Piling on the user-customisation options are DSP-free implementations of XBass+ and 3D+ that, according to the press release, widens the headstage. In a similar vein, we might have some hard-to-drive headphones that call for the iFi’s headphone outputs (6.4mm or balanced Pentaconn 4.4mm, almost 0.5W) to be switched up from ‘Normal’ to ‘Turbo’ or some super-sensitive IEMs that call for ‘Eco’ mode whilst simultaneously tapping the Micro DSD Signature’s internal IEMatch circuitry: ‘Ultra’ or ‘High’. We might momentarily forget that we’ve heard DACs whose Redbook performance outstrips anything heard from a lesser DAC’s hi-res take on the same material. If we’re a hi-res purist, we might be wowed by the digital stage’s bit-perfect handling of PCM (up to 32bit/768kHz) and DSD (up to DSD512) and their separate signal routing and that we have a choice of ‘Standard’, ‘Minimum Phase’ and ‘Bit-Perfect’ filters for PCM files plus ‘Standard Bandwidth’, ‘Extended Bandwidth’ and ‘Extreme Bandwidth’ for DSD. We might consider the Micro iDSD Signature’s Burr-Brown-based digital engine – accessible via male USB-A or hybrid 3.5mm coaxial/TOSLINK socket and laid out as a ‘balanced/interleaved’ chip configuration – as having a sound of its own, completely ignoring the equal importance of the power supply and the output stage. And yet not all batteries are ‘quiet’ just as not all switch-mode power supplies are noisy. In poring over iFi’s five-page (count ’em) press release for the new Micro iDSD Signature DAC / headphone amplifier, we might be tempted to see its deep dive as a close substitute for first-hand listening experience.Īfter all, we’ve read that battery power – here promising 6-12 hours listening time between charges – lowers electrical noise, causing us to assume that the new iFi DAC will deliver ‘blacker backgrounds’ than similarly-priced models needing wall power.
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