iFi Audio Appreciation Thread

[Jason8811]

9018 is significantly, if not magnitudes more expensive from ESS vs the 9023. The cost gap is huge.

Dynamic drivers might be cheap, but FS rolls their own custom drivers so due to smaller scale it's going to cost more, and there's RnD costs etc as well. Probably amounts to 2 digits unit cost per driver at most, but this has no relation to the topic at hand.

DX100 uses a 9018 chip, which is a different chip from the 9023 in question, which was what my remark was about. Same chips can sound different when implemented differently, and there is no guarantee the sound will be similar just purely thanks to the chip being from the same family.

Ok I see your point here.

 

[Guan22]

Interested to hear the audiolab as it's the brand i knew together with MF last time when playing abit of hifi but couldn't afford also read about it and impression is like those who wrote on it still prefered the m1dac. Still very isolated on impressions so would like to have a more proper listen to more dacs and also more pple's impressions on the MF. Seems like really nobody has it hahhaa

I had the M-DAC in the past. It has an above average performance but the Minimax Plus seems to top the M-DAC in terms of SQ. Minimax plus also has the very interesting tube buffer.

M-DAC has the better feature set though. It has a built in pre amp & headphone amp too, as well as balanced output. Minimax plus only has single ended output and is a pure dac.

 

[Bhalraam32]

I tried the ESS chipset but they was too detailed and revealing for my liking. Except maybbeee the 9023.. 9018 really toooo sharpish sounding.. Preferred the AKM, Wolfson chipset... Just smth for DAC hunters to take note I thought. I went on a ESS bias DAC hunt before lol.. "Hmmm.. not ESS chip.. NEXTTT!!!!!" only to find out the sound is not to my liking.. -.-

 

[TeamStereo]

iFi Audio (R21)

So, what's in an iDAC? some have asked.

Well, on the left-hand side, it is AMR's Asynchronous/Jitterless Lite USB module. One the right-hand side, the dac and headphone amplifier...

The DAC directly drives the RCA Sockets without any additional electronics, plus it drives the analogue volume control and headphone Amplifier. Quite a purist approach for this type of product, where others often pass the line out also through the headphone amp and volume control without bypass.

The headphone Amp can output > 3.3V and has less than 1 Ohm output impedance and 110dB signal to noise ratio at 2V RMS. Therefore, the DAC's dynamic range is fully-utilised, so the Headphone out can be used as Line out with volume control while retaining the overall superlative sound quality.
This is the iUSB Power Circuit board...

As it was so well liked, let's show another bit "under yeah olde bonnet".

Note how in the iUSB the plug-top ultra low-noise SMPS powers a lot of internal circuitry.

The already quite clean DC from the SMPS then goes through a LC noise filter which starts filtering at 150Hz and filters around 90dB at the common SMPS switching frequencies around 50KHz.

The filter is effective well past 100MHz. This eliminates any switching noise and RFI dropping it well below -150dBV with our low-noise SMPS.

After that filter we have a so-called "super-regulator" with a lot of trickery for very low-noise. Key is the Precision Voltage reference that is driven by a Constant Current Generator for maximum isolation from any supply noise.

This is actually how we get "lower than battery" noise levels with the iUSB... Quite complex, for a such a simple looking device.

Often we get asked: "What exactly is inside those iFi Units?".

It's not like we are shy or want to hide things. But taking really good looking Photos is not so easy and we have other work to do.

But we can "lift the skirt" a little and "show some leg". Here is one of our test shots of the PCB for the iCan Headphone Amplifier...

The iUSB with some quality brands:
Bel Canto uLink USB-S/PDIF Converter | AudioStream
Schiit Audio Modi USB DAC | AudioStream
NEWS: Meridian Releases The Explorer Pocket-Sized USB DAC

Review of the iUSB by EarMass
iFi Audio iUSB : Clean Power Clean Sound | Earmass

Review of the iCAN by Nirmalanow on HeadFi
iCAN Amp Review: A New Amp that Gives You More: More Bass, More Soundstage and More Detail

Pictures: Courtesy of iFi Audio Facebook page

 

[robertcooper]

Do you have the units available for audition already?

 

[weng]

I had the M-DAC in the past. It has an above average performance but the Minimax Plus seems to top the M-DAC in terms of SQ. Minimax plus also has the very interesting tube buffer.

M-DAC has the better feature set though. It has a built in pre amp & headphone amp too, as well as balanced output. Minimax plus only has single ended output and is a pure dac.

The m1dac has balanced output as well, but dun tink i will ever get to that stage. Btw it's using dual burr-brown dsd1796 dac chips. Where do they stand?

 

[invisible.hippo]

Hi, can i know the price and avilable date? How does it stand against zo2 or fiio e17?

 

[TeamStereo]

Do you have the units available for audition already?

Hi there,

Demo should be in around the 2nd week of April =)

 

[kenz]

wa liao... this thread become HI-FI thread ah.

Maybe admins can create a new category for it.

 

[schaffhauser]

Hi there,

Demo should be in around the 2nd week of April =)

Will the BeyerDynamic T1 available for audition as well?

 

[ewng]

Parasound Zdac is the best bang for $600...

 

[weng]

zdac is using which dac?

 

[TeamStereo]

Yes it is. =)

 

[robertcooper]

Hi, can i know the price and avilable date? How does it stand against zo2 or fiio e17?

Ifi products are desktop and not portable.

 

[ewng]

zdac is using which dac?

Zdac - Digital to Analog Converter

 

[schaffhauser]

Ifi products are desktop and not portable.

The ifi does look small though....

 

[David_Can]

Great additional, was at the recent Fujiya Porta show in Japan and wanted to audition but was unable to. Will pop by Stereo to try maybe coming weekend.

 

[Zippity]

Looks like the ifi have lots of reviews. Probably need to pay stereo a visit to audition.

 

[BlackOpal]

I'm looking at the ican amp but read that the idac can be used as as an amp as well. If my source is mainly laptop and ipod, which should i be getting?

 

[Fatty San]

I'm looking at the ican amp but read that the idac can be used as as an amp as well. If my source is mainly laptop and ipod, which should i be getting?

ican will only come into play if you find the power of the idac lacking in anyway. therefore, invest in the idac first then consider the ican.