Ifi Micro IDSD Black Label

It's a dead-ish thread, I think a bit of side convo can be tolerated

But yeah, my bad, I knew there was one Topping thing you were sorta into but forgot which model it was. I know that the D50 specifically isn't loathed outright, just can't remember who it was that gave it a pass.

Pardon the ping, hope you have a good one, haha

 

It kinda is, but I check it regularly. A bit of a routine of mine at this forum. Plus I like the product.

 

Hah, I do admit to checking out random threads of products I like just to pass time by when I'm really desperate to kill boredom. On that note, I've had the pleasure of demoing the BL variant of the Micro iDSD and while I cannot offer any meaningful impressions due to the brevity of the demo and setting, I can say that it shared a lot of the Silver's character and that I'd definitely be happy to own one if it weren't for the fact that I had something remarkably similar already at hand.

Also, I'm curious exactly how many people here've experienced trouble with the IEMatch switch on the bottom. The toggle on my unit's been causing channel imbalance issues when engaged (and to an extent, even when not), making it one of the few weaknesses I'd ascribe to this model.

I'm glad iFi's more recent designs have all foregone the bottom switches, fwiw, because they can be quite a pain

 

That's true

But then again, lost rubber switch is a small price to pay for what iDSD BL is capable of in general.

 

Hey mister, we've been proudly replacing those switches for quite a while! But yeah, after all the feedback about them, we might think of something less easily lost in our future products.

 

Hah! This is exactly what happened to me— I was sent a handful of switches, enough for two units, gratis when I reported that the Direct/Preamp toggle on the bottom was gone; I got my unit secondhand and the switch was missing from the beginning— the cool bit is that the iFi team was happy to help even though they knew that. The excellent aftersales and support for used market cheapskates like myself is probably one of the reasons why I'm a fan (even if I'm one of the dudes who'd probably appreciate more affordable, less everything-and-the-kitchen-sink-y designs ). It was a relatively small gesture that nonetheless showed me they gave a bother, so it was appreciated.

 

That's how they roll. If they can help their customers by providing several rubber switches or post-warranty service, they will.

 

We try to do our best to help our customers. Several buttons sent here and there once or twice never were any issue. That's a small price to pay to make someone happy.

 

I read the thread (again). Has anyone been feeding their Micro BL from a Pi2AES with coax SPDIF? Is it much different or better than USB? I am currently using my LG V40> USB Audio Player Pro> Ifi Micro BL> Fleawatt integrated> Fostex P1000BH. Some content is a bit sibilant and I am trying to suspect the USB.

 

Id suspect the speakers personally

 

It's been a while but I didn't notice drastic differences (..if any) between s/pdif and usb on this thing.

 

True. iFi did good on their USB in general. I'd use coax in the first place, but that's habitual with me. Still if I have to use USB with micro iDSD BL, I don't feel that I'm missing anything.

 

It took us a while to have USB as good as it could be without out USB externals, so it's cool that folks in here appreciate its performance. Thanks!

 

Has anyone used the iEMatch (High) with the power setting on normal for full-size headphones? It sounds like the consensus is that that the amp sounds best in normal power mode but I'm worried I'll run into issues with channel imbalance in normal mode. Just curious if there is any kind of quality hit when iEMatch is used with power settings other than Eco.

 

Late but this is exactly what @Torq and others on here suggest doing; before the switch on mine went weird I much preferred the TH-X00EB from Normal since it seemed to have a lot more dynamism and a cleaner background, both making for a more visceral and exciting listen. Chances are latter is attributable to the IEMatch function more than the power switch, haha.

Checking this thread out to ask if you've gotten ears on the GTO filter (firmware update 5.3C) and what your thoughts are, @purr1n? I do hear the new filter as being "cleaner" and "more spacious" than Bit Perfect, but something makes me want to keep to the old BP more— not sure why.

No longer have the iDSD but remembered to ask after coming across some old listening notes, haha.

 

I'm the same. GTO is still oversampling while BitPerfect is essentially NOS. Different tastes! One thing to note is that GTO's filter looks remarkably alike to what is MQA's filter. If you like MQA I would assume you'd like to sound of GTO, too (and vice versa ).

 

Haha another reason to fortify my skeevishness of
MQA! What prompted my inquiry were the measurements and impressions in the D70 thread, just noticed the GTO seems to have been overlooked and I'm curious to see the squiggles on the iFi whitepaper replicated.

Edit:
Also, odd that I seem to be leaning towards NOS for the micro iDSD since I find myself fond of the megacomboburrito filter on the Bifrost MB, and not for the reasons you'd expect (i.e. I like burritos); the BP on iDSD had a pleasant sense of body to it which I also noticed on the Schiit DAC, though I do feel distrustful of my own impressions at times given how subtle the differences between filters are on the iDSD.

 

"...I'm the same. GTO is still oversampling while BitPerfect is essentially NOS. Different tastes! One thing to note is that GTO's filter looks remarkably alike to what is MQA's filter...."

As I understand it the GTO is a slow roll off minimum phase filter (in pre-MQA and I guess iFi speak). Fine if you like the sound of min phase and/or are not concerned about aliasing from frequency content above the knee in your source file.

Personally I went through a 'min phase' phase a while back, but the treble in the end is just not right...

 

Yup!