Heads up!........ifi Phono 2

Yeah the original owner of my Vintage started with Tung Sol reissues and switched to Sovtek when one got noisy on him. He indicated a subtle and minor difference between the two. I'll probably spring for some NOS valves...Tung Sol, Sylvania or RCA. I had followed up with Scott at Tavish and he stressed the importance to make sure the right front tube is not noisy. He also indicated it's not really important to have them matched or balanced. Should be interesting to see if there is a favorable effect to rolling the tubes. I think I've read someone liked his RCA 5691 in his Vintage so that might be one to try.

 

I just received my second ifi iphono 2 and huge surprise. MORE BUZZING/RINGING. Just like the last one. Guess I'll have to bring this one into needle doctor as well to confirm I am not going insane. They must have made a huge batch of defective units... If my third one is ****, I'm passing on this unit.

 

That's a bummer. For what it's worth, I bought mine from Adorama and it worked fine for the two weeks I had it.

 

I've been on the fence for a while but have to admit I'm no longer interested. My Dynavector P75 MK3 already sounds utterly fantastic. I was merely curious more than anything.

Unfortunately, I cannot ignore all of these QC issues any longer. Yes, some people who've had their unit for a long time haven't experienced any issues but I can't believe that even a fully functioning unit will last many years if I have to go with the comments I've read here.

I'd be willing to bet my Dynavector will be functioning without issues 5 years from now. Can't say that I'd be willing to take that bet on any iPhono 2 unit. Those who experience issues after their warranty period is over will have no choice but to either pay an expensive tech to troubleshoot a relatively cheap component or chuck it away and buy something else.

Not a situation I'd want to be faced with. I'll wish luck to all owners encountering problems with their unit.

 

Yeah, I gave it some thought today and I think I am going to return the unit for a refund this time. I'll find something else for the meantime and give ifi another shot in a year or so. Hopefully they can get it together. It really is an impressive little thing (despite the buzz on mine...) and I'd love to own it.

 

DANG! How hard could it be? Crazy. If it's a fluke I feel sorry for em.

 

Yeah I moved on as well. After two problem units I gave up and went with something else.

 

Is it grounded ? Also if the housing makes contact with some metal you could also get humming or distortions - grounding is very important and not always easy to get it right.
The turntable grounding should go to the iFi, then a second lead should go to the amp, just like the RCA connectors. This is recommended by iFi

 

Bummer about all the problems people are having with the iPhono2. Mine has worked just fine w/out issue for the past couple of months that I've had it. It is only slightly warm to the touch. I wonder what is going on with the failures - perhaps it is faulty power supplies?

 

I ordered one from Music Direct, which has 60 day satisfaction guarantee. I'll cross my fingers and hope for the best.

Judd

 

That's my guess. Mine got very hot at times and would then cool down again on it's own to being slightly warm as you describe. And then it just stopped playing! Funny thing is when I presented the problem to ifi they wrote it's supposed to "get hot like a coffee". I did at one point meassure the output from the ipower and it read 15v so what do I know.... Still, the moment I get the Amazon refund I'm gonna order another one. I was extremely impressed with the thing.

 

That is exactly the phono pre that I was intending to purchase.

But, since I am acquiring a second Decware amp, I decided to go with the Decware phono pre.

I like the vintage 6SL7 design, for the money, it is about half the cost of the Decware. That is a lot of tube phono preamp for the money!

Up to this point, all of my phono pre's were SS.

I use a tube preamp and tube amplification on my Altec system (would never go back to SS on the Altec's, unless listening to certain types of music).

I have upgraded my TT and cart., I am completely satisfied with my other gear, so the phono pre is now the final piece, it does make sense to step up to something as nice as possible and one that may provide better synergy in the system.

Most of my used vinyl, is form the middle - late 60's and early 70's, and earlier for jazz and some other stuff, vintage tube sound seems to be a good fit.

 

I'm one of those that don't consider J-FET's to be "tubey", sounding. If that is what you are after, than you need to buy something made with tubes.

However, I do think J-FET's sound like what the offspring would like if you mated a Glass amp with a Sand amp. Something that presents characteristics of both, but the dominate genes are still going to be sand.

 

Of course. I also tried grounding the preamp to the receiver, isolating all the equipment, different sockets around the room with an extension cord and surge protecter, tried a power conditioner, etc. I brought the first one into Needle Doctor because I live near by. They also got the buzz on various set ups. So its either an issue with the unit or all of us don't know how to set up stereo equipment. lol

 

Any chance either of you have received the new units? I think I'm going to pull the trigger today and hope for the best.

 

Nope just recieved my refund and ordered a new one from Amazon a few minutes ago! I will keep you all posted...

 

I've had mine for a week or two now. I'll comment here this evening.

Judd

 

So I got my second unit after the first one died, connected it and I couldn't believe my own ears. I'm hearing a constant high frequent noise through both speakers! I contacted ifi tuesday but they are yet to respond.

 

Up to you but if it were me, I'd just buy something else and be done with it. Do you really want to take a chance on one that eventually works fine? Chances are, it'll develop some kind of problem within a certain amount of time and then you'll be out $500. No thanks. I'd rather pay $800 and know the odds are very few I'll ever have an issue and just enjoy my time listening to music. Life's too short to constantly worry about this stuff or dealing with sending things back and the like.

My 2 cents.

 

I hear you, but for now I'm awaiting the answer from ifi. Maybe they have some sort of solution.

 

With respect, I think love is blind and you're letting that get in the way of good judgment. Considering all the comments I've read here about its reliability issues, I think the smart thing to do would be to get your money back while you can and buy something that won't so quick to become defective.

This seems like an exercise in bashing your head against the wall. I don't doubt your conclusion that a good unit sounds great but nothing is worth that aggravation and the very *great* risk of flushing $500 down the drain. Again, IMHO.

 

Exact same thing I had on both units I ordered.

 

It's a bummer this model was a lemon as I did like the sound

 

I've had mine for about a week. I did have an initial hum that a cable upgrade quickly resolved. I'm surprised by the number of people having issues with these. I'm currently loving it and plan to stay with it for a long time.

But I did purchase from a site with the longest return window due to some of the issues others have had here.

 

Too bad (but a little bit funny) how this thread title "Heads up!.....ifi phono 2" began as shout out to herald the arrival of a great product but has turned into a warning ("Heads up! Be careful about buying an ifi phono 2").

[I was really intrigued by this phono stage and it will stay on my radar...hopefully the QC controls can identify the problem and reliable units get made and put out into the world].