The iFi iDSD Pro.
I came to discover ifi after a past of positive and negative experiences in the audio in the last 30 years, in the search for the holy grail of sound in my living room, I have had a lot of brands, Nad, Rotel, Mark Levinson, Linn, Sony, Cyrus, Audiolab, Pioneer, Marantz, Rega, Bowers & Wilkins, Castle Speakers, Vandersteen, Paragon Regent Speakers, monitor Audio, Kef, Mission Cyrus speakers, only to name a few.
Some of my old gear I sold until today I remember them as pieces I regret not having today, My Marantz CD10 and Marantz CD16, My Sony SCD1, my loving Levinson 383 had circuit board problem and was 14 months waiting an internal circuit board repair in the Portuguese representative of the brand, and because of that bad experience and some others in the audio world, I sold my Levinson at a low price and almost all audio gear I had, I loved that Levinson, and that warranty experience was something very negative for me as a user, I abandoned audio and that search that never ends, and for 8 years the computer and headphones was my way to interact with music, a big downgrade from what I was used to.
Six years ago I started looking for a DAC and some better speakers to my iMac, the speakers I found that in my opinion produced an acceptable sound was the Harman Kardon GLA-55, latter paired with a monitor audio subwoofer, and sound was ok, at least a better experience that the iMac speakers had, In a search for a good computer DAC I discovered the ifi brand and their range of products, a perfect match for what I was thinking.
The products made by ifi were good looking and they supported DSD and HD audio formats something I was willing to try as I own many SACD’s, DSD was very appealing format to me, I purchased the ifi iDSD, it came in a beautiful package and well built, I connected the iDSD to my iMac and clicked on play on the iTunes App, a glimpse of what I have had in the past for a fraction of the price, for me it was it, the holy grail in price paid and return that I was receiving, so I started a new journey, maybe a never ending one certainly full of new product discoveries, but at every step taken up is a more engaging and pleasant one.
So ifi brought me back to the audio experience, today my computer audio system is a little upgraded from the Harman Kardon GLA55 and Micro iDSD, I just acquired an ifi Pro iDSD that was launched in the end of May. It finely arrived and took the place of my ifi Micro iDSD Black, micro iTube 2 and micro iUSB 3.0, every person quantifies the upgraded differences obtained by each component change differently, for some is the same experience a little better and a justified investment or not, for others a small sonic achievement is a huge upgrade in the final result, for me and after some weeks of listening to the ifi Pro iDSD there is no way I could live anymore without it, so I acquired it.
The Pro iDSD has a lot of functionality that you could see on the ifi website https://ifi-audio.com/home/products/pro/ I will focus more on the sound and changes I have noticed from the micro iDSD Black.
The global sound grows in small big changes, the separation, fluidity, speed, soundstage of the tracks is so better defined that you can’t stop playing and thinking constantly “this one is really on another level of gear”. That’s not a subtle change, the global sound character is similar to the micro iDSD Black Label, but sounds are presented very fast, the sense of speed is really impressive, the impact, transients, instrument separation, identification of the elements on the soundstage, multiple voices are perfectly separated, it’s all there, every audio file you play on the Pro iDSD is a new experience. I do remember in the past of investing a lot more and get almost none.
If you own one of the other ifi product line like the nano, micro, or even other brand DAC of the same price level, when you connect the Pro iDSD you will have a constant audio discover on each track of your library, it’s noticeable right away if your system has the quality to show and reveal what the iDSD pro can archive you will be amazed.
The micro iDSD Black was a feat for the price, but the Pro iDSD takes every aspect from the micro iDSD BL and gives him super powers.
The iDSD Pro has almost all features you will ever need, there are two absent from the pro iDSD the XBass and 3D sound, you can have this feature in the Pro iCan, but having them in the Pro iDSD is a miss in my most minimalistic good sounding system I can have, and to add these features the pro iCan is a necessary add-on that comes with more cables and more accessories in the middle of the sound signal. The iDSD approach for me is more a puristic approach and first a DAC, all the other features come for me as a bonus, it’s a product that will reveal all elements of the sound presentation, and plays your music files from multiple formats, it’s very easy to setup and very well built, and the oled in the middle of the unit makes me in love by it
So the iDSD Pro for me it’s finesse, fireworks, emotion, love, an even better capacity of turning small detail perceptible in a way that appears natural to my ears, it’s adds macro to the texture detail in the mix, better quality bass, initially the bass appears to be less present, less present in this case of the Pro iDSD is not less bass, but a bass with musical scale and better defined, there is no 3D or XBass, but there is a lot more to take out from every track.
The iDSD Pro will not hide a bad recording, It will show without any guilt the quality of a bad studio engineer or a low quality mix, if the mix is bad it will sound very bad, but if you give the Pro iDSD a better quality track, you will make your speakers rock has they never think they would be capable of, after that you will not let the iDSD Pro go back to the store.
There are a lot of offers in this segment, some more expensive, some less, I have built my system from the beginning on the original ifi IDSD Sound Signature, so in my case it was a perfect match.
I didn’t focus on many aspects like streaming, digital filters, upsampling to DSD1024, playing directly from SD or SSD USB HD, and finely Airplay, the Airplay functionality is my favorite and there is a lot more the Pro iDSD can do, In the last weeks I tried some of this functionality for curiosity and they all shine in a way that describing it will take weeks or months, my main use will be in the desktop computer and I am loving it.
If you are serious about your audio, the ifi Pro iDSD should be one of the higher priorities on your list of a DAC acquisition. If the price is too hot, the micro iDSD Black Label could give you a lot from the Pro iDSD at a very affordable price, and is my favorite DAC in the price / sound return equation.
All devices where connect to an Audioquest Nigara, the power cables including computer and ifi IDSD Pro were with Audioquest Tornado, and Audioquest Thunder for each of the Speakers.
USB Cables in use are ifi Gemini 3.0 and Audioquest Diamond USB Cable, also used ifi iUSB 3.0 in between.
Speakers are Focal Solo 6BE.
Interconnect Linn Silver balanced.
Software used, Roon and Audirvana.
The related review is a personal opinion of the experience and use of the products acquired. All products were acquired at retail price, in normal stores that have them in stock, and I am not sponsored by any of the brands mentioned or any kind of brand.
I came to discover ifi after a past of positive and negative experiences in the audio in the last 30 years, in the search for the holy grail of sound in my living room, I have had a lot of brands, Nad, Rotel, Mark Levinson, Linn, Sony, Cyrus, Audiolab, Pioneer, Marantz, Rega, Bowers & Wilkins, Castle Speakers, Vandersteen, Paragon Regent Speakers, monitor Audio, Kef, Mission Cyrus speakers, only to name a few.
Some of my old gear I sold until today I remember them as pieces I regret not having today, My Marantz CD10 and Marantz CD16, My Sony SCD1, my loving Levinson 383 had circuit board problem and was 14 months waiting an internal circuit board repair in the Portuguese representative of the brand, and because of that bad experience and some others in the audio world, I sold my Levinson at a low price and almost all audio gear I had, I loved that Levinson, and that warranty experience was something very negative for me as a user, I abandoned audio and that search that never ends, and for 8 years the computer and headphones was my way to interact with music, a big downgrade from what I was used to.
Six years ago I started looking for a DAC and some better speakers to my iMac, the speakers I found that in my opinion produced an acceptable sound was the Harman Kardon GLA-55, latter paired with a monitor audio subwoofer, and sound was ok, at least a better experience that the iMac speakers had, In a search for a good computer DAC I discovered the ifi brand and their range of products, a perfect match for what I was thinking.
The products made by ifi were good looking and they supported DSD and HD audio formats something I was willing to try as I own many SACD’s, DSD was very appealing format to me, I purchased the ifi iDSD, it came in a beautiful package and well built, I connected the iDSD to my iMac and clicked on play on the iTunes App, a glimpse of what I have had in the past for a fraction of the price, for me it was it, the holy grail in price paid and return that I was receiving, so I started a new journey, maybe a never ending one certainly full of new product discoveries, but at every step taken up is a more engaging and pleasant one.
So ifi brought me back to the audio experience, today my computer audio system is a little upgraded from the Harman Kardon GLA55 and Micro iDSD, I just acquired an ifi Pro iDSD that was launched in the end of May. It finely arrived and took the place of my ifi Micro iDSD Black, micro iTube 2 and micro iUSB 3.0, every person quantifies the upgraded differences obtained by each component change differently, for some is the same experience a little better and a justified investment or not, for others a small sonic achievement is a huge upgrade in the final result, for me and after some weeks of listening to the ifi Pro iDSD there is no way I could live anymore without it, so I acquired it.
The Pro iDSD has a lot of functionality that you could see on the ifi website https://ifi-audio.com/home/products/pro/ I will focus more on the sound and changes I have noticed from the micro iDSD Black.
The global sound grows in small big changes, the separation, fluidity, speed, soundstage of the tracks is so better defined that you can’t stop playing and thinking constantly “this one is really on another level of gear”. That’s not a subtle change, the global sound character is similar to the micro iDSD Black Label, but sounds are presented very fast, the sense of speed is really impressive, the impact, transients, instrument separation, identification of the elements on the soundstage, multiple voices are perfectly separated, it’s all there, every audio file you play on the Pro iDSD is a new experience. I do remember in the past of investing a lot more and get almost none.
If you own one of the other ifi product line like the nano, micro, or even other brand DAC of the same price level, when you connect the Pro iDSD you will have a constant audio discover on each track of your library, it’s noticeable right away if your system has the quality to show and reveal what the iDSD pro can archive you will be amazed.
The micro iDSD Black was a feat for the price, but the Pro iDSD takes every aspect from the micro iDSD BL and gives him super powers.
The iDSD Pro has almost all features you will ever need, there are two absent from the pro iDSD the XBass and 3D sound, you can have this feature in the Pro iCan, but having them in the Pro iDSD is a miss in my most minimalistic good sounding system I can have, and to add these features the pro iCan is a necessary add-on that comes with more cables and more accessories in the middle of the sound signal. The iDSD approach for me is more a puristic approach and first a DAC, all the other features come for me as a bonus, it’s a product that will reveal all elements of the sound presentation, and plays your music files from multiple formats, it’s very easy to setup and very well built, and the oled in the middle of the unit makes me in love by it
So the iDSD Pro for me it’s finesse, fireworks, emotion, love, an even better capacity of turning small detail perceptible in a way that appears natural to my ears, it’s adds macro to the texture detail in the mix, better quality bass, initially the bass appears to be less present, less present in this case of the Pro iDSD is not less bass, but a bass with musical scale and better defined, there is no 3D or XBass, but there is a lot more to take out from every track.
The iDSD Pro will not hide a bad recording, It will show without any guilt the quality of a bad studio engineer or a low quality mix, if the mix is bad it will sound very bad, but if you give the Pro iDSD a better quality track, you will make your speakers rock has they never think they would be capable of, after that you will not let the iDSD Pro go back to the store.
There are a lot of offers in this segment, some more expensive, some less, I have built my system from the beginning on the original ifi IDSD Sound Signature, so in my case it was a perfect match.
I didn’t focus on many aspects like streaming, digital filters, upsampling to DSD1024, playing directly from SD or SSD USB HD, and finely Airplay, the Airplay functionality is my favorite and there is a lot more the Pro iDSD can do, In the last weeks I tried some of this functionality for curiosity and they all shine in a way that describing it will take weeks or months, my main use will be in the desktop computer and I am loving it.
If you are serious about your audio, the ifi Pro iDSD should be one of the higher priorities on your list of a DAC acquisition. If the price is too hot, the micro iDSD Black Label could give you a lot from the Pro iDSD at a very affordable price, and is my favorite DAC in the price / sound return equation.
All devices where connect to an Audioquest Nigara, the power cables including computer and ifi IDSD Pro were with Audioquest Tornado, and Audioquest Thunder for each of the Speakers.
USB Cables in use are ifi Gemini 3.0 and Audioquest Diamond USB Cable, also used ifi iUSB 3.0 in between.
Speakers are Focal Solo 6BE.
Interconnect Linn Silver balanced.
Software used, Roon and Audirvana.
The related review is a personal opinion of the experience and use of the products acquired. All products were acquired at retail price, in normal stores that have them in stock, and I am not sponsored by any of the brands mentioned or any kind of brand.
