iFi Headphone Amp & DAC Lineup Review
hey everybody at audio advice we spent a lot of
time listening to music with great sounding
dacs and headphone amps the issue for many
people is finding a dac that sounds good
has plenty of features and enough power to give
your headphones the dynamics you really want while
also staying within a budget so if i really filled
in this gap when they first came out in 2012
and made products that are affordable and high
fidelity and just a few years later they even
won the eisa best product award accumulating over
30 award-winning products ever since so in this
overview we’re going to quickly break down a few
of the most popular portable dacs in ifi’s lineup
and compare their features and benefits with
some of their newest models so let’s get started
alright first up on this list is the ifi
hip-dac which is a portable dac and headphone amp
this little guy bypasses the inferior dac and amp
section in your smart device a pc or mac it sports
a very sophisticated looking blue with a touch of
copper and it’s small enough to slip discreetly
into your pocket but i think the cool look of this
one will definitely make you want to show it off
it connects via usb so
favorite music streaming service and high-res
music files it features a burr brown true native
dac chipset that delivers bit perfect audio for
hi-res pcm up to 384 kilohertz dsd 256 and
it’s compatible with tidals mqa master tier
this lets your audio files remain unchanged so
you can listen to music as the artist intended
in the format it was recorded you just insert
your headphones and away you go in terms of
sound quality the hip-dac sports a 4.4 millimeter
balanced output for balanced headphone cables
so it brings you the cleanest signal possible for
those hissy in-ear monitors i recommend you use
the 3.5 millimeter s balanced connection and this
will let you enjoy all the benefits of balanced
from your single ended connection the hip-dac
also lets you adjust input sensitivity to match
the level of drive to the load of your headphones
now i would recommend leaving it off for those out
and about IEMs or you could turn it on for on-ear
or over ear styles with relatively low impedances
for those times you just need to add a
little more bottom end weight to your sound
the x-bass sonic adjustment is there to address any
lack of bass that’s often an issue with in-ears or
open-back headphone styles and my advice is to
boost that bass and pump it up to your IEMs with
this little guy for less than $ 200 if you’re always
on the go it’s really the perfect solution to take
on a flight or even to get some remote work
done at a coffee shop and with the extensive
battery life you get on this piece you can take
it out with you all day for up to 12 hours of
playback time even if you’re using headphones
that require a lot of power i think it looks
great and for less than $200 it’s a go anywhere
dac that provides substantially better sound
alright up next we have the ifi nano idsd black
label this was the first portable dac we received
from ifi and i have to say i was really impressed
when i first saw this one the nano idsd can handle
dsd 256 mqa and it has burbrown dacs now those
are some pretty impressive specs for a $200 price
point and like all ifi products on this list the
built quality on this piece was the first thing i
noticed it has a solid aluminum body with a matte
black finish smooth controls and rubber feet that
will help it avoid sliding off a tabletop as
for sound this headphone amp and dac goes above
and beyond its price point it comes with an iem
match three and a half millimeter output and a
more powerful three and a half millimeter direct
output pushing three volts at 600 ohms so this
one will drive the most stubborn headphones with
ease and i found that this one does so with crisp
highs and full bass response another cool thing i
like about this one is that it also features two
filters for pcm listen and measure for transient
optimized minimum phase and frequency response
not only is this product great for headphones but
the three and a half millimeter line output also
makes it perfect for connecting with an existing
hi-fi system which will also support mqa i tested
it with a variety of headphones ranging from
IEMs to audeze lcd4s and this could drive them
all with awesome detail and a great bottom end
weight even on a pair of bass weak headphones
i think the ifi nano idsd really filled them out
music was much more enjoyable even at low volume
okay moving up the line we have a newcomer to
ifi’s range of portable dacs this one is the micro
idsd signature edition and if you like tweaking
your sound then this is definitely the one for you
the micro idsd signature is substantially larger
but this piece shares a similar brushed aluminum
casing as its nano idsd little brother
and while the most obvious change to the
signature edition from its previous iteration
is the 4.4 millimeter pentagon headphone output
and a new space blue finish the less obvious
enhancements are actually hiding inside the unit
exclusive here to most of the signature
additions in ifi’s dac products is the refined
circuitry packaged inside it still delivers
the same impressive power performance as the
original micro idsd but ifi retuned the signal
path for maximum musical texture and detail
and these extra performance enhancements
really come down to the even higher quality
components ifi selected throughout the signature
edition circuitry it features a dual core burr
brown dac chip upgraded amp sections for low noise
and plenty of power to drive any headphones out
there on top of that it has a whole host of inputs
and outputs and these connections will make it the
ultimate swiss army knife for your two channel
system or for headphone use there are a host of
adjustment modes and these all let you dial in
and find that perfect sound for your headphones
now some of these settings are more subtle
which can be helpful for adjusting to taste
but if you’re someone who just likes to set it and
forget it i think the power related features are
the only ones you’ll really need a quick rundown
of the cool sounding features are x-bass plus
which adds in a little more bass extension 3d plus
this shifts the sound stage and increases top end
extension and a pre-amplifier direct mode for use
with the spdif connection there’s also a view of
the sampling frequency right from the front panel
with a new multi-colored led indicator light and
now a usb-c charging port has also been added
right next to the new battery status indicator
light now the original micro idc black labels amp
stage was already one of the best available in
any battery powered portable dac but for around 50
dollars more than the original micro idsd i think
the audiophiles will really appreciate all the
extra details hiding inside this premium signature
model the micro idsd signature is much more
engaging and dynamic and for less than $700 this
one reveals a lot more detail hiding in your music
with the warm sound signature of analog components
alright at the top of the ifi range of portable
dac headphone amps we have yet another newcomer to
the lineup and this one is called the idsd diablo
for less than 400 dollars more than the signature
edition micro idsd we just went over i think
diablo is built for true headphone enthusiasts
and music purists in mind if you really want to
squeeze out every last drop of performance from
a pair of audiophile grade headphones then this
is the piece for you for the digital stage if i
selected a similar burr brown dac chip used across
their line of other products and they do this for
good reason this chipset has a natural musical
sound signature however ifi’s deep experience with
this chipset means they really know how to squeeze
out every last drop of performance they took the
same digital engine from the micro idsd signature
model which uses two of these chipsets installed
in a custom interweave configuration as its high
performance engine now it’s also worth mentioning
that ifi applies this same configuration with the
micro idc signature edition as well to lower the
noise floor improve channel separation and enhance
the dac’s ability to resolve finer musical details
and those micro dynamics hiding in the music but
for the idsd diablo they souped it up with a new
16 core low latency xmos microcontroller that
processes the data at double the clock speed and
with four times the memory compared to the current
generation of eight core chips throw in ifi’s
special jitter eradication including their gmt
fimto precision clock intelligent memory buffer
and their gto filter as standards and you’ve
got one heck of a super dac for less than $900
the state-of-the-art dac also has the benefit
of letting you have access to every hi-res music
format under the sun with the highest fidelity
it can handle pcm data up to 32 bit 786 kilohertz
all levels of dsd up to dsd 512 and single and
double speed dxd and thanks to the burr brown dac
chip’s four channel true native design pcm and dsd
take separate pathways here so this enables dsd
as well as pcm to remain bit perfect in its native
form right through to the analog conversion this
is often not the case with dacs from other
brands even if dsd compatibility is stated
many dacs actually convert dsd signals to pcm
there’s also great bluetooth onboard and
this piece provides full mqa decoding up to 384
kilohertz you can thank that extra processing
power from the new 16 core xmos chip for this
and now with mqa being available over spdif
this means you can take advantage of the spdif connection to play back the mqa cds in your
collection which i think is really cool alright so
the last one we’re going to go over in this video
is also another new model and this one’s called
the neo idsd unlike the other models we’ve talked
about this one is a new high-res dac headphone
app that you place on a desktop or a tabletop
it inherits some of the same custom boutique grade
components and the dual core burr brown dac chips
from ifi’s signature series and there’s a lot of tech
in there that trickles down from their flagship pro
idsd desktop dac which sells for over two
thousand dollars this one also has the same
boost and processor speed as the idsd diablo with
its 16 core low latency xmos micro controller
with the latest super speed usb standard and spdif
digital inputs at double the clock speed and four
times the memory and when you throw in the special
jitter eradication their femto precision clock
intelligent memory buffer and their gto filter is
standards and this one you’ve got a super desktop
dac for use at home for a hundred dollars less
than the premium portable idsd diablo we just went
over what really sets the neo idsd apart is the
sleek aluminum case work it’s very flexible design
and the very generous amount of i o and of
course headphone users can make use of the
high performance amp stage so i think the neo idsd
is a great head-fi system with just about any pair
of headphones as a desktop dac and a headphone amp
solution i like how the neo idsd can be positioned
horizontally or vertically the oled display
actually automatically flips to suit the preferred
orientation too so if you decide to set this one
up vertically it also comes with a stand to prop
it up and this is really cool because you can use
this to match the immersive picture quality of the
sony ps5 or the xbox series x with high fidelity
sound for the ultimate gaming experience plus
there’s great high-res bluetooth onboard it has
qualcomm’s newest bluetooth chipset which supports
all high definition bluetooth formats and it will
store and remember up to seven bluetooth devices
thanks to bluetooth 5.0 whether you connect this
one up with a cable or high definition bluetooth
i see the neo idsd’s next level digital engine
and fully balanced analog circuits are really
perfect for gamers who want to enhance their
gaming experience and movie buffs who just
want the most immersive sound possible this one
delivers incredible detailed sound for music
movies and of course this all translates to a more
immersive gaming experience alright that wraps
up our overview if you’re looking for even better
performance that will give you audiophile results
i think ifi can push even the most stubborn open
back headphones and give you the lifelike music
you’ve been wanting now the world of headphones
can be confusing but it doesn’t have to be
expensive so if you’re looking for an affordable
headphone amp and dac to bring life into your cans
we have exclusive setup guides that show you
exactly how to optimize your listening sessions
like a professional audio engineer and all audio
advice purchasers will receive our tips and tricks
videos sent directly to them i think ifi has some
great solutions and there are even more models
in the full written version of this comparison we
have a link to that in the description so be sure
to check that out if you’re interested in learning
more if you have any questions on any of these
dacs or any other home audio or home theater gear
just give us a call chat with us at audioadvice.com
or stop into one of our award-winning showrooms
we’ll be happy to let you know how these will fit
in with your on the go or home audio setup thanks
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