ifi XDSD GRYPHON Portable USB / Wireless Headphone Amp User Manual

: June 6, 2024
: ifi

Ifi XDSD GRYPHON Portable USB / Wireless Headphone Amp

ifi XDSD GRYPHON Portable USB product image

Over view

ifi XDSD GRYPHON Portable USB fig 1

S-Balanced 3.5mm headphone output
Connect 3.5mm headphones.

Balanced 4.4mm headphone output
Connect balanced 4.4mm Pentaconn headphones.

Audio Format LED (kHz)

The LED colour scheme indicates the audio format and sampling frequency received by the xDSD Gryphon from the music source.

LED Mode

Yellow PCM 48/44.1kHz
White PCM 768/705.6/384/352.8/192/176.4/ 96/88.2kHz
Cyan 96/88.2kHz
Red DSD 128/64
Green DSD 512/256
Blue MQA
Magenta MQA Studio
MQB Original Sample Rate

INPUT LED

LED INPUT

Magenta USB
Blue Bluetooth
Green S/PDIF
Yellow Line (Balanced 4.4mm/S-E 3.5mm)

Volume LED

The LED colour scheme indicates the current volume level.
LED Volume

Red -2 to +6 dB (100%-92%)
Yellow -20 to -3 dB (91%-74%)
Green -38 to -21 dB (73%-56%)
Magenta -56 to -39 dB (55%-38%)
Blue -95 to -57 dB (37%-0%)
Flashing LED -Mute

Multi-function knob

Controls:

Power ON/OFF (long press 3s)
Analogue volume control (turn)
Mute/Unmute (a short press)
Menu settings (long press item 9 Settings button (1s). Control menu refer to item 9)

Power ON/OFF
Long press the power switch to power on/off.

Analogue volume control
Warning: Due to the high power of xDSD Gryphon, always start at a low volume level, so there is no risk of damage to your headphones or your hearing. iFi audio is not responsible for any hearing or equipment damage from misuse.

Menu settings
USB data port charger (Item 15. USB-C input)
‘ON’, this port can be used for charging.
‘OFF’, this port is for signal input only.

BT voice prompt
ON/OFF mode, turn on/off Bluetooth voice announcement

Screen Brightness
With the ‘high’ and ‘low’ brightness modes, the display will remain On. With the brightness mode ‘off’, if no operation is performed, the display will go to sleep after three seconds.

Digital filter

The following 3 digital filters are available:

‘BP’ Bit-Perfect, no digital filtering
‘GTO’ Upsampled to 384/352kHz, minimum filtering, no pre-ringing, minimum post ringing
‘STD’ Modest filtering, modest pre and post ringing

xspace Matrix LED

The XSpace Matrix(on/off ) recreates a holographic sound field. It is a pure analogue signal processing circuit designed for listening to headphones as if one was listening to speakers. This addresses the ‘music inside the head’ sensation, which makes for uneasy listening.

XBass II LED

Many headphones lack the correct bass response. XBass II is an analogue circuit designed to ‘add back’ the lost bass response for more accurate reproduction of the original music.
Tip: Sonically-hindering DSP is NOT used for XBass II nor XSpace matrix systems. They use the highest-quality discrete components and operate purely in the analogue domain. Hence all the clarity and resolution of the original music is retained.

Settings

Cycles between: Off > XBass II > XSpace > XBass II and XSpace (short press)
Menu settings (long press)/Return to Home (short press)

Input selector/Bluetooth pairing

This button cycles between the following inputs:
USB > Bluetooth > S/PDIF > Line (Balanced 4.4mm/S-E 3.5mm)
Note: Please select the input channel according to your audio source input mode. For example, you need to switch the input channel to ’USB’ when using the USB input.
The xDSD Gryphon receives Bluetooth signals via aptX, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive, aptX LL, LDAC, LHDC/HWA, AAC and SBC.

Bluetooth pairing

When the Bluetooth input is selected, the Bluetooth icon in the display will flash and search for a previously paired device. If a stored device is not found, it will automatically enter pairing mode and flash.
Press and hold the button (1s) to enter pairing mode until the Bluetooth icon flashes. To pair, find the ‘iFi Hi-Res Audio’ Bluetooth device from the nearby devices list on your phone.
The xDSD Gryphon can store up to 8 paired Bluetooth devices.

ifi XDSD GRYPHON Portable USB fig 2

OLED display

The OLED display shows the audio format, sampling rate, volume, input mode, XSpace/XBass II and battery level.

ifi XDSD GRYPHON Portable USB fig 3

XBass II mode adjustment

Research into headphone frequency response showed that a purely ‘flat’ response is not correct. Our long present XBass fits the profile of the low- frequency correction required. However, it was also shown that a certain amount of upper midrange boost is needed to give many headphones a more ‘natural’ sound.
This upper midrange region is usually called the ‘presence’ region; we have used this term to indicate the upper midrange correction. In the xDSD Gryphon, XBass II (or perhaps better HP-EQ) can be selected to have either Bass + Presence correction, only Bass or only Presence correction.

USB-C (5V) charging input

For charging only. Due to the very high-power nature of xDSD Gryphon, it will take ~12 hours and ~6 hours for a standard and high-powered charger, respectively, to fully recharge.
Tip: When the xDSD Gryphon is off and a 5V USB power supply is detected, the LED will change colour to show the various states of charge (see next section).
Tip: We advise you to charge the xDSD Gryphon switched off. You can listen to music while charging, but it may take longer to be fully charged, depending on the volume level and the headphones used.
Tip: The xDSD Gryphon may be slightly warm to touch when it is simultaneously in use and being charged.

LED for Battery Status

LED Status
Green > 85%
Yellow ≤ 85%
Red (flashing) ≤ 10%
*Battery LED will flash when it is charging.

USB-C input

Connect your phone to the xDSD Gryphon with a Lightning to USB Camera Adapter (Apple) or USB On-The-Go (OTG) cable (Android). When using other audio sources, please connect with a USB cable. This USB-C port is for data transfer only, it can also be configured to charge, see item 6, Menu Settings(I).
Tip: For Apple iOS and Android devices, please use battery power, otherwise you may receive error messages from your device.
Note: For use with PC it is necessary to download drivers.
Tip: For the required driver and all the latest firmware updates please refer to our website: www.ifi-audio.com/download-hub/

S/PDIF 3.5mm Coaxial/Optical input

When USB-C (item 15) is not used, connect to a Coaxial/Optical cable (through a Toslink Mini-Plug).
Tip: The USB signal has priority over S/PDIF. To enter S/PDiF mode, please make sure there is no signal going through the USB input.

Balanced 4.4mm line input/output

Output (variable) – when the input mode is USB, Bluetooth or S/PDIF
Input – when the input mode is Line

Single-ended 3.5mm input/output

Output (variable) – when the input mode is USB, Bluetooth or S/PDIF
Input – when the input mode is Line

iEMatch switch

With the iEMatch, even the most sensitive In-Ear-Monitors (IEMs) can be matched to the xDSD Gryphon.

3.5 = 3.5mm headphones
off = off
4.4 = 4.4mm headphones

Specifications

Inputs: USB-C
TM Bluetooth 5.1 (aptX, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive, aptX LL, LDAC, LHDC/HWA, AAC and SBC Codec)
S-PDIF 3.5mm Coaxial Balanced 4.4mm
Single-Ended 3.5mm

Formats:

DSD DSD512/256/128/64, Octa/Quad/Double/Single-Speed
DXD 768/705.6/384/352.8kHz), Double/Single-Speed DXD
PCM 768/705.6/384/352.8/192/176.4/96/88.2/48/44.1kHz
MQA Decoder
Bluetooth Up to 96kHz

DAC: Bit-Perfect DSD & DXD DAC by Burr Brown

Line Section

Outputs:

Balanced: 6.7V max. (variable)
UnBAL: 3.5V max. (variable)

Output Impedance:

Balanced: ≤200Ω
UnBAL: ≤100Ω

SNR:
Balanced: <110dB(A) @ 0dBFS
UnBAL: <110dB(A) @ 0dBFS

Headphone Section

Outputs:
Balanced: 6.7V max. @ 600Ω
UnBAL: 3.5V max. @ 600Ω

Output Impedance:
Balanced: <1Ω
UnBAL: <1Ω
THD+N: <0.005% (1V @ 16Ω)

SNR:
Balanced: <116dB(A) @ 0dBFS
UnBAL: <115dB(A) @ 0dBFS
Battery: Lithium-polymer 3600mAh
Power System: Charging via USB-C, BC V1.2 compliant up to 1900mA charging current
Dimensions: 123 x 75 x19 mm 4.8″ x 3.0″ x 0.7″
Weight: 215 g (0.5 Ibs)
Warranty period: 12 months

*Specifications are subject to change without notice