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

[AMR/iFi audio]

On 28.01.2018 at 8:58 PM, slatedrake said:

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

 

Yes, please do that. Thanks!

[Mshenay]

My reviews for this bad boi are finally ready, both video and written

http://hifilowlight.blogspot.com/2018/02/ifi-audio-idsd-nano-black-label.html

 

[Mshenay]

Now in my video review I choose not to comment on the MQA Playback for the iFi iDSD Nano Black Label. This was because I do not have Tidal my self nor access to to it, how ever I had the chance to finally hear the iDSD Nano Black Label with an MQA Master!!!

 

 

 For better or worse I waited until after I listened to the MQA Master to take my pic, the meet was a little busy so I didn't have prime time for arranging everything as I wanted. Non the less, I took the iFi iDSD Nano Black Label for a spin with some Megadeath! I choose their Rust In Peace album and took Tornado of Souls for a listen, I did so with my ZMF Eikon and the iCan Pro Amp set to Tube-output. An WOW I was yet again impressed with how clear and vivid the sound was. While the music was un-familiar to me the level of resolve I heard was not, in switching between the MQA Master and Non MQA Master there was indeed an increase to the spaciousness and blackness overall. While MQA Masters don't take the iFi iDSD Nano into the "next level" I felt it was enough of an improvement to maybe justify a Tidal Subscription... maybe.

 

The sheer convenience of both Tidal and the quality of it's MQA Masters really encapsulate what the iFi iDSD Nano is about! Quality and convenience packaged in a light weight easy to use form factor without compromise. So for those of you maybe looking for the ultimate in light weight listening, your Cell a Tidal Subscription and this little magic black box might be all you need! I won't say it's the most cost effective solution, but again it's by far one of the most liberating. What ever music you want, where ever you want it, without the fuss of managing a myriad of SD Cards or a library of offline files, you don't even have to hunt for the "perfect Master" either as again Tidal's taken that time to procure it for you! If Tidal continues to expand it's MQA Master library I may even buy into the madness... maybe.

 

Conclusion                                                                                       

iFi Audio have once again been the first to launch another amazing product in an emerging market. It's light weight small size and sheer functionality combined with MQA rendering really make it a highly competitive portable for today's growing market of streaming consumers. I even found it to subtlety help open up the often closed in sound of lossy from my own Spotify and Napster streaming services. All in all any one searching for a highly functional portable Dac-Amp to serve a collection of both super sensitive iems and moderately sensitive fullsize/portable headphones across a wide variety of both digital sources and playback rates will be hard pressed to find better option at this price point!  

[AMR/iFi audio]

On 3.02.2018 at 2:15 AM, Mshenay said:

Now in my video review I choose not to comment on the MQA Playback for the iFi iDSD Nano Black Label. This was because I do not have Tidal my self nor access to to it, how ever I had the chance to finally hear the iDSD Nano Black Label with an MQA Master!!!

 

 

 For better or worse I waited until after I listened to the MQA Master to take my pic, the meet was a little busy so I didn't have prime time for arranging everything as I wanted. Non the less, I took the iFi iDSD Nano Black Label for a spin with some Megadeath! I choose their Rust In Peace album and took Tornado of Souls for a listen, I did so with my ZMF Eikon and the iCan Pro Amp set to Tube-output. An WOW I was yet again impressed with how clear and vivid the sound was. While the music was un-familiar to me the level of resolve I heard was not, in switching between the MQA Master and Non MQA Master there was indeed an increase to the spaciousness and blackness overall. While MQA Masters don't take the iFi iDSD Nano into the "next level" I felt it was enough of an improvement to maybe justify a Tidal Subscription... maybe.

 

The sheer convenience of both Tidal and the quality of it's MQA Masters really encapsulate what the iFi iDSD Nano is about! Quality and convenience packaged in a light weight easy to use form factor without compromise. So for those of you maybe looking for the ultimate in light weight listening, your Cell a Tidal Subscription and this little magic black box might be all you need! I won't say it's the most cost effective solution, but again it's by far one of the most liberating. What ever music you want, where ever you want it, without the fuss of managing a myriad of SD Cards or a library of offline files, you don't even have to hunt for the "perfect Master" either as again Tidal's taken that time to procure it for you! If Tidal continues to expand it's MQA Master library I may even buy into the madness... maybe.

 

Conclusion                                                                                       

iFi Audio have once again been the first to launch another amazing product in an emerging market. It's light weight small size and sheer functionality combined with MQA rendering really make it a highly competitive portable for today's growing market of streaming consumers. I even found it to subtlety help open up the often closed in sound of lossy from my own Spotify and Napster streaming services. All in all any one searching for a highly functional portable Dac-Amp to serve a collection of both super sensitive iems and moderately sensitive fullsize/portable headphones across a wide variety of both digital sources and playback rates will be hard pressed to find better option at this price point!  

 

Amazing job, thank you!

[AMR/iFi audio]

Folks, just a quick reminder:

 

The Audio Show 2018 
...is currently ongoing in Portugal's capital city - Lisbon. 

  

And we're there! You'll find us on the 3rd floor of Pestana palace. If you're around, visit us!

 

We're rocking with Pro iDSDs, BLs, Pro iCANs, Focal's Utopia headphones etc. 

 

 

 

 

See you there!

[RJeff]

Maybe someone can help me - the ifi Nano Black Label seems to have problems playing back Tidal MQA files that are meant to be gapless. For example, the end of track 3 of Giuilini's Don Giovanni, "Non sperar" is meant to play into track 4 seamlessly. On the Red Book version, it does. As for the MQA version, on other MQA DACs it does (Meridian Explorer, Dragonfly Red) but the Nano BL seems to lose the MQA connection for a split second between tracks, losing the last few words of the piece. (The Magenta LED winks out for a bit, and the DAC goes silent.) With some tweaking I can fix this on my trial version of Roon, but I'm not sure I want to pay $500 for a subscription to fix something that is clearly a firmware issue with the Nano BL. (Yes, I have the latest update.)

Any thoughts or suggestions (or further upgrades to fix this)?

[AMR/iFi audio]

15 hours ago, RJeff said:

Maybe someone can help me - the ifi Nano Black Label seems to have problems playing back Tidal MQA files that are meant to be gapless. For example, the end of track 3 of Giuilini's Don Giovanni, "Non sperar" is meant to play into track 4 seamlessly. On the Red Book version, it does. As for the MQA version, on other MQA DACs it does (Meridian Explorer, Dragonfly Red) but the Nano BL seems to lose the MQA connection for a split second between tracks, losing the last few words of the piece. (The Magenta LED winks out for a bit, and the DAC goes silent.) With some tweaking I can fix this on my trial version of Roon, but I'm not sure I want to pay $500 for a subscription to fix something that is clearly a firmware issue with the Nano BL. (Yes, I have the latest update.)

Any thoughts or suggestions (or further upgrades to fix this)?

 

Please shoot us a PM here: http://support.ifi-audio.com

 

...and we'll do our best to help you out.

[RJeff]

In case anyone comes here via a search - the answer was to go into the iFi USB Control Panel (in Windows- in Show Hidden Icons) and adjust the buffer settings from "Safe" to "Standard."

[AMR/iFi audio]

14 hours ago, RJeff said:

In case anyone comes here via a search - the answer was to go into the iFi USB Control Panel (in Windows- in Show Hidden Icons) and adjust the buffer settings from "Safe" to "Standard."

 

Thanks!

[CCR]

On 5/28/2018 at 10:33 PM, RJeff said:

In case anyone comes here via a search - the answer was to go into the iFi USB Control Panel (in Windows- in Show Hidden Icons) and adjust the buffer settings from "Safe" to "Standard."

 

Thank you for this, however this does not rectify things for a Mac - since there isn’t a driver, you can’t adjust the settings. Therefore, no gapless play for MQA tracks in Tidal. Which is frankly ridiculous, classical and live albums are rendered unlistenable. I bought the iFi BL specifically to listen this way, and there appears to be no workaround. Even sent a ticket to iFi support, and they basically had no idea what I was talking about, or how this (lack of a feature) was disconcerting. I do appreciate you reporting your findings, though.

[AMR/iFi audio]

On 6/5/2018 at 9:43 PM, CCR said:

 

Thank you for this, however this does not rectify things for a Mac - since there isn’t a driver, you can’t adjust the settings. Therefore, no gapless play for MQA tracks in Tidal. Which is frankly ridiculous, classical and live albums are rendered unlistenable. I bought the iFi BL specifically to listen this way, and there appears to be no workaround. Even sent a ticket to iFi support, and they basically had no idea what I was talking about, or how this (lack of a feature) was disconcerting. I do appreciate you reporting your findings, though.

 

Please shoot us a PM via our support platform once more, we might have an idea how to help you. Thanks!

[CCR]

1 hour ago, AMR/iFi audio said:

 

Please shoot us a PM via our support platform once more, we might have an idea how to help you. Thanks!

 

Thank you, will do!