Verdict
Not for everyone , and not without a trivial issuance or two … but the iFi iDSD Diablo is nevertheless a monumental upgrade for your desktop audio system .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
There ’s an iFi headphone amp / DAC at every price - pointfrom around £ 80to thethick close of £ 4000 . Within that all-inclusive range , though , the original iDSD Diablo always stood out as an specially powerful performing artist at the request price .
Naturally enough , iFi has binned it off in favor of this transposition : new look , pump up specification and bigger Leontyne Price . Has it been worth the effort ? Is it worth your money ?
Availability
The iFi iDSD Diablo 2 is on sale now for £ 1299 . It ’s a slightly less fuzz - elicit $ 1299 in the United States , while in Australia you ’re depend at AU$2199 . Which , I intend we can all agree , is plenty to be spend on a background audio portion …
Design
iFi has reworked the designof the Diabloquite thoroughly for this 2d generation . The broad dimensions ( 9 x 85 x 166 mm , HxWxD ) are the same , but the smooth finish of the original is gone in favor of a bumpy arrangement of 22 rail that on the face of it assist in keeping the iDSD Diablo 2 cool . Eight of these rails can take one of the four backstage iFi supplies – these can help position the gimmick either horizontally or vertically .
The iDSD Diablo 2 is supplied with an iTraveller carrying type . As well as the twist itself , the slip has room for the iPower 2 mains power transcriber and a pick of cable television : USB - C / USB - C ( choose from ‘ poor and pleach ’ or ‘ helpfully longer ’ ) , and USB - ascorbic acid / Lightning ( just ‘ light and braid ’ ) , along with a USB - C / USB - A adapter , 3.5 mm / 6.3 millimeter adapter and a Toslink optical adapter .
Features
At the same time as extending its stipulation , iFi has managed to make the iDSD Diablo 2 a rather neater background proposal – so in this respect alone , its feature - Seth is a winnings / profits .
On the interior , iFi has deployed a double - substance Burr Brown DAC chipset to take aid of business . This means the Diablo 2 has support for every major ( and several minor ) file cabinet types , of up to 768kHz and DSD512 resolution – it ’s capable of fullMQA decoding too .
Supporting this are several features all design to enhance performance : OptimaLoop intends to minimise distortion and form issue , PureWave refers to the machine ’s dual - mono analogue amplification computer architecture , and Servoless DirectDrive cite both to the direct nature of the signal path and its absence of pair off capacitors .
Power , according to iFi , is a reckless five watts – which really should be more than enough to drive even the most uncooperative earpiece . iFi ’s methodology when it comes to measuring power is the subject of much online argument , though – but it ’s in the nature of on-line debate to have no real common sense of the rightfulness and wrongs , of course . I suppose it only becomes an issue in the real humans if the iDSD Diablo 2 demonstrate ineffectual to drive guileful headphones …
The iFi habituate Bluetooth 5.4 for wireless connectivity , and it ’s compatible with , among many others , theaptX Losslesscodec . That ’s the theory , anyway – I retrieve it unmanageable to tell , to be honest , as I will discourse in the sound lineament section . There ’s a button to initiate pairing on the rear of the iDSD Diablo 2 – and this is also where you ’ll find a 4.4 mm balanced line - level stimulus , a hybrid 3.5 millimetre input for either digital optical or digital coaxial inputs , and two USB - C socket .
One is for charge the battery , the other for information transference . The obtain wisdom is that electric battery business leader is the cleaner and best direction to labor a Cartesian product like this , but iFi count its iPower 2 adaptor is humiliated - noise and in effect too . The power to link like a shot to USB - C for data point transfer is a big improvement on the original Diablo , which require an inelegant collecting of cables and adapters to do the same .
On the front there are 6.3 millimetre imbalanced and 4.4 mm balanced earphone outputs . There ’s a shift above the latter to countenance the Diablo 2 know whether you ’ve attached xMEMS headphones . Normal , Turbo and Nitro are the rich descriptions impart to the positions of the exponent output switching that ’s next on the fascia ( when reading from lead to right ) , and then there ’s a unmarried light-emitting diode that lets you know what ’s what as regard file size of it ( for pumped connections ) orBluetoothcodec ( for radio ) .
A big analogue volume controller , with sliding lock , completes the line - up . The bottom of the chassis has another three - place IEMatch replacement , for use with in - capitulum monitor – quality from Off , 4.4 and 6.35 .
Sound Quality
The iFi iDSD Diablo 2 , of course , is willing to deal with audio content of any character and any Indian file size , from pumped-up or wireless source . It ’s happy to power headphones of many unlike type , too . And so this test is acquit using several pairs of headphones , a number of unlike germ and many unlike type and sizes of digital audio files .
And while there are perceptible difference , the overall position and attitude of the iDSD Diablo 2 is unmistakable throughout . It ’s a rapid , direct , and excitingly elaborated listen , with just as many apposite observations to make about a 16 - bit/44.1kHz single file of The Jam ’s That ’s Entertainment as a 24 - bit/192kHz FLAC file cabinet of All the Good Girls Go to Hell by Billie Eilish . It ’s balanced and responsive and puts the emphasis just as foursquare on enjoyment as it does analysis .
The soundstage it creates is opened , organized , and believable , with every element of a recording given the breathing quad in which to by rights convey itself . Space is available in every direction , but the iFi manages to unify a recording and make it sound whole and peculiar even while it open it up for your inspection .
Its tonal equipoise is neutral and natural – although if partner off with disagreeable headphones it can get a short hopeful and positive at the top of the frequency compass . In every circumstance it gives low frequencies courteous straight edges and keeps momentum high – but while this helps rhythmic expression and overall pace no end , it signify the iDSD Diablo 2 is n’t the out - and - out punchiest listen around .
Low absolute frequency have depth , detail , and texture – but they ’re not what you might call substantial . From the top of the frequency range to the bottom , though , it ’s fundamentally even and consistent . Detail storey are high at every stage , and through the midrange in particular the iFi communicates with real fluency .
factual power - output signal notwithstanding , it ’s deserving note that the iDSD Diablo 2 sound jolly loud even if its legion addition controls are at their down in the mouth stage setting . A knocking - on essence of this seems to be a slight inhibition of dynamic headroom – the low-pitched - level moral force and harmonised variations are distinguish and contextualised without alarms , but when it come to expectant shifts in book or vividness , the iFi has n’t leave alone itself much blank space in which to operate . What should be quiet - to - loud terminate up being gimcrack - to - meretricious - still , and there ’s a slight deficiency of dynamic expression as a result .
Using a wireless connection from a smartphone to the iDSD Diablo 2 makes for , in blanket terms , very similar solvent . An iPhone will always be hamstrung by Apple ’s bloody - tending insistence that AAC is as beneficial a Bluetooth codec as anyone deserves , of trend , but Android alternatives get along a little undecomposed .
It ’s worth noting that an Asus smartphone alleged to have aptX Lossless capability gives every indicant of cyclosis to the iFi using aptX Adaptive , though – or , at least , it does if the little light-emitting diode on the iDSD Diablo 2 is anything to go by . Quite where the problem ( such as it is ) lies is , at the time of composition , anyone ’s guessing …
Latest deals
Should you buy it?
No , it ’s true : your laptop computer can be a high - quality source of medicine .
It almost belong without aver that the iFi ’s endowment are most in full reveal by equally gifted headphone .
Final Thoughts
I ’ve been using an original iFi iDSD Diablo ever since it launched , and I was powerfully in the ‘ ai n’t develop / don’t muddle it ’ camp . The new Diablo 2 is n’t perfect , but it ’s a decisive stone’s throw on from the merchandise it replaces – so I pretend I ’ll be using this one instead …
Trusted Score
How we test
We test every DAC we review thoroughly over an extended menstruation of sentence . We use industry - stock examination to liken features in good order . We ’ll always tell you what we receive . We never , ever , take money to go over a product .
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FAQs
you’re able to tie in to another peregrine source with the iFi Diablo 2 but not with another pair of headphones .
