[nioh]

I did not have this problem: not with the older v1.22 firmware that it was shipped with, nor with the latest v1.45.
@nioh Does yours show OFF on the screen when it powers off or it just suddenly dies ?
My opinion is you should return it and exchange with new one if you really like the device.

There is something I would like to mention in regard to this battery thing though: mine was shutting down at ~20-25% level on the display when new. I initially thought this
was a firmware issue and the battery management wasn't working correctly. It seems to be better now, but still not perfect: at lower levels the charge seems to drop very quick and it happened to me that it shuts down when I am expecting it to still run for half an hour maybe more.

It shows "Off" while turning off and it does it consistently like around 20 minutes.
Battery is fully charged.

I'm doing some more tests now with different devices to double check, will update later !
Thank you for all your support guys !

Update:
I connected it to my iPad and it hasn't turned off for the past 45 minutes.
This makes me think it only happens when connected to the PC.
Could it be the USB driver, port, cable ? Will do more tests this weekend and see !

 

[Lay.]

I had the same problem couple of days ago. The device just turned off after about 20 minutes. It did it 4-6 times. It has not done it after that one day.

Edit: It was connected to my PC and the sound was on all the time.

 

[landwalker000]

Mine also turned off after 20 minutes but only when using it with a Nintendo Switch. Maybe there something going on with the xDSD using UAC1 and not UAC2?

 

[nioh]

I had the same problem couple of days ago. The device just turned off after about 20 minutes. It did it 4-6 times. It has not done it after that one day.

Edit: It was connected to my PC and the sound was on all the time.

Funny thing is mine also did the same the first few times.
Now it hasn't turned off in the past few hours !

Fingers crossed, will check again during the weekend !

 

[electronicsdesign]

Mine also turned off after 20 minutes but only when using it with a Nintendo Switch. Maybe there something going on with the xDSD using UAC1 and not UAC2?

The Nintendo Switch may only support UAC1. But why do you think that is a problem ? It should work fine on both.

@nioh You did not mention what PC are you using. Is it an iOS or Windows device ? Have you installed the iFi driver ?
I mostly use mine in 2 scenarios:
- on Bluetooth with a DAP or my phone;
- on a desktop PC with Windows 10 having the iFi drivers installed and format set to 24bit, 2 channels.
It is also to be mentioned I did not clean up other XMOS drivers installations (despite iFi was recommending this) because I use many USB audio devices and I don't want to install and uninstall drivers all the time, just keep them all.

Never had the shutting down problem.
However I did encounter an issue which I want to state (although I don't think it's realted): when streaming MQA from Tidal (Exclusive mode, Force volume and Passthrough MQA all enabled) it was switching back and forth from PCM to MQA once every 10 seconds or so. Did not have time to investigate the problem, as it disappeared by itself.

 

[Tachikoma]

I got my Gryphon yesterday and found out a strange thing. I used my FD7, plucked it into the front 4,4 jack and gave it a listen and thought "Hmm, this thing sound doesn't sound better than my Qudelix". Tested some digital filters and used the bit-perfect filter. Tested the IEMatch. Yea, better but not as good as the Qudelix. Then i got the idea to plug it into the rear 4,4 out. BOOM, sounds exactly like the Qudelix. But the question is, why does the front out sounds not as good as the rear out? Does it need a burn-in because it has more transistors, when i look to the PCB? Its very stange!

So, just for fun, I tried the same thing (sticking my FD7 into the rear 4.4 mm port).

Negatives:
- Somewhat exaggerated bass guitars due to extra midbass
- A little bright sounding
- Maybe a slight loss of control in the highs in highly dynamic tracks

Neutral:
- Running close to max volume now (~90)

Positives:
- A quite significant improvement in microdetail (dare I say it, plankton)

 

[rustyvinyl]

Having the same battery issues. Awaiting for stock from Stereo Singapore for an exchange.

1.from full charge, auto shut down while playing. Sometimes after 2hrs, sometimes 5min.
2. pop sound while playing, then pause for a few seconds, play starts again.

Using USB via Android and Bluetooth inputs. Unit came with v1.45.

 

[landwalker000]

The Nintendo Switch may only support UAC1. But why do you think that is a problem ? It should work fine on both.

@nioh You did not mention what PC are you using. Is it an iOS or Windows device ? Have you installed the iFi driver ?
I mostly use mine in 2 scenarios:
- on Bluetooth with a DAP or my phone;
- on a desktop PC with Windows 10 having the iFi drivers installed and format set to 24bit, 2 channels.
It is also to be mentioned I did not clean up other XMOS drivers installations (despite iFi was recommending this) because I use many USB audio devices and I don't want to install and uninstall drivers all the time, just keep them all.

Never had the shutting down problem.
However I did encounter an issue which I want to state (although I don't think it's realted): when streaming MQA from Tidal (Exclusive mode, Force volume and Passthrough MQA all enabled) it was switching back and forth from PCM to MQA once every 10 seconds or so. Did not have time to investigate the problem, as it disappeared by itself.

Because the only times I have issues with the xDSD is with the Switch via USB, which is the only thing I have that uses UAC1. I can use a Type C to SPDIF converter on the Switch with no issues.

 

[nioh]

The only solution I found to this auto switch off problem is to enable the "Usb Dual Port Charge".
Without charging enabled, it turns off randomly on PC !

Interestingly though, it does stay on if I play music with iTunes in the background.
So looks like the random shutdown is related to the audio source being played !

@electronicsdesign Mine's Windows 11 with ifi USB driver and format set to 32/384.
I'll change it to 24/192 and see if that changes anything.

 

[electronicsdesign]

@nioh Very interesting... I mostly used mine with "USB Dual Port Charge" enabled, cause I wanted it to run off USB power when battery is full (it seems to do that, as lightning symbol disappears). Think I have only used it once with dual port charge off and at that point I listened to music almost constantly.

Maybe there is a power saving feature in the firmware which does not work correctly. But if that is the case, it should be an option to turn it off in the menu.
Will try to reproduce the problem on mine, to see if I find anything that can trigger the problem.

 

[nioh]

@nioh Very interesting... I mostly used mine with "USB Dual Port Charge" enabled, cause I wanted it to run off USB power when battery is full (it seems to do that, as lightning symbol disappears). Think I have only used it once with dual port charge off and at that point I listened to music almost constantly.

Maybe there is a power saving feature in the firmware which does not work correctly. But if that is the case, it should be an option to turn it off in the menu.
Will try to reproduce the problem on mine, to see if I find anything that can trigger the problem.

At this point, I'm just considering returning this and getting another Go Blu.
I have no such issues with the Go Blu !

 

[electronicsdesign]

@nioh Maybe that's the best thing to do. I wasn't able to reproduce the fault, but given how many others have complained it's clearly an issue that @iFi audio must adress.

There is another aspect I would like to mention and ask other members if they have the same problem: when I use the device on battery, the on-screen battery indicator tends
to go suddenly to the minimum after not moving at all for a very long time. This usually happens when the on screen indicator is at ~25-30%.
The device works fine and suddently it displays "Battery low" and turns itself off.

Given this, to me it's not clear what is the remaining charge on my battery and when I should charge it exactly. It's also not clear if it's a firmware battery management issue or it is the fact that the 2 cells are not charged equally. @MarkParity What's your opinion on this ?
It is to be noted I already done about 5-6 complete charge cycles to the device. It also seems to be better with the newest firmware.

 

[Lay.]

At this point, I'm just considering returning this and getting another Go Blu.
I have no such issues with the Go Blu !

I have used this xDSD Gryphon for 3 months (5 days per week) and this auto shut down with PC while sound is on has happened only 1 day and with the latest firmware. I'm not too worried about it.

 

[MarkParity]

Given this, to me it's not clear what is the remaining charge on my battery and when I should charge it exactly. It's also not clear if it's a firmware battery management issue or it is the fact that the 2 cells are not charged equally. @MarkParity What's your opinion on this ?
It is to be noted I already done about 5-6 complete charge cycles to the device. It also seems to be better with the newest firmware.

My opinion for what its worth, is the battery should have been designed with a balance tap as it is a two cell lithium battery.

Balancing of the two cells in the battery seems to be managed by the individual cell's own over voltage over discharge protection circuit, in most cases this seems to be OK but is it a good idea?

In some circumstances, well in my experience anyway, if one cell becomes deeply discharged (1.3v in my case) the battery will no longer balance properly and only one cell will charge fully whilst the other cell remains at around 1.3V.

iFi are aware of this problem and I wouldn't be at all surprised if later units use different protection circuits able to handle this issue and so may well be unaffected. Mine is from the first batch BTW.

 

[electronicsdesign]

My opinion for what its worth, is the battery should have been designed with a balance tap as it is a two cell lithium battery.

Balancing of the two cells in the battery seems to be managed by the individual cell's own over voltage over discharge protection circuit, in most cases this seems to be OK but is it a good idea?

I now realise something. The 2 cells are wired in parallel, not in series.
The stated battery capacity on the box is 3600mAh (which is exactly 2350mAh + 1350mAh shown in your pictures).

If the 2 batteries were to be wired in series however, you will only use 1250mAh from the large one, not the full 2350mAh (so the total capacity would be 1250mAh).
So what they're doing here is most likely the following:
1. They both discharge until the small one is fully depleted and will not supply current anymore (stopped by its own protection circuit);
2. When just the big one remains, that is when the charge will drop faster, since it's only one that supplies current;

In this case, relying on the cells' own protection cicuits is the only way (I can think of) to use them in parallel and not fully discharge the small one.
However, I think the firmware should be adapted so it displays the charge a bit more accurately (especially after the small one is discharged).

Mine does last 4-5 hours (rough estimation, may be a bit more actually) at pretty loud volumes, so I think the cells are just fine.