iFi Nano iDSD Black Label

Measure/Listen sounds like what they went with for their Standard/Minimum Phase/Bit Perfect junk on the Micro iDSD, i.e. Measure, well, measures better, with the other setting aiming for a more euphonic presentation. I've experimented with the settings on mine extensively over the ~2 years I've owned it, and have found the Bit Perfect to sound sweetest over long listening sessions; Standard was a bit... fatiguing after a few hours.

FWIW, the original Nano certainly comes nowhere close to the silver Micro iDSD. Then again, I've yet to try the Micro iDSD BL, so would be interested to hear how the Nano entry stacks up relative to the previous releases in the Micro/Nano series.

MQA is meh. Balanced output is a nice touch.

 

I see it has a multibit chip. Why would DSD player have a multibit?

 

I noticed their use of “multibit” and had assumed some leaps of marketing logic. Just came across this for their iDAC2. They seem to refer to multibit as the top 6 bits of PCM, combining it with a D/S dac output. I’m struggling to run it through the bullshit filter. Is it really some sort of hybrid approach, or just nonsense?

https://ifi-audio.com/wp-content/uploads/data/iDAC2 - Spilling the Sauce (2 of 6)_ 9 Nov 2015
“iDAC2: Spilling the Secret Sauce (2/6)
Digital section: ‘True Native’ augmented by latest gen Octa-Core Transputer
At the heart of AMR/iFI products including the iDAC2 micro is the same Burr-Brown ‘True Native’ chipset which we have explained before in the micro iDSD thread. This particular Burr-Brown chip offers two separate signal pathways for PCM and DSD. What this means is that one chip offers the ‘best of both formats’ as the signal quality remains native.
Choosing the right DAC topology significantly effects the final sound. We loved the dynamics and slam of the multi-bit topology (e.g. the legendary Philips TDA1541A), however when a High- Definition signal is used, the Multibit topology (actually no true multi-bit DAC chipset available yet) doesn't have the low-level linearity of the Delta-Sigma topology.
So to get the best of both worlds, we need:
• Multi-bit for dynamics and slam (the higher bits of the PCB data);
• Delta-Sigma for the low level linearity (the lower bits of the PCB data);
So the DAC chip we picked for the micro iDSD has the following topology:
• Top 6 bit: true multi-bit;
• Lower bits: Delta-Sigma.”

 

Yes, for loaner on this. $199 seems a fair price also.

 

More about the 6+6 bit story here

https://www.audiostream.com/content/qa-thorsten-loesch-amrifi

 

When I was getting sucked into the head-fi vortex a couple years ago, I spent a lot of time and energy trying to decipher the juicy tidbits that iFi marketing would post. It was about 10% actual content and 90% hocus-pocus slight-of-hand hoo-hah. And when you asked a specific question to nail down a technical detail, they would reply "Sorry, we can't reveal the ingredients of our special sauce." I gave up when they started using fighter jet analogies. The word "magic" appears 3 times in their Tech Note.

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Still using my micro iDSD Silver and micro iDAC2 though ​

Is this S-Balanced "dual-mono" SE topology any different from the separate ground connections on the ZX2?

 

I assume you're talking about this?



It goes over my head to be honest, I'm not well versed enough in this topic.

 

This abstract seems to explain the idea in a little more detail [link]. The only problem is it's in Japanese... Still there is some useful information that can be gleaned using Google Translate. I still don't 100% understand what they're doing, but here's a useful picture (below). The output of the sum appears to be a signal which is delta-sigma modulated within 66 or 67 distinct amplitude levels.

 

There was some talk on the 1794 previously with another unit using the same chip goin through @Torq's ringer.

@jexby the Universal Suck Bus has their "iPurifier® technology built-in" that should play well with the Meridian Quack Audio path.

Best thing is their tech note confuses XLR with TRRS: http://mediaportal.ifi-audio.com/Digital/NanoBL/nDSD BL balanced circuit Tech Note (Nov xx) .pdf

Clearly written (not) by their tech guys.

 

I bought this on a whim and listened to it over the weekend. At first listen, this is a pretty solid device IF your collection is mostly iems. It does not drive full sized headphones with any conviction. The Nano idsd bl struggles to get my hd660 up to a medium listening level even at 2-3 o'clock. It does however play well with my jh audio customs with a black background and no hiss. Just slightly warmish, but an overall pleasure signature.

 

Has anyone compared the nano and the micro BLs for iems and portable cans? Does the micro still have a sonic advantage for this type of usage?

 

Thread from the dead, because...

Replacing the battery on the ifi nano iDSD Black Label (probably similar for micro models too).

For quite a while I used my nano BL as a desktop unit - connected full time, meaning it was always trickle charging. I'm now using a Hel and want the BL for portable use, but the battery now only gives about 4 hours play from fully charged. Luckily it's easy to replace, and you can use a higher-capacity one than the stock 1000 mAh unit - something like this:

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B091YKTT9S

To access, remove the 4 T6 screws securing the front plate and pull the plate and attached circuit board out of the case. The battery sits on top of the board and is held in place by a sticky pad (edit) on the underside and a foam packer on top (/edit):



Unplug the connector and pull the battery upward. Depending on the size of the plug on the new battery (mine was smaller than the one on the nano), you might need to pull the terminals out from the body of the plug and insert them into the socket independently, ideally with bits of heat-shrink tubing or similar for insulation and secure mounting. It's a good idea to mark the + & - (red & black) positions on the board terminal so you know which of the new wires should go where.

There's a fair bit of room in the case so it's ok if the new battery is physically bigger than the old one, but you want to leave a bit of breathing room for heat dissipation. Re-use the original sticky pad to secure it; I put mine in about the same place as the old one, away from the black heat-sink at the top of the photo but overhanging the connector block because it's longer:



The foam pad stuck to the top of the old battery didn't want to come off, so I used a couple of offcuts of sticky-back sorbothane as packing between the new battery and the inside top of the case (something thermally conductive rather than insulating would be best).

Hoping this one will last longer than an upcoming trans-Pacific plane flight...

Edit: The connectors on the nano and the original battery are 2.5mm 2-pin, but the one on the battery I linked to and on others with 2 pins that came up when I searched is 2.0mm. For easiest plug & play, try to find a replacement battery with a 2.5 plug; otherwise you can use the individual connectors like I did or do a cut & solder job, connecting the wires & plug from the old battery to the wires of the new one.