iFi NEO iDSD flaws

Yes and so is the Zen Dac from memory.
Though it is plugged into VitOS based Pi at the moment so I cannot check

I’m using it with a Squeezebox Touch via USB with the EDO plugin which has worked flawlessly with the following DACs:

  • Arcam irDAC
  • Chord Electronics Qutest
  • SMSL Sanskrit 10th

Admittedly, none of the above do MQA but with none of them have I experienced the choppiness or issues of playback speed when switching sample rates.

Thanks, David.

It is a nice unit and does sound good (when behaving) but I’ve just found it too flakey thus far.

I have the exact same issues with my Neo iDSD except for the garbled sound when switching sample rates you mention. Also this only happens with any kind of DSP (including volume levelling).

I raised a ticket with iFi, did a zoom call with one of their engineers and he was able to reproduce it at his end. He acknowledged the issue and said they will work on a fix but no committed timeframe. Recently I checked again and he asked me to update the firmware to a new version 3.15 released in April. The firmware update instantly bricked my device. iFi said they will send me a replacement. I am waiting for it for 2 weeks now as they wait for new stock to arrive.

That’s a tale of woe indeed.
Hopefully you get your replacement device soon.
Surely in 2021 companies have dual firmware etc covered

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Sorry to hear about that.

I did briefly consider keeping mine in the hope that issues would be addressed by iFi but in all honesty you’ve pretty much validated my decision to send it back immediately.

I hope they get you a replacement quickly and that they can get it operating without these issues.

This is interesting as I’ve had an issue with 2 of these devices as I sent one back and got a replacement.
My issue is that Roon will just stop playing a song from a playlist that I transferred from Spotify (from Soundiz). Sometimes Roon will still recognize the NEO but nothing will play. Other times, Roon won’t even recognize the NEO and it won’t until I restart my computer. Any idea what that might be about?

This happens after like a few hours of playing the playlist and out of nowhere the next song will just not play. I can’t get iFi to offer any suggestions. I’ve tried different USB cables and my IMAC got wiped a few weeks back and had a new drive installed on it so it’s like brand new.

Curious thoughts!?

Hi @zenyatta80 , great job on getting the iFi engineer to reproduce the issue. That is half the battle completed.

Did you get any update since June, about a firmware fix ?

I’m thinking of getting one of these for my old man (dad) as an upgrade to his Pro-Ject Pre Box S2, which has been working fine but maybe the extra headphone amp power of the iFi will be good.

cc @Jake_iFi

Hi @norliss

Are you still experiencing your earlier issues? What did iFi tell you when you reported it?

Hi - no, I didn’t feel this would be resolved particularly quickly so mine was sent back within 4 or 5 days of purchase.

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Hi, thanks for the info.

Disappointed to hear they didn’t get back to you soon enough.

In all honesty, I don’t think I contacted iFi (or certainly don’t remember doing so). When I started experiencing issues, I came to this forum and discovered that others were suffering similarly and had yet to receive any solution from them.

I checked on firmware in case a fix had been issued but my device was already running what was the latest firmware at that time. I liked the Neo but £700 was a bit too much for something that had such significant issues (for my use case, anyhow) and I wasn’t prepared to keep it in the hope that they were resolved so I sent it back swiftly.

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The 3.18 FW fixed the issue partially I believe (the complete muting of tracks was fixed, but intermittent drop-outs were still there). But it also bricked by device on update. So I got a replacement from iFi. In the meantime I moved from TIDAL to Qobuz and don’t care about MQA anymore. So I love the DAC coupled with my Audeze LCD-X.

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I’m waking up this old thread because iFi Audio released new firmware for the NEO iDSD last December:

I’ve had mine stuffed in a cupboard because it was so flakey with MQA playback on v1.35; however, with the new v1.59 release, problems seem to be 95% fixed… The firmware also adds some spiffy new filters. At the moment, I seem to prefer the minimum phase filter, but I need to do more listening.

The NEO iDSD is still a little sensitive to the quality of the digital input signal. I experienced some flakey behavior with it connected to an old MacBook Pro, but no issues streaming from a VitOS endpoint (so far).

On DACs, I’ve been on a Topping kick lately. I appreciate how precise they can be, but I forgot how enjoyable iFi DACs can be. With the bundled USB iPurifier3 and S/PDIF iPurifier2, you’re getting a lot for $799, even compared to competition from Topping, S.M.S.L., Gustard, and others.

Note the “MIN” on the display. If you choose the GTO filter, the display will indicate if input is being upsampled to 352.8 or 384 kHz. If I get around to doing measurements of the response of each of these filters, I’ll post them here.

If you have the NEO iDSD, get it updated to v1.59 and let me know what you think of the filters and stability of MQA. It’s not perfect…when Roon is doing MQA Core Decoding, there’s still a gap between “gapless” tracks, but at least it’s not going into full freakout mode like it did with v1.35.

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I would never ever buy anything from ifi again,they make good hardware but there software is ridiculously bad,out of every device I’ve owned I find there software very frustrating

there is a place
their is a possessive pronoun

Just saying…

Feel free to flag this if you want.

Hi!
I’ve set up the Zen Streamer as a Bridge for the NEO iDSD, all works no skipping, sounds great :+1:t2:, just wanted to check if this is right and wondering:

why the MQA notice is not showing on NEO display?

I also have all drivers updated.

Notice I use the ifi xDSD icon to represent the NEO DAC.




You selected BP filter on the DAC?

This shows on the Neo screen

Change filter?

And check if you have the MQA firmware (not driver)

Sometimes iFi offers multiple firmwares to choose

Yes, I select the BP filter, but it should show MQA label from what I read, I changed the filter to standard and shows STD instead.

I noticed I missed installing Firmware 1.35 but I already installed the 1.59 version. Do I need to install Firmware 1.35 also? Any conflicts? I’ll skip! seems fine

Notice: just in case, I’m also checking directly with ifi support, just send a ticket, and will share outcomes

Edited:
I’ve seen the videos of ifi roon setup and they are missing a step! They are wrong!

They need to go >Advance settings >>“Enable MQA core decoder

Because I’m using Zen Streamer my Max Sample rate (DSD) is 256, otherwise, 512 if connected to my Mac (I guess)

Now the MQA file it changes from PCM 44kHz:

To OFS 44kHz

Hi @David_Snyder, no gaps between tracks, really enjoy the BP filter, and will try others! Thanks for sharing!

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There is no firmware 1.59 for Neo iDSD? Are you confusing driver with firmware?

And you can’t install two firmwares anyway. Just one.

Also try to set Roon MQA settings to “decoder only”