iFI Audio iDSD Diablo 2

iFI Audio Diablo 2

Battery powered DAC and headphone amplifier

With the introduction of iDSD Diablo in 2021, iFI Audio created a product for music enthusiasts who wanted a powerful sound experience from digital sources – also when on the move. Since then, the team at iFI Audio has been putting in the hard work, and of buckets of coffee, to improve on an already excellent product. Now the time has come, and the heir has arrived in the form of – drumroll – iDSD Diablo 2!

iFI Audio iDSD Diablo 2 has received a comprehensive new design, both visually and functionally, but is based on the amplifier stage of its predecessor with a whole series of improvements. But where the predecessor was intended solely for use with a wired connection to a source, the Devil number 2 now also adds Bluetooth functionality, including aptX Lossless support! – This makes it nothing less than the world's first portable DAC and headphone amplifier to support this format.

Portable High-end for headphones

iDSD Diablo 2 has the same physical size as its predecessor, and it would probably be an understatement to call it pocket friendly. But it is portable and transportable in any case, with the perfect shape and size to put next to the computer in the office or bring along in your bag when you're on the go. Well, you can even bring it into the living room, connect your TV or game console via Bluetooth, and enjoy high-quality sound from movies or games on headphones. And the people around you can enjoy the silence. Compared to its predecessor, iDSD Diablo 2's casing is somewhat more aggressive in design, and that is no accident. The design simply works as cooling fins but has also been developed to allow the iDSD Diablo 2 to integrate the included stand.

True Native DAC with DSD compatibilty

At the heart of iFI Audio's fiendishness you will find a Burr-Brown DAC chip which handles the digital signal. However, a good DAC is no guarantee of good sound – digital signal processing requires good quality components all the way through the chain. Therefore, iFI Audio has also chosen a 32-bit XMOS Cortex microprocessor to prepare the signal for the DAC, with extensive jitter reduction via a high-precision femtoclock, which ensures the best possible timing and precision in the signal. iFI Audio iDSD Diablo 2 supports almost everything when it comes to audio formats. From horrendously compressed MP3 files to PCM up to 32-bit/768kHz and 22 MHz DSD files (DSD512), every bit is handled in the best possible way. The Burr-Brown DAC is a four-channel 'True Native' design, which means that each type of audio format is processed separately. This makes it possible to keep the signal bit-perfect all the way from input to output. There is also full decoding and triple unfold of MQA files, up to 384kHz.

A World's first with Bluetooth aptX Lossless

One of the new functions in this generation of iDSD Diablo is the ability to stream sound wirelessly, directly to the red bugger. iFI Audio has used Bluetooth in a large selection of their product portfolio, so they have good experience in implementing it in the best possible way. As the first on the market, iFI Audio has equipped a portable DAC and headphone amplifier with aptX Lossless, which can carry CD-quality sound (16-bit/44.1kHz) losslessly. The compression is not done by reducing the amount of data, but instead by 'packing' it in the sender, transmitting the signal to the receiver and letting the receiver unpack the file again. Imagine a duvet in a plastic bag where all the air is sucked out - now it only takes up half the space, but it is still a full-sized soft duvet when it is unpacked from the bag again. aptX Lossless supports a bitrate up to 1.2mbit at CD quality, or the equivalent of more than twice as much as aptX Adaptive and approx. 20% more than Bluetooth LDAC.

To make use of this Bluetooth type in high quality, the source device must be equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon Sound chip with Bluetooth aptX Lossless. It currently exists in several smartphones from e.g. Sony but is expected to become even more widespread in the coming years. If you don't have such a smart device with it on board, you will be pleased to hear that there is also support for Bluetooth in other formats, including aptX Adaptive, aptX HD, HWA/LDAC and AAC.

Powerful amplification for headphones

The headphone amplifier part is of course also worth mentioning, as it is another one of the strengths of the iFI Audio iDSD Diablo 2. It drives pretty much anything you can connect to headphones, except for a few models such as electrostats, with great energy and dynamics. With an output power of 5,180mW/12.9V into 32 Ohms and 611mW/19.2V into 600 Ohms via the balanced 4.4mm output, the Diablo 2 has greater power reserves than any other similar product on the market. The amplifier stage has three gain settings; respectively normal, Turbo (+3dB) and Nitro (+16dB) and there is also an IEMatch setting which ensures that sensitive in-ear monitors can be operated without background noise and hiss. The volume is adjusted by an analogue potentiometer which, compared to digital solutions, delivers a superior sound quality.

Built in battery for portable use

As previously mentioned, the iFI Audio iDSD Diablo 2 has a built-in battery, which makes it possible to use it when there is no outlet nearby. It also reduces electrical noise for an even higher sound quality. If you use Diablo 2 at home, it can simply be connected to power via the included iPower 2 power supply, which is equipped with active noise reduction, for optimal sound quality when connected to a wall outlet.

Excellent connectivity options

There is a nice selection of connection options on the iFI Audio iDSD Diablo 2. For headphones, you can connect to the device via the standard 6.3mm (1/4”) or balanced 4.4mm Pentaconn connector, which is becoming more and more common. On the back you will also find a 4.4mm balanced output, but this is used when you want to use the Diablo 2 as a DAC in a larger Hi-Fi system. The output is set to a fixed level and bypasses the headphone amplifier in the device. Next to the 4.4mm output you will find a combined coaxial and optical S/PDIF for connecting e.g. a CD player or similar device that does not have a USB output. Computers, smartphones, tablets, etc. can be connected via the USB-C input for bit-perfect transfer of audio files.