Ifi Micro Idsd Black Label Usb Dac and Headphone Amplifier Review

April 18, 2022 Post a Comment

Weird company name, weird production names with weird feature names and weird form factors. To the uninitiated, researching one of iFi's portable headphone DAC/amps might be a bit overwhelming — the company doesn't shy abroad from the arcane, list component part numbers in the place of advertising re-create and bombarding the reader with branded features. iFi does things similar nobody else, which might be why they're so popular in the audiophile community. Today we're trying out iFi's Micro iDSD Black Label. There'southward a lot to cover here — it'south a DAC, information technology's a headphone amplifier, it'southward a preamp, information technology'south powerful, and it's awesome.

The iDSD BL makes a strong offset impression. Its all-metallic black anodized housing, covered in ports, switches, and tiny orange text labels, feels solid and durable. Unlike its by and large square competition, the iDSD BL is long and rectangular, which may be great for crowded desks where horizontal space is at a premium. The iDSD BL's front end panel is densely packed with a volume knob, "Xbass" and "3D+" sound switches, headphone jack, and 3.5mm analog input jack. On the rear of the iDSD BL are a set of RCA analog outputs, an ingenious optical input/coaxial input-output jack and a recessed male USB-A jack. The correct panel features a single female person USB-A port for charging mobile devices (5V/1.5A) which can only be used when the unit is powered off. The left side has three switches — power mode (proceeds), polarity, filter — though the labels for these controls are on the bottom of the unit of measurement.

Finally, on the bottom of the iDSD BL is a preamp/line out switch and a switch to control iFi's IEMatch characteristic, which adjusts the unit of measurement'south output to accommodate high-sensitivity IEMs, lowering the noise floor and giving the user a more than usable volume range. Though the placement of these controls is a bit awkward at first, we memorized them easily enough, and ultimately came to appreciate the adjustability of the iDSD BL's output. Packaged with the iDSD BL are accessories to fit nigh any apply case: a USB-A male person to female cable, USB-B to USB-A adapter, a 6.3mm to 3.5mm adapter, a short RCA analog cable, and a deport example. Though the iDSD BL includes a decent internal bombardment, a soft deport pocketbook with a volume knob cutout, and silicone bands for attaching it to a mobile device, we call up calling it "portable" is a bit also generous given its size and weight. Rather, we recollect the iDSD BL is better regarded as a "transportable" device into which maximum technology and power is packed into minimum space.

The iDSD BL's "Swiss Regular army Pocketknife" personality is more just skin deep. Despite what it's name would suggest, the iDSD BL supports more than than just DSD — it tin also handle PCM files upwardly to an astonishing 32-fleck, 768 khz resolution. If you're one of the few actually using DSD, you lot'll be happy to know that the iDSD BL can decode DSD 512 and DXD 2x. A single LED on the back of the unit changes color to indicate battery level and the blazon of music file being decoded. In our testing, the iDSD BL worked perfectly with macOS (no drivers required), Windows 10 (with drivers), and iOS (via the USB2 and USB3 Camera Connection Kits). We initially questioned why the iDSD used a USB-A port on the rear instead of the more than commonly-used USB-B, but iFi explained that this is to make the device easier to apply with mobile devices; it'due south easier to find USB-A OTG cables than USB-B. The iDSD BL'due south output is substantial for its size, with a max power of 1.five watts (4W meridian) into sixteen ohms through its headphone jack, and low distortion of less than .008 percent. iFi uses a dual Burr-Chocolate-brown chipset for its DAC department, with high-quality components that are upgraded in comparison to the standard version of the Micro iDSD. iFi is certainly proud of the iDSD'due south components and topology — though nosotros can't annotate on how much value is added by Sanyo capacitors or "Operationsverstärker" op-amps, we can ostend that we are happy with the iDSD BL's functioning.

Between the power mode and IEMatch, its easy to find the right power output to make the iDSD BL pair well with well-nigh any headphone, fifty-fifty on battery power. Nosotros plant this adjustability helpful to maximize battery life and, for more sensitive headphones, to avoid the channel imbalance found at the lesser few degrees of the book range. None of the headphones we tried required the "Turbo" gain setting — even the Sennheiser HD800 and Audeze LCD-3 could be driven to sufficient volume in Normal fashion, though the amp did feel a bit strained with those power-hungry cans. Sound out of the iDSD BL initially struck us equally a bit bass-light, but later some time listening, we heard aught but a clean, balanced presentation. The IE Match characteristic works exactly as advertised, immediately dropping the noise flooring with sensitive IEMs. The iDSD BL's XBass feature adds a noticeable but reasonable corporeality of bass boost without sounding bloated or distorted. The 3D Matrix switch is supposed to mimic the soundstage of speakers by adding some analog crossfeed, but we didn't find the result very useful in our listening — information technology sounds more like a boost to upper midrange than speakers. If more than one input is connected, the iDSD BL will switch between optical and USB inputs automatically depending on which is playing music. The analog outputs are make clean, allowing the iDSD BL to work nicely equally a DAC (2V line out) or preamp. And, lest we forget the most important interface component, this device has excellent knob feel.

We admit information technology: we have known about the iDSD and information technology'southward large post-obit for some fourth dimension but, between its odd shape and iFi's bulletproof product descriptions, never rushed to review it. After spending a calendar week with the iDSD Black Label, nosotros are believers. The iDSD BL is built like a tank, feature-packed, and powerful. In this review, we were only barely able to scratch the surface of the iDSD's diverse branded features, but suffice to say that this DAC/amp sounds great and has plenty flexibility to run into about any apply example. The iFi Micro iDSD Black Characterization gets our strong recommendation.