iDSD Pro

[christopher3393]

Does Music Direct negotiate at all on prices?

 

Nope. You have to hope for a "demo" discount. Often these are returns.

[etc6849]

Thanks. I'll probably wait for an Adorama combo deal and sell whatever headphones come with it.

 

Thinking I can flip the lcd-3's that come with the pro ican I ordered and end up a little below $1k. Need to do something similar on the pro idsd or I'll probably pass.

 

Nope. You have to hope for a "demo" discount. Often these are returns.

[Topspin]

Yah...i'm pretty much done waiting. Unless AMR releases at least the final specs by Friday, I'm going for the new Benchmark DAC3. The Mytek Brooklyn has a ton of cool features, but I probably won't use them all with any regularity. The DAC3 has everything I need and nothing I don't. It's also significantly less $$ and smaller than the Yiggy (which was also on the short list). The balanced headphone output, tube option and the DSD512 (1024?) on the iDSD PRO is super cool, but not must-haves. I have no doubt it will awesome anyway. Happy listening, all!

[AMR/iFi audio]

'Nuff said!

 

 

[crion]

Hello iFi, now that Warner releases is officially on the MQA train and Tidal is releasing their Masters section of 30.000 songs in hires MQA. Are you soon officially on the MQA train for true end to end DAC compensated MQA in iFi products and iDSD pro?

[AMR/iFi audio]

Hello iFi, now that Warner releases is officially on the MQA train and Tidal is releasing their Masters section of 30.000 songs in hires MQA. Are you soon officially on the MQA train for true end to end DAC compensated MQA in iFi products and iDSD pro?

 

We constantly monitor the situation.

[Totsipaki]

That means you are considering It.. Good the party is on and though for the time being small as far as the mainstream goes It is rather large in the audiophile microcosm where you belong and considering the interest and the sonic merits (I have verified via another manufacturer) It is now impossible for anyone to ignore.

 

If audioquest could do It in the toys they are selling then you could do It too!! Heck the whole MQA philosophy even matches your bitperfect approach to digital (opposed to chords tap thing which surely must make It almost impossible to implement coocing up the digital signal so much..)

 

Your bulletproof high quality and vfm products surely deserve better than Tidal's software decoding (aka MQA halfway)..

[AMR/iFi audio]

Boys and girls, just a quick reminder. We'll attend to UK's world famous Sound & Vision - Bristol Show. As per usual, we'll show a new thing or two there, so if you're around, please come and visit us!

The date: 24th - 26th of February

The place: Marriott City Centre Hotel, Lower Castle Street, Bristol, BS1 3AD

The brand: iFi Audio / suite 11

For further info, please take a look here:

http://www.bristolshow.co.uk

See you on the spot!

[crion]

We constantly monitor the situation.

 

Thanks, I've started to taste the sweet TIDAL MQA juice and I'm impressed with just the software decoding in the Tidal desktop app. An iDSD Pro with hardware MQA would be hard to resist for me.

[AMR/iFi audio]

The Pro iESL

First among energizers

The Pro series iESL is an unsurpassed energiser for electrostatic headphones (and transformer-coupled stage for flagship dynamic headphones too).

 

The Pro iESL driven by either the iFi Pro iCAN or a powerful amplifier takes electrostatic headphones to an unprecedented level of performance.

 

Its defining characteristic is a transparency and an ultra-wide dynamic range that is totally natural. The Pro iESL works with Stax, Sennheiser Orpheus and many more.

 

Classic & Cutting Edge Technology

 

The Pro iESL’s three key elements combine the very best in classical approaches with the latest in cutting-edge technology AND superb component quality to deliver the ‘perfectly matched’ headphone experience.

 

•      Atypical Pinstripe Permalloy Core transformer

•      Bias voltage generator

•      Capacitive Battery Power Supply

 

Outstanding Component Quality

 

• One-off, hand-wound, Pinstripe Permalloy Core Transformer
• Wima Capacitors 
• Vishay MELF resistors
• Gold-plated silver and sealed-silver alloy contact relays

 

 

Specifications
Maximum Output voltage:	640V RMS (16Ω/20V in) 320V RMS (64Ω/20V in)
Frequency Response:	5Hz – 50kHz (-3dB)
Input Voltage (Pro iESL):	5V – 9V/1A max
Input Voltage (iPower):	AC 85 – 265V, 50/60Hz
Power Consumption:	< 1W
Dimensions:	213(l) x 206(w) x 63.3(h) mm
Weight:	2.5kg (5.5 lbs)

 

The retail price of the Pro iESL is US$1,399 (ex-tax) or €1,575/£1,395 (incl VAT).

 

Stay tuned, tech stuff coming up shortly!

[AMR/iFi audio]

To be shown with Sennheiser Orpheus HE-1 is a reason for us to be proud, hence we'll just leave the proof here...

[Lord Raven]

How much is iDSD Pro? I did not find the price on ifi website.

[rickca]

13 minutes ago, Lord Raven said:

How much is iDSD Pro? I did not find the price on ifi website.

If you're talking about the Pro iESL announced a few posts up, it says

The retail price of the Pro iESL is US$1,399 (ex-tax) or €1,575/£1,395 (incl VAT). 

 

Personally, I'm still hoping for an iDSD Pro DAC.

 

 

[Lord Raven]

35 minutes ago, rickca said:

If you're talking about the Pro iESL announced a few posts up, it says

The retail price of the Pro iESL is US$1,399 (ex-tax) or €1,575/£1,395 (incl VAT). 

 

Personally, I'm still hoping for an iDSD Pro DAC.

 

 

 

Same here, I know the prices you just told me. 

 

I have a Chord Mojo, I run my headphones through it, almost all the time I use it as a stand-alone  DAC for my studio monitors and tube amp. I was looking for something else, a full blown DAC. I used Geek Pulse SFi, it was good but only for a while.

[AMR/iFi audio]

On 22.06.2017 at 7:02 AM, Lord Raven said:

 

Same here, I know the prices you just told me. 

 

I have a Chord Mojo, I run my headphones through it, almost all the time I use it as a stand-alone  DAC for my studio monitors and tube amp. I was looking for something else, a full blown DAC. I used Geek Pulse SFi, it was good but only for a while.

 

The Pro iDSD will arrive, we've put so much effort to have it at this almost complete stage. This is a very important product for us, we don't want and won't rush it.

[kelvinwsy]

Yes but the 64 Million Dollar Question is WHEN? We ifi fans have been waiting since Mid 2015. Is it going to be before year end. Some of us have worn out our idsd micro once over (battery dead), gone onto the BL and if things don't happen guess we will have to become customers of something like the T& A DSD 8>??

 

An update and a sneak preview of the special goodies in this much delayed Pro iDSD will be much appreciated. 

[AMR/iFi audio]

On 23.08.2017 at 7:46 AM, kelvinwsy said:

Yes but the 64 Million Dollar Question is WHEN? We ifi fans have been waiting since Mid 2015. Is it going to be before year end. Some of us have worn out our idsd micro once over (battery dead), gone onto the BL and if things don't happen guess we will have to become customers of something like the T& A DSD 8>??

 

An update and a sneak preview of the special goodies in this much delayed Pro iDSD will be much appreciated. 

 

We feel your pain, we really do! Yet it goes rather without saying how important Pro iDSD is for us. Becaue we aim at something truly impressive, we cant rush the development process. And in order to achieve that, time is needed. 

 

To make this rather blunt and a bit harsh statement a bit sweeter, let us just say that the development process is almost done and we're deep in the tweaking phase. And once this is done, we'll start to propagate our usuall tech talk. Folks, we aren't that far off. We can't give any specifics yet, but the Pro iDSD cogs are moving nicely.

 

[rickca]

8 hours ago, AMR/iFi audio said:

We can't give any specifics yet, but the Pro iDSD cogs are moving nicely.

I just read that iFi will implement MQA in new product lines.  That will probably delay things even more.

[Totsipaki]

Hi I did not want to be the first to reveal It but since Its out well yes there will be MQA compatibility in the new PRO Ifi dac. From my experience from my Mytek Brooklyn this takes several months to develop. But since nobody knows when this was decided then there is a very high probability this dac will be out in the market before 2018. Since I am very happy with my Black Label I sincerely hope Ifi given the opportunity implements MQA universally in all Its dacs. 

[AMR/iFi audio]

On 27.08.2017 at 1:04 AM, rickca said:

I just read that iFi will implement MQA in new product lines.  That will probably delay things even more.

 

We neither confirm nor deny MQA.

[lmitche]

12 minutes ago, AMR/iFi audio said:

 

We neither confirm nor deny MQA.

Please don't include MQA. I want MQA to fail. It is a DRM technology and has no benefits for the consumer. The fewer DACs with MQA the better. We may have to start a boycott of MQA enabled DACs in support of a DRM free world.

[AMR/iFi audio]

22 minutes ago, lmitche said:

Please don't include MQA. I want MQA to fail. It is a DRM technology and has no benefits for the consumer. The fewer DACs with MQA the better. We may have to start a boycott of MQA enabled DACs in support of a DRM free world.

 

As far as MQA goes, we look into it.

[rickca]

On 8/29/2017 at 9:18 AM, AMR/iFi audio said:

 

We neither confirm nor deny MQA.

From IFA today

MQA will be supporting partner demonstrations at this year’s IFA, including new MQA hardware partner, iFi Audio, who will be showing their prototype micro iDSD Black Label DAC featuring MQA integration.

[Totsipaki]

On 29/8/2017 at 4:26 PM, lmitche said:

Please don't include MQA. I want MQA to fail. It is a DRM technology and has no benefits for the consumer. The fewer DACs with MQA the better. We may have to start a boycott of MQA enabled DACs in support of a DRM free world.

Do not over react. MQA is the most honest digital format and the only one that garrantees the provided quality. Do not blame It for not being perfect red book is imperfect and hires is imperfect and without any way to ensure it is not upsampled redbook. The audiophile dream to stream everything into quad dsd or dxd is not viable neither possible (not everything is recorded that way) 

[rickca]

22 hours ago, rickca said:

MQA will be supporting partner demonstrations at this year’s IFA, including new MQA hardware partner, iFi Audio, who will be showing their prototype micro iDSD Black Label DAC featuring MQA integration.

@AMR/iFi audio many CA members buy the micro iDSD BL because it does DSD512 with HQPlayer.  To us, MQA support is pointless.  In any event, it's really important that MQA support can be disabled so that it has absolutely no influence on the way the BL works today.