I think if you open the unit your warranty is voided. I read this on the IFI support FAQ site area.
Last night I got lost in the music listening to Tracy Chapman, George Harrison, and a few oldies…some are really really well recorded for the timeframe…things like the depth of the soundstage and details are stellar…
These are songs and recordings I use for judging things and have listened to for years.
I sold my Bifrost 2 the other day, been using Schiit MB dacs for 4+ years. Excellent dacs. But I wanted to try this Burr Brown implementation and the filters and DSD functions.
Read all the stuff on the net good and bad, and finally decided that its my ears that have to make that decision…so it was a try and buy, 30 day return policy so no real risk…but after 2 days I sold the B2. Sad, but a good move in the right direction for me.
The amp or linestage in this product is not called an amp but IFI but it is. And they state its ok, bit the iCan Pro is the TOTL amp from them…
So taking the dac output into a great amp like the HPA-1, I get to see how well it really is as a dac…and with these D8000 Pro’s…its indeed one of the best overall systems I have listened to.
I sold my Empys, Hedds and Focals.
Selling several of my other amps.
Been thru so many things and finally realize this is about as good as it gets…not that other combos are great…its just that this one is right up there with most anything else.
Here are the conclusions from stereophile’s review:
Conclusions
“” To my mind, analog audio still produces a more authentic and believable sense of force and corporeality, so I naturally prefer digital audio gear whose sound comes closest to those qualities. In previous reviews I’ve praised the HoloAudio Spring “Kitsuné Tuned Edition” Level 3 and Mytek’s Manhattan II for precisely those traits. I can now add the Pro iDSD to this short list of DACs that recover an enjoyable illusion of dense bodies playing music.
I’ve also noticed that audiophile DACs vary widely in their ability to transmit a believably natural-feeling transparency. My beloved HoloAudio Spring reproduces empty spaces that feel completely and uniquely nondigital, and that surround performers with a sense of breathable air that makes the forms of those dense bodies seem more three-dimensionally there. While the Pro iDSD’s air didn’t feel quite as naturally oxygenated, the iFi did consistently surpass the HoloAudio Spring in generating expansive soundstages that directed my attention toward the positions and corporeality of the performers and/or their instruments. This dramatic, wide-open clarity was the Pro iDSD’s most distinguishing characteristic.
Bottom line: iFi Audio’s Pro iDSD lived up to the hyperbole of its owner’s manual. It did actually play music like “a ‘state of the art’ reference digital to analog converter.” It did indeed sound like “an all-out assault” on what is possible in DACs today . . . and it did both of those good things at a ridiculously low price. Highly recommended. “”
These devices are in that upper level of audio “thin” air…where the tech, design and implementation is well…state of the art. With all the bells and whistles this product has, some of which I will not use I still often go back to the NOS bit perfect mode. This IMO allows me to see what the dacs in this box really can do. And the results so far is pretty dang good…
Alex