Post by james on Jan 1, 2019 9:56:45 GMT 12
There words are to pass on my impressions of a nifty little black box referred to by the manufacturer as an IFI Micro IDSD Black Label.
(Yes I am well aware these have been around for some time but this is the first time I have had one to sample)
Mr J had been enthusing about this little device for some weeks. Fortuitously his wanderings took him from the heart of the swamp land into the area where I reside. Mr J was kind enough to pull the IFI from his main system and tuck it safely into his pocket for the journey to my current chateau of sound.
Ostensibly the IFI is a portable battery powered DAC, headphone amp, pre amp, tone manipulator and digital converter.
If the IFI website is understood correctly the DAC section has 2 x Burr Brown chips (One of my personal favourite DAC chipsets)
The little IFI comes in a small white box with wealth of attachment cables, adaptors and the paraphernalia to allow the IFI to be strapped a smart phone. Unboxed the IFI is tiny – about the size of a smart phone and 3 times as thick. There is a hand full of connectors on the rear, a volume knob and some more connectors on the front and a few switches scattered around the body.
Enough faffing about and time to see what this little box could do.
The first rig we auditioned the IFI on was the Bada HD 26 – Lightspeed – McIntosh MC2255 – Tannoy Arden 2 set up.
A digital output was taken from the Bada and run into the IFI. The IFI output RCAs connected directly to the Mac. (Using the IFI as both DAC and pre amplifier)
The system was fired up - out flowed music. We spun a few discs and concluded the presentation was broadly similar to the output of the Burr Brown equipped Bada.
Then the fun started, this IFI has a couple of presentation altering modes.
Flick the switch on the left and you get a bass boost, flick the switch on the right and a stereo wide enhancement is engaged. Both presentations can be run concurrently if desired.
These effects on presentation vary hugely from disc to disc.
Stanley Jordan’s Elanor Rigby (Blue Note) does not have any bass to enhance and is only slightly changed by the wideness mode. A version of Springsteen’s Born In the USA remained shrill and insipid. The Kraus/Plant Rich Woman off Raising Sand became only a little more bass forward (Bass boost engaged) and a little more incoherent with the wide switch engaged (suspect the engineers have already applied the same trickery to this disc)
Time off Pink Floyds DSOTM was a grin inducer (With the Wide setting on) , a laughing Mr J commented it felt like we were going to be assaulted by the clocks The 180 degree wall of sound was mesmerising – great fun. Alan Taylors Beat Hotel (Stockfisch) rumbled too much with either of the effects dialled in. With You’re so Vain Carly Simon (AF) spinning the softly spoken “son of a gun” at the beginning of the song was easily distinguished and Jaggers uncredited vocals were suitably obvious.
We spun all genres of discs from soft and melodic to what used to be called hard rock. On this system it was agreed that either no enhancement or the IFIs “wide” setting was optimal for most of the discs sampled.
For a change of system , we adjourned to the office and swapped out the incumbent DAC/Pre (Eastern Electric Mini Max), The Windows PC was now spitting CD rips via USB into the IFI which was pushing analogue into a miniscule pair of Genelec 8010s. From the first note it was apparent that this paring is something very special. The IFI complemented the little Genelecs and let us really stretch them. Great fun as we flicked from track to track marvelling that two diminutive devices can sound so good and provide so much enjoyment and satisfaction. A phone conversation with Mr J a few days later we were both still enthusing at how ell this combination worked. With the IFI on the desk in front of the listener it is tempting and so easy to tweak the sound to suit each track or even a short passage of music.
Mr J had previously ignored the incessant calls from the swamp now and with time was running out the little IFI was taken into the main listening room to show off another of its features. We used the IFI to convert USB from a Windows laptop to a digital feed for the Genelec 8351s. This task the IFI performed to expectation – as this was a digital to digital conversion neither the IFI DAC or filters can be engaged.
Conclusion:
For some one wanting a nice DAC Pre amplifier combination that has a ship load of other special features should consider the IFI Micro IDSD Black Label.
If I assume the headphone section performs as well as the rest of this little box it is one of the most versatile pieces of quality audio hardware that has passed music to my ears.
Not everyone will find the various filters and sound modes useful but they are great to help most of us by allowing the user to maximise their enjoyment of music.
Battery powered (Can be run off an internally well filtered wall wart) the IFI is portable and keeps the DAC and preamplifier completely isolated from any mains current nasties that may lurk in your house wiring.
Presentation is smooth and musical.
This little IFI is worthy of serious consideration.
(Yes I am well aware these have been around for some time but this is the first time I have had one to sample)
Mr J had been enthusing about this little device for some weeks. Fortuitously his wanderings took him from the heart of the swamp land into the area where I reside. Mr J was kind enough to pull the IFI from his main system and tuck it safely into his pocket for the journey to my current chateau of sound.
Ostensibly the IFI is a portable battery powered DAC, headphone amp, pre amp, tone manipulator and digital converter.
If the IFI website is understood correctly the DAC section has 2 x Burr Brown chips (One of my personal favourite DAC chipsets)
The little IFI comes in a small white box with wealth of attachment cables, adaptors and the paraphernalia to allow the IFI to be strapped a smart phone. Unboxed the IFI is tiny – about the size of a smart phone and 3 times as thick. There is a hand full of connectors on the rear, a volume knob and some more connectors on the front and a few switches scattered around the body.
Enough faffing about and time to see what this little box could do.
The first rig we auditioned the IFI on was the Bada HD 26 – Lightspeed – McIntosh MC2255 – Tannoy Arden 2 set up.
A digital output was taken from the Bada and run into the IFI. The IFI output RCAs connected directly to the Mac. (Using the IFI as both DAC and pre amplifier)
The system was fired up - out flowed music. We spun a few discs and concluded the presentation was broadly similar to the output of the Burr Brown equipped Bada.
Then the fun started, this IFI has a couple of presentation altering modes.
Flick the switch on the left and you get a bass boost, flick the switch on the right and a stereo wide enhancement is engaged. Both presentations can be run concurrently if desired.
These effects on presentation vary hugely from disc to disc.
Stanley Jordan’s Elanor Rigby (Blue Note) does not have any bass to enhance and is only slightly changed by the wideness mode. A version of Springsteen’s Born In the USA remained shrill and insipid. The Kraus/Plant Rich Woman off Raising Sand became only a little more bass forward (Bass boost engaged) and a little more incoherent with the wide switch engaged (suspect the engineers have already applied the same trickery to this disc)
Time off Pink Floyds DSOTM was a grin inducer (With the Wide setting on) , a laughing Mr J commented it felt like we were going to be assaulted by the clocks The 180 degree wall of sound was mesmerising – great fun. Alan Taylors Beat Hotel (Stockfisch) rumbled too much with either of the effects dialled in. With You’re so Vain Carly Simon (AF) spinning the softly spoken “son of a gun” at the beginning of the song was easily distinguished and Jaggers uncredited vocals were suitably obvious.
We spun all genres of discs from soft and melodic to what used to be called hard rock. On this system it was agreed that either no enhancement or the IFIs “wide” setting was optimal for most of the discs sampled.
For a change of system , we adjourned to the office and swapped out the incumbent DAC/Pre (Eastern Electric Mini Max), The Windows PC was now spitting CD rips via USB into the IFI which was pushing analogue into a miniscule pair of Genelec 8010s. From the first note it was apparent that this paring is something very special. The IFI complemented the little Genelecs and let us really stretch them. Great fun as we flicked from track to track marvelling that two diminutive devices can sound so good and provide so much enjoyment and satisfaction. A phone conversation with Mr J a few days later we were both still enthusing at how ell this combination worked. With the IFI on the desk in front of the listener it is tempting and so easy to tweak the sound to suit each track or even a short passage of music.
Mr J had previously ignored the incessant calls from the swamp now and with time was running out the little IFI was taken into the main listening room to show off another of its features. We used the IFI to convert USB from a Windows laptop to a digital feed for the Genelec 8351s. This task the IFI performed to expectation – as this was a digital to digital conversion neither the IFI DAC or filters can be engaged.
Conclusion:
For some one wanting a nice DAC Pre amplifier combination that has a ship load of other special features should consider the IFI Micro IDSD Black Label.
If I assume the headphone section performs as well as the rest of this little box it is one of the most versatile pieces of quality audio hardware that has passed music to my ears.
Not everyone will find the various filters and sound modes useful but they are great to help most of us by allowing the user to maximise their enjoyment of music.
Battery powered (Can be run off an internally well filtered wall wart) the IFI is portable and keeps the DAC and preamplifier completely isolated from any mains current nasties that may lurk in your house wiring.
Presentation is smooth and musical.
This little IFI is worthy of serious consideration.
