FOR Detailed, balanced sound; good battery life; versatile
AGAINST Lacks a little dynamic subtlety and timing
iFi (pronounced as Eliza Doolittle might say “hi-fi”) isn’t alone on its mission to improve laptop sound for few pounds. The Cyrus soundKey (£100), Meridian Explorer 2 (£130), DragonFly Black (£90) and Red (£170), and a handful of others have already set out along this path.
But what’s less common is the tendency to extend that ambition to smartphone sound too. The Oppo HA-2 SE (£290) and Chord Mojo (£400) are designed to service both types of device, and iFi’s portable (battery-powered, pocket-sized) iPhone and Android-compatible nano iDSD BL (‘Black Label’) has followed suit.
Versatile DAC
The nano’s Burr-Brown True Native DAC can handle PCM files all the way up to 32-bit/384kHz (arguably more than you need), as well as DXD and DSD256 formats. It also supports MQA, extending playback to physical MQA files and Tidal Masters.
This story is from the February 2018 edition of What Hi-Fi Sound and Vision.
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This story is from the February 2018 edition of What Hi-Fi Sound and Vision.
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