[Bansaku]

Now that I have finished my review, I finally got around to reading everyone's review. Good job everyone! Glad there seems to be a general census on how bloody awesome the xDSD is! (and how finicky Bluetooth is) I had my sights on the nano iOne as it seems to be a perfect upgrade to my iDAC, but now I am re-thinking things. The xDSD does everything the nano iOne does, but one ups it with the headphone amp and battery! Decisions decisions...

 

[Grimbles]

Now that I have finished my review, I finally got around to reading everyone's review. Good job everyone! Glad there seems to be a general census on how bloody awesome the xDSD is! (and how finicky Bluetooth is) I had my sights on the nano iOne as it seems to be a perfect upgrade to my iDAC, but now I am re-thinking things. The xDSD does everything the nano iOne does, but one ups it with the headphone amp and battery! Decisions decisions...

enjoyed your review buddy

 

[Alcophone]

Remember to ask Lawrance via email:

Please mail our Lawrance at: lawrancel@ifi-audio.com

 

[gto88]

email sent to Lawrance for update.

 

[rafaelo]

Now that I have finished my review, I finally got around to reading everyone's review. Good job everyone! Glad there seems to be a general census on how bloody awesome the xDSD is! (and how finicky Bluetooth is) I had my sights on the nano iOne as it seems to be a perfect upgrade to my iDAC, but now I am re-thinking things. The xDSD does everything the nano iOne does, but one ups it with the headphone amp and battery! Decisions decisions...

Is not so difficult after all I believe. If you want something for a speakers set up use ione as is more suitable with the RCA output I think. Also speakers need a proper amp so the amp of xDSD is not relevant here. If you want a headphones set up xDSD probably is the way. There only one problem with xDSD acting as iOne for me. I would need two xDSD because I do not see me to unplug and plug my set up every time. Or use one xDSD and one ione...the price of ione makes it the best proposition I have ever encountered in the world of audio.

I really appreciated the part of your review where you also mentioned the benefits of not powering through the main usb port of xDSD. I could not agree more.

 

[Grimbles]

Hey there @iFi audio, have been speaking to karina who was planning to get me the replacement xdsd for another evaluation at the end of the uk tour (so i can update my review). Any idea when i might be able to expect it? Cheers!

 

[iFi audio]

Hey there @iFi audio, have been speaking to karina who was planning to get me the replacement xdsd for another evaluation at the end of the uk tour (so i can update my review). Any idea when i might be able to expect it? Cheers!

We'll get back to you shortly, no worries.

 

[Grimbles]

We'll get back to you shortly, no worries.

Cheers, i had an email earlier this evening.

 

[iFi audio]

Cheers, i had an email earlier this evening.

Fabulous, thanks for the tip!

 

[Wiljen]

My review is up here and at my blog (in my sig)

Thanks again for the opportunity to give the xDSD a try. I really liked it paired with the Campfire Cascades. That combination would make a good travel companion for those who use their phone as their DAP.

 

[iFi audio]

My review is up here and at my blog (in my sig)

Thanks again for the opportunity to give the xDSD a try. I really liked it paired with the Campfire Cascades. That combination would make a good travel companion for those who use their phone as their DAP.

Great review, thanks!

Oh and one more thing...

EISA (the European Sound and Imaging Association) has awarded the xDSD as the Best Portable DAC/Headphone Amplifier for 2018-2019.

The official release is to be found here:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/ifi-audio-xdsd-the-official-thread.873787/page-56#post-14422901

HAPPY!

 

[gto88]

Tour unit has been sent back to iFi USA.
Will post my review soon.

 

[gto88]

My review has posted here.

 

[ckhirnigs113]

I have a Bluetooth question in regard to the quality of AAC vs Aptx streaming from a phone to the xDSD. Does transcoding take place regardless of the type of source file? As an example, if I stream an AAC file from Apple Music on my iPhone to the xDSD will it make transcoding unnecessary since AAC is supported? This is in contrast to streaming an mp3 file from the same iPhone, which I assume would require the mp3 to be transcoded to AAC before playing on the xDSD.

It seems like there might be a substantial advantage to streaming AAC files vs other file types if it does indeed avoid transcoding entirely. I’m not sure if bitrate affects this theory. I know Apple Music streams at 256Kbps AAC which is the maximum for AAC over Bluetooth. If trying to stream a 320Kbps or 160Kbps AAC file will everything transcode to 256Kbps? Obviously the 320Kbps will need transcoding, but will files encoded at less than 256Kbps AAC be sent over intact without transcoding?

I'm not sure how Aptx works in regard to transcoding. To be fair though, I’m not at all sure how this works with AAC either!

 

[iFi audio]

This happened several days ago, enjoy!