I read a DAC review in Stereophile a month or two ago, and the reviewer just casually mentioned that he was using an iFi SPDIF purifier and thought it was indispensable. Considering the nature of the products he was reviewing (expensive) and the relative price of the iFi unit my curiosity was piqued. After doing a little reading here I decided to pull the trigger and try out the Purifier 2. I have a large CD collection and listen to them via an Oppo BDP 103 transport feeding a mildly tweaked MHDT Havana DAC (NOS dual mono Burr Brown PCM 256P DAC chips and a tube output stage). This set up has been the most musical sounding affordable combo I’ve found. When I added the iFi to the mix, everything got better… and not just a little better… significantly better.
Issues or problems that I thought were just endemic to CD listening vanished or were greatly diminished. Let me be more specific:
The congestion I’ve always noticed during loud dynamic peaks, particularly with large orchestral or big band sized groups playing is darn near gone now.
The sizzle or grit that seems to get added to cymbals and bells has been erased and replaced with a beautiful natural sounding shimmer. Cymbals sound like brass again.
The screech that often accompanies violins and trumpets in their upper ranges has been replaced with natural tones. Same story for piccolos and flutes.
The transient attack of pretty much everything (from snare drums to organs) is cleaned up and more precisely articulated. Dynamic swings and PRAT seem more obvious or clear.
The sustain or harmonic overtones of notes from instruments of all sorts seems to decay more gradually and naturally.
Images are not more precisely placed in the soundstage, but seem to have a more corporal character. The differences among studio, live, and carefully mic’d recordings are clearer too.
Bass seems more extended, less murky, and has more visceral impact.
Highs seem more ethereal and also more extended.
Instruments sound more realistic… more like how they sound at a live concert.
Lastly, the level of overall improvement isn’t subtle, barely perceptible, or a hit-or-miss mix of pros and cons. Adding the iFi is comparable to a significant system/component upgrade, well beyond a cable change or bypass cap tweak. I can’t believe it can do all this for peanuts. And the improvements were clear and obvious right out of the box. Don’t know if it will get better with break in, but if it does, Holy S**T!