Ifi - Nano Idsd Dac/Headphone Amp

iFi - Nano iDSD DAC/Headphone Amp

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• True Native DSD/DXD/PCM Playback
• Seriously Great Headphone Amplifier
• Has a lithium-polymer battery that lasts for 10 hours,
• No matter the file size or format, Nano iDSD has you covered
• Only thing you have to lose is missing out on the groundbreaking experience that is the Nano iDSD DAC and headphone amplifier

Buy Now : iFi - Nano iDSD DAC/Headphone Amp

Brand : IFI
Category : Electronics,Headphones, Earbuds & Accessories,Amplifiers
Rating : 3.7
Price : US $199
Review Count : 134
SalesRank : 0

iFi - Nano iDSD DAC/Headphone Amp

• Directions were less than vague, couldn\'t find much support online, other than that, once I got it sorted, I\'m actually more than satisfied. I\'m an (almost) all analog (almost) all the time guy. Oftentimes when I build an amplifier or restore an old one, I\'ll do the testing in my shop with a laptop. I wanted better quality. It was fairly late last night when I finally got it working properly so I only tested the headphone amp, and I wasn\'t blown away. Today, however, I hooked it up to my bedroom system. So I\'ve got the laptop into the DAC, into my The Fisher 400-cx, into a single ended KT-88 amp. I was really just hoping it would \'take the edge off\' the digital sound. It did WAY more than that. I\'m extremely pleased with the sound of this DAC. I got much more than I\'d hoped for, and it was quite a bargain. Plus, it\'s portable, I can use it everywhere when I don\'t feel like flipping albums. Definitely recommend, and definitely would buy another if ever I need one.
• An update after a few weeks of ownership - and a fundamental flaw has become apparent. It relates to switching `Modes\' (from one frequency to another). Every time the DAC switches from any Mode it results in a double click coming through the headphones. This happens for PCM and DSD content. If, like me, you play a `jukebox\' of music then this clicking can end up happening between each and every track. The sound is something like that of a stylus dropping on to a vinyl record - but after several years of listening to digital music it isn\'t something I was prepared for.After several weeks of to-ing and fro-ing the people at iFi admitted that they have known about it all along and it was a conscious design choice - but seem very reticent to update their marketing material to make this clear.An option for those who have the unit is to make the music playing software (Jriver, Foobar2000, ..,) process all PCM files as DSD for output which significantly lessens the volume of the clicking. There is also a firmware update required which lessens the clicking when switching between DSD modes only, but for some reason it is also not publicised.To confirm; if you listen to a series of tracks which are in the same frequency (Mode for the DAC) then there isn\'t this problem. But, if I had known of this shortcoming before purchase .... Well at least you do now, so you can make an informed choice.For all other purposes the original review still holds. Great musical sounds for the price.BTW: It appears that other iFi products may suffer from similar issues. Maybe some other brands do as well?------------------------I have an ever growing library of digital music and spend most of my listening time now hearing music playing from my computer through headphones. I was aware that the sound quality was lacking and had initially thought that, maybe, I needed `better\' headphones than the ATH-M50s.When testing a few headphones at a local store through my portable player I found that sound quality didn\'t change much, but the people in the store were keen to sell a more expensive pair. After coming away I started thinking that the source of the music might have been an issue as to why the sound didn\'t improve much between headphone models.And, to cut to the chase, that\'s how I ended up deciding to buy a DAC. The selection process took several weeks of finding out what is important, where data formats are going [well beyond 24 bit 192k of other units], and what is currently the best bang-for-buck. All pointed to the ifi IDSD Nano DAC.And WHAT a change.I loaded the driver software, plugged in this little device, set it as the default sound device in windows - and haven\'t looked back.The improvement in volume is nice, the crispness of sound is great, but what I most notice is the complete absence of distortion when listening to anything. Ok, my older and lower quality MP3 files have limitations but now it is worthwhile to replace them with higher quality copies. Now I have a number of SACD, DSF and higher quality FLAC files, as well as a BluRay Audio disc to listen to.I can\'t say I have tried many tricks with the unit. I haven\'t used it as a portable device yet. It just sits there with the RCA plugs still capped pushing clear crisp and full sound in to my headphones which now sound like they are very happy.
• ifi nano nano iDSD for about $200For me this is the premium choice among ‘budget’ DACS (budget: $300 or less) as it provides a neutral response over all the frequencies, with greater ‘bloom’ or fullness of sound than the others I am familiar with, and good attacks, etc. I do wish it had a toslink/optical input. In its category, that’s the only limitation.I have two other DACs in this price range, and I have used all three of these extensively sourcing from Windows 7 and a Windows 8 computer. If you are new to this category of quality (given the price) DACs for headphone or as input to an amp to drive your speakers, I think you will be happy with any of these three--and there are alternatives that I have never heard.The Audioquest Dragon fly (about $160) is what started this genre of portable, affordable DACs. I have the original version, so strictly speaking my comments do not apply to the revised version. It is the most portable of the three, you just plug it straight into the computer usb, plug your headphones directly into it, and you are done. You use the computer to control volume. (You can also use that headphone output as input to an amp to drive your regular speakers.)The AudioEngine DAC 1 (I think it was $150) is a little bigger but more versatile. One uses a usb cable (supplied) from the computer to the DAC. Unique among these three, it also has an optical/toslink input for the digital signal. My ancient DVD has an optical output for the 0-1s, So I can plug the digital soundtrack into the DAC, send the video ouput to TV, thus watch the video and listen through headphones or speakers with quality sound.To my ears (as all the comments on sonics here) the sonics of the Dragonfly are good with the mids and highs, but a tad weak on the bass. The bass notes just are not as fully developed as they could be. (Remember, this is the original version, I have not heard the revised). The AudioEngine does a notably better job with the low notes, but less so with the high notes. The Audio Engine also has its own volume control, which is very nice. (You set the computer output to its max, and control volume with the DAC.) Believe me, this is a much nicer way to save your ears if you accidently have the volume too high. It’s just very handy.The ifi nano surpasses both in my experience, except that it lacks the toslink input--can’t use it to watch DVDs and get the great sound. If you are into opera or musicals, that’s a loss. And there is a little fuss on the front end: if you are using Windows, you have to go to the ifi website to download a driver. But it is worth the one-time trouble! (It is a very well done web site. They tell you what to do if the preferred version does not work--and it didn’t on one of my windows 7 computers. But you just download the prior version, and all is well.) For this slight inconvenience you get what is for me noticeably better sound across the full range: both the highs and lows are reproduced well, and they are more fully developed, there is more ‘bloom’ to the music.I use these DACs to drive some pretty good headphones (Sennheiser 600s, NAD Visa xx) and as input to power amp and speakers in a regular system. In my experience, using windows computers as a source, one would have to spend $600 or more to match the ifi nano.Caveat: I listen almost exclusively to classical music, wav/flac files, and I want a DAC that does not exaggerate any part of the frequency range--e.g. I don’t want ‘extra bass’.Hope it is helpful.

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