Veri
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So back when I had an iFi black label which was a really nice, powerful little handheld device, I always wondered about their top-tier iFi iDSD 'Pro', especially considering the iFi black label measured pretty decently (good to very good), with its highlight a very powerful amp.
On Jan 3, stereophile released a review of the iDSD Pro with several very interesting measurements of the device. Suffice to say, if the iFi iDSD was going to be some 'giant killer' upgrade of the iFi black... it received a failing grade especially considering its price. Let's look at and compare some of these graphs to get a better point of view into its performance.
First lets look at the jitter, with comparison to Jotunheim/iDSD micro
Considering the jitter artifacts/peaks of the iDSD Pro top out at -130 dB, performance seems more similar to iFi Black than "better". Hardly a definite improvement.
Next up iFi Pro iDSD, spectrum with noise and spuriae of dithered 1kHz tone at –90dBFS
Compared to Chord Qutest:
Compared to Holo Spring ladder DAC via oversampling:
iFi Pro iDSD, GTO filter, waveform of undithered 1kHz sinewave at –90.31dBFS:
Compared to Qutest:
Compared to Holo Spring ladder DAC via oversampling:
Finally, iFi Pro iDSD, balanced Solid-State output, spectrum of 50Hz sinewave, DC–1kHz, at 0dBFS and –3dBFS:
Compared to Chord Qutest:
Compared to Holo Spring ladder DAC via oversampling:
Needless to say the iFi iDSD Pro here is the least impressive of the bunch. I think one of my first PMs to @amirm was about the possibility of buying and sending him an iDSD Pro. I never followed up with the idea, but I'm kinda glad I didn't. Given the exotic filtering, DSD upsampling and Tube modes of the iDSD Pro, these fancy things do not result in any measured performance benefits. All talk and marketing, little bite. The Qutest which is in fact cheaper, runs circles around it, and the Holo Spring which is a multi-bit ladder DAC seemingly performs better, while also offering DSD upsampling and 'BitPerfect'/NOS modes which are similar to iFi's offering.
If you love iFi audio's "house sound" and sound processing/filters, the iFi micro black label still seems the most attractive option to me, whilst not breaking the bank. If you want to look at more measurements check out Stereophile, many thanks to John Atkinson who makes easy comparisons possible via his (mostly always available) measurements tab in his review articles. Great work
On Jan 3, stereophile released a review of the iDSD Pro with several very interesting measurements of the device. Suffice to say, if the iFi iDSD was going to be some 'giant killer' upgrade of the iFi black... it received a failing grade especially considering its price. Let's look at and compare some of these graphs to get a better point of view into its performance.
First lets look at the jitter, with comparison to Jotunheim/iDSD micro
Considering the jitter artifacts/peaks of the iDSD Pro top out at -130 dB, performance seems more similar to iFi Black than "better". Hardly a definite improvement.
Next up iFi Pro iDSD, spectrum with noise and spuriae of dithered 1kHz tone at –90dBFS
Compared to Chord Qutest:
Compared to Holo Spring ladder DAC via oversampling:
iFi Pro iDSD, GTO filter, waveform of undithered 1kHz sinewave at –90.31dBFS:
Compared to Qutest:
Compared to Holo Spring ladder DAC via oversampling:
Finally, iFi Pro iDSD, balanced Solid-State output, spectrum of 50Hz sinewave, DC–1kHz, at 0dBFS and –3dBFS:
Compared to Chord Qutest:
Compared to Holo Spring ladder DAC via oversampling:
Needless to say the iFi iDSD Pro here is the least impressive of the bunch. I think one of my first PMs to @amirm was about the possibility of buying and sending him an iDSD Pro. I never followed up with the idea, but I'm kinda glad I didn't. Given the exotic filtering, DSD upsampling and Tube modes of the iDSD Pro, these fancy things do not result in any measured performance benefits. All talk and marketing, little bite. The Qutest which is in fact cheaper, runs circles around it, and the Holo Spring which is a multi-bit ladder DAC seemingly performs better, while also offering DSD upsampling and 'BitPerfect'/NOS modes which are similar to iFi's offering.
If you love iFi audio's "house sound" and sound processing/filters, the iFi micro black label still seems the most attractive option to me, whilst not breaking the bank. If you want to look at more measurements check out Stereophile, many thanks to John Atkinson who makes easy comparisons possible via his (mostly always available) measurements tab in his review articles. Great work
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