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I'm sorry, but what does this have to do with how much better my CAD cable is than a regular USB? I sold my car for it, and it's amazing.

Sure, no problem! I was on the fence between the Nano and the Micro as well... There's no doubt the Nano at $189 represents an amazing value. That said, I really wanted the Xbass and 3D options... Which would require coupling the Nano iDSD ($169) to the Nano iCan. So I'd have a stack of two, roughly the same size as the Micro, for $358. Also, some of my IEMs are pretty high sensitivity, meaning I might get some hiss from the Nano stuff, unless I bought the IFI attenuator... The attenuator tech is built into the Micro. Then add the iPurifier which is also built into the Micro (that would otherwise run $100), the functions to adjust 3 levels of gain, a polarity switch, the ability to run the Micro as a desktop small speaker solution or full size stereo preamp, the overall better DAC and amp of the Micro, and finally the fact that the Micro can charge an iPhone twice over with the USB type A side charging port... I figured that even though the Micro runs more than twice what the Nano iDSD does, or $141 more than the Nano iDSD/iCan combo, it's still actually the better deal...

Thanks for the replies, guys. I was fairly certain I was correct, but thought I'd check with the experts... I don't notice any difference at all in sound between iOS devices. I use it with the iPod Touch because it's the most convenient. However, when attached to a computer, I do notice a difference when the Micro iDSD is running on it's internal battery VS when it's drawing power via the USB... When it's using it's internal battery, it's identical to the iOS devices. But when it's drawing USB power, it's slightly (and I mean slightly) less impactful overall. The most noticeable area is the lower bass register... It presents just a half notch less than it's usual depth and impact. So I prefer the Micro iDSD running battery power, even when connected to a computer running off juice from a wall socket. @PWGuy... Do you mean how does it sound compared to the internal DAC and amplifier of the iPhone?.. Night and day. I get there are some portables that don't do much... I was hard-pressed to detect a difference switching between my phone's headphone jack and an attached Astell & Kern AK10, for instance... But this is not that. Thicker, meatier, sound, more liquid highs, deeper more impactful bass. And of course the Micro iDSD can drive anything. My phone can't open up my Audeze LCD2.2 to their full potential, for instance. Also, while an iOS device can store DSD files via apps like Onkyo's HF player, I don't believe the onboard DAC is capable of translating them in their pure form. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong. I believe a DSD capable external DAC is required... The Micro iDSD supports up to octa-DSD files... Which don't even exist yet. I believe it's the only DAC in the world that can do that, at any price point..?

Say I'm using a mobile source, such as an iOS device, with an external DAC/amp combo unit. Now say I have several iOS devices which I can swap the DAC/amp unit between, depending on... Whatever. The day of the week. Say iPhone Monday, iPod Tuesday, iPad Wednesday, etc. etc. Assuming each of the iOS devices are capable of storing and playing DSD files (via Onkyo HF player), and each are capable of supporting the Tidal high-rez streaming app, Spotify, iTiunes, whatever... Will I notice any difference in sound quality between the devices? Will the iPod sound differently with the DAC/amp than the iPhone or the iPad? I have always assumed not... My reasoning being that the actual digital into analog sound duties are handled by the DAC/amp unit, which will sound the same with any of the devices... As they are just in charge of supplying the digital data, the ones and zeros. However I had a discussion with a guy at local stereo shop who believes differently... This is kind of intriguing to me. I own an iPad Air 2, an iPhone 6, and a Touch 5g (latest gen)... I've been running the iPod for the last few days with an IFI Micro iDSD, simply because the iPod was the most convenient. But if the iPad Air 2 with the iDSD will really provide better sound, I'll switch...