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iFi Audio nano iDSD Black Label - Supercharge your mobile music! (TOUR DETAILS - page 1)


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iFi Audio nano iDSD Black Label

Supercharge your mobile music!

 

In a nutshell, the nano iDSD Black label is...

  • an MQA compatible DAC/headphone amp that can be both portable or home-based.
  • an MQA compatible DAC/headphone amp which drives headphones up to 600Ohm and will work with an amp or active speakers via the 3.5mm line out.

 

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As soon as the original, award winning nano iDSD appeared on the market in 2014, it changed the game for portable DACs.

 

  • One of the worlds first battery-powered DAC to be compatible with iPhone and Android phones
  • It offered full high-resolution audio playback and supported DXD and DSD formats
  • And it offered a high-power headphone output

 

The nano iDSD Black Label will change the game again.

 

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Building on previous nano models, it has the same stunning matt black and burnt orange detailing as its big brother, the micro iDSD . With much of the same internals, it is portable yet mighty.

 

Powerful. Convenient. Flexible.

With 10 times more power than an iPhone, it can drive any set of headphones with aplomb, and, with a battery life of over 10 hours, you can take it with you wherever you go. Sonics are unsurpassed and listening is pure joy.

 

Supercharge your mobile music.

The new BL is one of the most high resolution DACs on the market plus weve added MQA authentication to give you even more file choice.  Just connect your smartphone and experience a level of Spotify, Tidal  or Apple Music like never before.

 

There is no doubt that the new BL punches above its class.

 

A real power house

Powerful dual-mono HPA/analogue stage with 285mW headphone amplifier (max output power 32R) with exemplary signal/ground circuitry and cherry-picked components.

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S-Balanced Technology

This provides full benefit of balanced outputs when used with headphones and IEMs fitted with balanced wiring with low noise and distortion. Cuts crosstalk in half even for unbalanced headphones.

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Burr-Brown True Native chipset

Burr-Brown True Native DAC up to DSD 256/DXD384/PCM384kHz.

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ZeroJitter Lite®

Low jitter crystal clock – separate crystal oscillators for 44.1 and 48khz based audio. This is sourced from AMR and has the iFi iPurifier built-in.

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Ten hours of pure portable bliss

On-the-go, the Lithium Polymer battery gives the nano iDSD Black Label 10 hours of non-stop music enjoyment.

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The MQA revolution

The nano iDSD Black Label is the first iFi product to be MQA compatible and joins the revolution

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Specification

 

Dynamic Range (Line)  > 109db(A)

THD & N (0dBFS Line)  < 0.004%

Output Voltage (Line)  > 2.15V

Output Impedance (Zout)  < 240Ω

Channel Separation  > 99dB (@ 1kHz)

Jitter (correlated)  Below AP2 test set limit

 

(Headamp Section)

 

Dynamic Range (HPA & DAC)  > 109dB(A) @ 3V (Normal out)

   > 107dB(A) @ 0.5V (High Sensitivity Out)   With iEMatch®

 

THD &N (@ 125mW/30R)  < 0.005%

 

Max. Output (<10% THD)  > 3.5V @ 600Ω Load (Normal out)  20mW

   > 2.9V @ 30Ω Load (Normal out)  285mW

   > 1.7V @ 15Ω Load (Normal out)  200mW

 

Output Impedance (Zout)  <=1Ω (Normal Sensitivity Output)

   <=4Ω (High Sensitivity iEMatch® Out)

 

Channel Separation  > 79dB @ 600Ω Load (Normal out)  (1kHz)

   > 79dB @ 15Ω Load (Normal out)  (1kHz

 

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The nano iDSD Black Label is US$199 (ex-tax) or €249/£199 (incl. VAT).

Our PowerStation is here: click me!

 

Check out our Tidal MQA Set-up Guides below. 
Android (Renderer) Mobile
Desktop (Decoder) via USB
Desktop (Decoder) via SPDIF

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Could you please describe what comes in the box with this unit (i.e. cables) ? Are they available in France ? ... if so where ?

Main System: NAS or QOBUZ > BlueSound Node 2i > Schiit Gungnir MultiBit > PYST XLR > Schiit Mjolnir 2 or Gilmore Lite MK2

 

Office System: iMac > Audirvana > Schiit EITR + Audiophonics LPS25 > Metrum FLINT NOS DAC (DAC TWO chips) > Schiit Magni 3+ > Aeon Flow Open

 

Loudspeaker System: NAIM Muso Gen 2

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30 minutes ago, Samuel T Cogley said:

 

Hello iFI.  Don't see this on Musicdirect or Amazon, who are my local iFI dealers. :)

 

Thanks

 

In the USA it's Music Direct and Audio Advisor. Please ask them, even though their offer might not be updated yet.

Our PowerStation is here: click me!

 

Check out our Tidal MQA Set-up Guides below. 
Android (Renderer) Mobile
Desktop (Decoder) via USB
Desktop (Decoder) via SPDIF

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Nano iDSD Black Label Tour!

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Just like the last time we announced a Black Label product, the tour announcement comes right after! For those that are
familiar with the Micro iDSD BL Tour from not too long ago, the Nano iDSD BL Tour will be very similar.
 
Am I eligible for the tour?
 
We’d love to share the iFi love around as much as we can, and we’ll thus be trying our best to accommodate as many
people as we can. So, we encourage you to sign up if you have an interest in the Nano iDSD BL regardless of where you
are in your HiFi journey.

 

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We’ll eventually be dividing up the tour groups into geographical regions as we see fit. Unfortunately, if a particular region
has a low interest in touring the unit, we may not be able to accommodate those that are interested there. So, be sure to
tell your friends to sign up too! 
 
How do you sign up?!
 
To sign up, simply shoot an email to [email protected] with the title: Nano iDSDBL Tour (BLANK).


NOTE: For the (BLANK), please fill in your region as USA, UK, EU, ASIA, or OTHER. THIS IS INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT! Please make sure to do this!


In the email, please include the following:

  1. Username AND link to your CA Profile.
  2. Location
  3. Tell us the gear that you plan on connecting the Nano iDSD Black Label to.
  4. If you have any links of reviews that you've done, let us know!

Please note that the deadline for the sign-up process is 11/19/2017, and the individuals selected will be
announced and contacted thereafter.
 
Rules for this Tour: 

  1. Each CA member will be given 1 weeks time to spend with the unit.
  2. After the given amount of time has passed, each CA member is responsible for safely packing the unit, shipping the unit to the next CA member, and covering the shipping costs.
  3. Each CA member will be required to post a review of the Nano iDSD Black Label within 1 week of shipping the unit off to the next CA member on the Nano iDSD Black Label product page HERE.
  4. Otherwise, the most important thing is to kick back, have fun, and enjoy some of your favorite tunes through the Nano iDSD Black Label! We hope you love it as much as we do!

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  • Prizes:

YUP! The prize pool makes a return again this year with the Nano iDSD BL Tour! Feelin’ lucky?


Just like last year’s tour, we will be giving away the tour unit to a lucky individual in each leg of the tour. Your ticket is
simply a link to your review and proof that you put effort and real thought into it. The prize draw will, again, be completely
random as to avoid any sort of biases. That means honesty is key here folks and a rave review won’t change a thing!
On top of that, we’ll be giving away 1 pair of 1More Quad-Driver In-Ear Headphones that have been generously provided
to us by the 1More team! We’d like to give a big thank you to David from the 1More USA team for hooking us up with
some awesome in-ears to match with Nano iDSD BL!


Thank You!


We’d like to also give a big thank you to everyone out there that has supported us and helped us get to where we are
today. To those that have yet to try their hands at an iFi Audio product, we hope to welcome you to the iFi family soon!
We hope to hear from you all soon!

Our PowerStation is here: click me!

 

Check out our Tidal MQA Set-up Guides below. 
Android (Renderer) Mobile
Desktop (Decoder) via USB
Desktop (Decoder) via SPDIF

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Just got one of these.  It needed a firmware update to work with MQA.  Based on a lot of experimentation, Nano BL seems to work only as an MQA Renderer, not a full decoder (like the new Dragonfly Black/Red as opposed to the Meridian Explorer 2).

 

The MQA firmware is beta, meaning there are still some rough edges.  For example, the indicator light will only give a white color when playing PCM, regardless of sample rate.  MQA is purple, DSD is always cyan, even at DSD256 (info card says DSD256 should be blue).

 

I like the sound of this DAC and I'm looking forward to better firmware to address the bugs.  Sometimes I found it necessary to unplug/power cycle the DAC when it got confused about MQA/non-MQA content.

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On 25.11.2017 at 6:19 PM, Samuel T Cogley said:

Just got one of these.  It needed a firmware update to work with MQA.  Based on a lot of experimentation, Nano BL seems to work only as an MQA Renderer, not a full decoder (like the new Dragonfly Black/Red as opposed to the Meridian Explorer 2).

 

The MQA firmware is beta, meaning there are still some rough edges.  For example, the indicator light will only give a white color when playing PCM, regardless of sample rate.  MQA is purple, DSD is always cyan, even at DSD256 (info card says DSD256 should be blue).

 

I like the sound of this DAC and I'm looking forward to better firmware to address the bugs.  Sometimes I found it necessary to unplug/power cycle the DAC when it got confused about MQA/non-MQA content.

 

There are some minor LED related things we're addressing. 

Our PowerStation is here: click me!

 

Check out our Tidal MQA Set-up Guides below. 
Android (Renderer) Mobile
Desktop (Decoder) via USB
Desktop (Decoder) via SPDIF

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37 minutes ago, AMR/iFi audio said:

 

There are some minor LED related things we're addressing. 

 

Thanks for this.  Can you specify/confirm what type of MQA decoding happens in the Nano BL?  Is it complete decoding or "MQA Render" only?

 

I see this in the info card:

 

Quote

 

nano iDSD Black Label includes MQA rendering technology...

 

 

This means render only?

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38 minutes ago, Samuel T Cogley said:

 

Thanks for this.  Can you specify/confirm what type of MQA decoding happens in the Nano BL?  Is it complete decoding or "MQA Render" only?

 

I see this in the info card:

 

 

This means render only?

 

Renderer. At this price range and after taking into consideration what nano BL already does and how small it is, there was no way it could do decoding and keep its price intact. 

Our PowerStation is here: click me!

 

Check out our Tidal MQA Set-up Guides below. 
Android (Renderer) Mobile
Desktop (Decoder) via USB
Desktop (Decoder) via SPDIF

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Hello @AMR/iFi audio

 

The new errata on the firmware download site says:

 

Quote

With PCM, LED is white as it is Upsampled 8x (Minimum Phase and Minimum Ringing filters).

 

So this means we'll never see a light color other than white for PCM on the Nano BL?  FWIW, this rule is also in affect with the rear switch in "measure", which I believe is linear phase filter(s).

 

The info card was printed with all the color variations for sample rates.  But iFi is saying that architecturally, this is not possible with the Nano BL and the info card was a mistake?

 

Thanks

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Howdy guys! I was able to be a part of this tour on another community, excited to see that you guys have a presence here as well!

 

I'm excited to hear this non the less and do plan to post mt impressions here as well as else where! So a big thank you to iFi for allowing me to be included and helping me discover another audio community to read through and learn from and participate in!

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On 28.11.2017 at 8:52 PM, Samuel T Cogley said:

Hello @AMR/iFi audio

 

The new errata on the firmware download site says:

 

 

So this means we'll never see a light color other than white for PCM on the Nano BL?  FWIW, this rule is also in affect with the rear switch in "measure", which I believe is linear phase filter(s).

 

The info card was printed with all the color variations for sample rates.  But iFi is saying that architecturally, this is not possible with the Nano BL and the info card was a mistake?

 

Thanks

 

MQA integration proved a little more difficult that both we and MQA Ltd anticipated. The current beta 5.3C is the first stable firmware with MQA.

 

Others that will match the behaviour of the 5.20/5.2A Firmware are in the works. For now you can load 5.2X for the standard operation and 5.3C Beta for MQA.

 

The soon to be released firmware 5.30 will operate according to the manual including MQA.

Our PowerStation is here: click me!

 

Check out our Tidal MQA Set-up Guides below. 
Android (Renderer) Mobile
Desktop (Decoder) via USB
Desktop (Decoder) via SPDIF

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  • 1 month later...
On 13.01.2018 at 12:32 AM, Mshenay said:

Sad to say so little activity here, non the less I am participating in the HF tour so I figured I'll cross post my impressions here as well!

 

Just got the unit it and thus far I'm really impressed with the size and weight.

 

Many thanks!

Our PowerStation is here: click me!

 

Check out our Tidal MQA Set-up Guides below. 
Android (Renderer) Mobile
Desktop (Decoder) via USB
Desktop (Decoder) via SPDIF

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How long are folks seeing the battery last?  If you don't mind.

 

I'm running an iPhone 6s with the ifi nano iDSD BL and Focal Spirit One S headphones with Tidal offline, all on straight battery power (iPhone and ifi).  What type of duration should I be seeing out of the ifi?  The iphone battery pushing Tidal lasts forever, the ifi, not so much.

 

What are you folks seeing? 

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1 hour ago, slatedrake said:

How long are folks seeing the battery last?  If you don't mind.

 

I'm running an iPhone 6s with the ifi nano iDSD BL and Focal Spirit One S headphones with Tidal offline, all on straight battery power (iPhone and ifi).  What type of duration should I be seeing out of the ifi?  The iphone battery pushing Tidal lasts forever, the ifi, not so much.

 

What are you folks seeing? 

 

It should run up to 10 hours, but this depends on volume level, headphones used etc.

Our PowerStation is here: click me!

 

Check out our Tidal MQA Set-up Guides below. 
Android (Renderer) Mobile
Desktop (Decoder) via USB
Desktop (Decoder) via SPDIF

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Yeah. 

 

Focal Spirit One S headphones

Volume set straight up at mid-way point

 

Other info as above and I'm seeing 3 hour until the light turns red, and then another 3 hours until it's completely worn down.

 

So six hours total, with the whole weird '10% remaining' red light on for half of it.

 

I'll open a ticket with your guys.


Thx,


C

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