Arenāt the 4.4 and se outputs of the sig the same? At the very least I know it isnāt actuaky balanced output
Not sure, they might be considering ifiās wonky s balanced stuff. Havenāt heard the signature and only the regular bl, just curious which one he was using
The Micro iDSD models behave differently for charging while turned on vs. off. I think in On state they only charge to something like 80% in order to conserve battery lifetime (lithium-ion ages faster if you keep it at 100% for too long, which is what you would get with it connected to a computer and kept on for hours if it accepted to charge to 100%). So the charging thing could be related to battery protection.
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Well, I tried charging it while turned off. Then I donāt see the reason why it would stop charging if it only is charged at 25-50% when it arrives.
Ah yeah, I canāt quite remember but I think it has a desktop mode where it will maintain a certain percentage, and then a portable mode where it will charge fully. I want to say if you turned it on when it was already plugged in, it would be in desktop mode and wouldnāt fully charge
Yup! Usb in then on = desktop mode (though it just bypasses thenl battery entierly afaik). On then usb in = portable mode.
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No, there is no bypassing, it just charges to 80% and stops. The audio section is always powered by the battery, I think itās something to do with getting less noise vs. powering from mains.
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OK, yeah, I guess the right description would be āwhen the audio section is powered, itās always powered by the batteryā. What I see with the old āsilverā Micro iDSD is that regardless of desktop/mobile mode, itās either playing music or charging the battery, not both. So that was their solution in the older models. Now for the Signature theyāre advertising it can do both at the same time because theyāre using the rear USB-A only for data and the side USB-C only for charging. That by itself shouldnāt solve it if the circuit was as simple as in your diagram, soā¦ I have to assume the grid noise is not that bad (is easy to filter out) if itās just coming to the battery terminals but would be a much worse problem if it was coming through the data USB (which now also has an integrated iPurifier).
Okay, so Iāve been ABāing Signature vs Q5s Tc with my Sarda and Goldplanar Gl2000.
The Signature tames the bass so hard that I really cannot stand it. So I will send it back. Sarda loves to produce beautiful thumping bass. Feeling of a woofer in your ears. For example. Song: to carry the seeds of death within me from the body. The outro from 4min30 onwards is for me a good test for how my headphone produces bass. The sarda really stomps that end on the q5s without bass boost on. And with bass boost itās just bonkers. The signature delivers nothing impressive, not with bass boost on nor off. Big Big difference. Also listening to Harper Lewis from Russian circles. Q5s type c. Bassline of the guitar and drums are beautifully defined. Crisp highs. Just very cohesive with beautiful low end (to my ears). Signature flattens it out making it to me way way less enjoyable. Iāve tried balanced and single ended on the sardaās which was pretty much the same. I do get some decent sound out of it in some tracks, but nothing that compares. Also things like Aaron from Paul kalkbrenner. Q5s and Sarda. Nothing offensive, beautiful all together in how it sounds. But on the Signature I cannot put the volume up because it would start hurting my ears making it way less enjoyable obviously.
Even the Goldplanar (to my ears) for most genres performs better on the Q5s. Thatās half a watt vs 4 watts. Gl2000 is bass and sub bass light so add a source that tames all of that even more and you end up with wellā¦ nothing. Just extremely mid forward I guess? I could appreciate it with some Russian circles actually although I missed hearing the guitar basslines there was something in the punch of the drums (not impact-deepness) and instrument seperation I guess that I enjoyed. But that was kind of it. Donāt start with hip hop, so bad. Actually all the other genres were just no bueno. And on the Q5s at least the Gl2000 keeps a little low end. Iād say a little more relaxed, enjoyable sound.
All of this is very subjective and Iām not someone who is deep into the nomenclature of sound. I just enjoy music and try and find stuff that amazes me to hear. Like the Sarda+Q5s combo right now.
I just thought maybe this could be informative for some.
I will be sending the Signature back. Might as a replacement pick up the Honey H1 and compare that as well because Iām curious about that one as well. Very good reviews sound wise and little warmer sounding.
My Silver Micro is only ever plugged into my MacBook when itās being used for listening, then turned off and put away straight after. Itās never run out of battery and never been stand alone charged or left while not playing music etcā¦either itās got the best battery known to mankind (1000+ hr) or it charges while playing 
lol.
Thatās nuts. Just for battery reasons, Iād love to track down a silver Micro eventually.
Here is my review of the Ifi Idsd Signature using the he6se v2! Honestly the bass boost combine with the headphone is alot of fun
Just got this bad boy in the mail, and mine doesnāt work as a preamp via RCA outsā¦ is this really by design? So no XBass for my amp or powered speakers??? 
You could use the headphone out. When you set the iDSD to eco mode it outputs the regular 2V DAC / Line out voltage on max volume.
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Thatās what I do for little powered speakers and it works great
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a pain in the butt for sure, but you can get around it with iFi Zen blue, an 60cm optical cable and any generic power bank for your phone.