, so I can only buy it after getting rid of my stack. I would use it as a desktop dac/amp as well. I find myself having to set on my desktop to enjoy my headphones which isn’t quite enjoyable, though the sound quality of my stack is incredible with lots of power. So yeah the gryphon WILL REPLACE my stack and should be my all rounder dac/amp. I love the xbass and xspace features, also my moondrop aria and ksc75x would benefit from the iematch SE. so it check all the boxes right? can it be used as a clean desktop setup in studio to produce music with my 2Cs modded? (added fazors + ZMF hybrid fenestrated pads. now they sound like the X with better stage).

I’m not sure exactly how you wish to implement it as far as music production is concerned, but it does indeed work as an external DAC (at up to PCM 768 and DSD 512 and 32 bit) when connected via its USB C interface. As an added bonus, it has a separate USB C connector for charging only, galvanically isolated from the audio signal chain, so you can keep the device fully-charged during use. And this is doubly ingenious because the device is always drawing from the much cleaner DC power, as opposed to the oft-noisier AC.

Either way the whole thing is tricked out with integrated noise isolation and ANC circuitry, and it runs DEAD quiet. I think it’s the most impressively-designed piece iFi has produced to date. Did I mention that the USB connectors can function as line-outs OR line-ins depending on your configuration? And that it is a truly full-balanced piece with both a 4.4mm balanced headphone jack and their built-in ieMatch circuitry to allow improved S/N ratio for IEMs and other very-low impedance headphones?

It’s really impressive all around, and in my opinion worth its price point.

 

[singlestack]

In the Developer's options of Galaxy S10+, there is no option for LDAC? Just checking, as there might be ... but the option maybe can be changed/become available only after already connected to bluetooth with Gryphon.

OMG. Thank you so much for this! I could kiss you! I activated developer mode and after some googlefu and fiddling with the phone I was able to get LDAC working. Now the Gryphon is showing 96k via LDAC! Holy f@ck!

 

[c69k]

OMG. Thank you so much for this! I could kiss you! I activated developer mode and after some googlefu and fiddling with the phone I was able to get get LDAC working. Now the Gryphon is showing 96k via LDAC! Holy f@ck!

Haha, kiss of a dragon lol

Happy for you. Do you also have the option to select quality of LDAC in the phone Developer's menu?

 

[singlestack]

Haha, kiss of a dragon lol

Happy for you. Do you also have the option to select quality of LDAC in the phone Developer's menu?

I set it to Optimized for Audio Quality (990kbps)

 

[singlestack]

I set it to Optimized for Audio Quality (990kbps)

I think after selecting different codec options actually forced it into 990kbps and then my audio quality started getting ultra choppy and stuttering. It's still 96k but I had to go back down to Balanced Audio and Connection Quality (660kbps) to make the stuttering go away. That's kind of disappointing. With my phone right next to the Gryphon you would think the Bluetooth signal would be pretty strong.

 

[c69k]

I think after selecting different codec options actually forced it into 990kbps and then my audio quality started getting ultra choppy and stuttering. It's still 96k but I had to go back down to Balanced Audio and Connection Quality (660kbps) to make the stuttering go away. That's kind of disappointing. With my phone right next to the Gryphon you would think the Bluetooth signal would be pretty strong.

Do you have phone and gryphon side by side and it gets choppy in LDAC? Sometimes restarting the BT connection fixes choppiness, I had it with my computer's BT and Xduoo XD05 bal.

I am sure you tried lowering the 96k already (to match track's sample rate, if the track's is lower than 96k).

 

[singlestack]

I

Do you have phone and gryphon side by side and it gets choppy in LDAC? Sometimes restarting the BT connection fixes choppiness, I had it with my computer's BT and Xduoo XD05 bal.

I am sure you tried lowering the 96k already (to match track's sample rate, if the track's is lower than 96k).

The sound is choppy when the Gryphon is beside, on top, or below my phone at 990kbps. I did try shutting off and restarting Bluetooth but then the quality defaults back to best effort which is no good. I haven't been messing with the sample rate since I don't want to be monitoring that for every song. That's just too much work. The sound quality is stable at 660kbps which I guess is still slightly better than aptx HD. I guess that will have to do until I can spend more time digging into this problem which seems to be quite common online.

 

[srkbear]

Very hard to compare, totally different animals. But in terms of features and audio quality, I would say yes—especially if you go for a set of balanced cables for your cans. 4.4mm pentaconn cables are easy to come by these days for just about any headphone. But even in the absence of this, the gryphon has more than enough power to handle your headphone listed. It also has a very fine analog bass and presence boost, and ifi’s implementation of the Burr-Brown chipset is very, very good.

One thing that might be of use is ifi’s headphone calculator on their website (https://ifi-audio.com/home-2/headphone-calculator/). It’ll allow you to search for your headphones and determine if you could benefit from the ieMatch toggle built in to the Gryphon.

I use the Gryphon as my portable, and the desktop setup I have listed under my signature. But I used to have a Schiit DAC setup, and I would say that the Gryphon sounds as good if not better. You can always try one on Amazon—they have a generous return policy.

As soon as I wrote this, I realized that they haven’t added the Gryphon to their headphone calculator. @Sebastien Chiu, would you mind bumping this request up the chain please?

 

[Rhemz]

The sound is choppy when the Gryphon is beside, on top, or below my phone at 990kbps. I did try shutting off and restarting Bluetooth but then the quality defaults back to best effort which is no good. I haven't been messing with the sample rate since I don't want to be monitoring that for every song. That's just too much work. The sound quality is stable at 660kbps which I guess is still slightly better than aptx HD. I guess that will have to do until I can spend more time digging into this problem which seems to be quite common online.

FWIW I have been using the gryphon in LDAC forced 990kbps mode with my s10+ with 0 issues since the first week it came out. I can get 20+ feet away before any stuttering issues happen so long as i've got a relatively clear line of sight. You must have a lot of 2.4ghz noise where you are.

 

[singlestack]

FWIW I have been using the gryphon in LDAC forced 990kbps mode with my s10+ with 0 issues since the first week it came out. I can get 20+ feet away before any stuttering issues happen so long as i've got a relatively clear line of sight. You must have a lot of 2.4ghz noise where you are.

Oh? 2.4 signals impact the connection? I wasn't using it them at the time but all my wireless computer peripherals are 2.4.

 

[srkbear]

Oh? 2.4 signals impact the connection? I wasn't using it them at the time but all my wireless computer peripherals are 2.4.

2.4 Wi-Fi and Bluetooth share the same bandwidth. So do microwaves. You can download several free apps that reveal all the devices competing for the 2.4 wavelength. Also, if you have a router that offers Bluetooth Coexistence, try it on “pre-emptive”, or try to move as many devices using the 2.4 Wi-Fi band to 5. Many routers allow you to deny specific devices from one band or another. A great choice is ASUS, because their firmwares are open-source and very modifiable. PM me if you have questions!

 

[singlestack]

2.4 Wi-Fi and Bluetooth share the same bandwidth. So do microwaves. You can download several free apps that reveal all the devices competing for the 2.4 wavelength. Also, if you have a router that offers Bluetooth Coexistence, try it on “pre-emptive”, or try to move as many devices using the 2.4 Wi-Fi band to 5. Many routers allow you to deny specific devices from one band or another. A great choice is ASUS, because their firmwares are open-source and very modifiable. PM me if you have questions!

Hmm... yeah it could be my wifi as well. I'll have to look into that.