Have You Heard the ifi xDSD Hi-Res Bluetooth Portable USB DAC?

“This thing is incredible,” our 30-something year old son said handing the little ici xDSD Hi-Res Bluetooth Portable USB DAC and Headphone amplifier back to me while pulling off a pair of headphones. “With that and a decent pair of headphones, you’d have a really good portable audio system to travel with.” He travels frequently and had just gotten home from a multi-day cross-country trip, so that was on his mind. He went on to add that this little DAC would be great for other situations where a full audio system just wasn’t possible. And, having traveled over an hour each way to the city for my job for about 15 years, I know it would be great for commuters.

I discovered this product in April in the Market Hall at AXPONA where it was being shown for the first time, and I asked for one to review. Recently, I’ve been reviewing CDs, and I wanted something that would improve the sound of music downloaded to my iPhone. Yes, I realize that music ripped to an iPhone is about the lowest quality there is, and that’s why I wanted something better.

Listening Experience

Anyway, here’s my experience with this ultra-portable little DAC that retails for a mere $399 on Amazon. Our youngest granddaughter takes a preschool gymnastics class, and I needed to take her to the class. She’s graduated to a class where basically my role is to provide transportation to and from the class. So while waiting for her and watching her out of the corner of my eye, I decided to play a Willie Nelson album that was on my iPhone. Now, I love Willie, but this wasn’t my favorite album, and one of the singers on the album had such a nasal, bluegrass style voice that I wondered how he ever got a recording contract. It was almost not listenable, but there were a couple of Willie’s solos on the album that I wanted to hear, so I didn’t switch to something else. Overall, however, the quality of the music was very thin and scratchy with no dimension.

Later in the day, Jack and I were in the car together running errands, and the same album started playing on the car’s audio system since my phone is paired to the car. We drive a 2018 BMW i3 with the premium audio package, so even without any added audio gear, the car’s stereo is very good. The sound of the album through the car stereo was much improved from just the straight iPhone, and there was a discernible difference in the voices, instrument placement and real bass. Still, it was nowhere near a high-end audiophile experience.

I decided having listened to the same album twice that day, I’d listen one more time using the ifi DAC, which I hadn’t really had much time to play with yet. It was sonic magic! Now, I’m not saying it sounded better than that album would have sounded on Jack’s reference system, but that’s not the point. The little DAC took poor quality audio files on an iPhone and transformed them into a listenable audio experience with bass and a soundstage that were unbelievable. Somehow this little DAC has the ability to add tonal quality to fill in what your ears tell you is missing. Again, this DAC is not intended to replace your high-end system, but it’s not designed to do that. Whether you use it wireless or wired, it sure goes a long way for turning your Bluetooth device and a pair of headphones into a premium and portable way to enjoy music.

User Experience 

I’ll include the specs at the end of this post, but to start with, this little DAC is very portable. Its dark titanium vacuum ion plated metal enclosure is roughly the same size and weight as a large box of Altoid mints, or slightly smaller than your average cell phone. It delivers CD-quality Bluetooth connectivity for Apple/Android to stream the latest music on iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal and any other streaming platforms. It also delivers the very highest quality PCM768/DSD512 and MQA formats for downloaded and Tidal streamed music in full studio-quality.

This DAC is intended to be used with headphones, and iFi says they use an exclusive S-Balanced technology that delivers the maximum performance from single-ended and balanced headphones alike. Compared to standard balanced circuitry, noise and distortion are lowered by up to 3-fold (9dB). Even with non-balanced headphones, crosstalk and related distortion are reduced by 50%.

The 3D+ Matrix and XBass+ built into the amp prevents the “in your head” sensation common with headphones. This technology is able to let you hear the correct placement of an artist in a studio and outside of your head and basically makes listening through headphones more enjoyable and less tiring because it just sound right. So, just plug-in your headphones and enjoy the music!

ifi claims the DAC is super user-friendly, and our son thought it was remarkably easy. I’m having cataract surgery in a couple of months and can’t see a darn thing right now, so while the DAC came with really good printed information, the print was too small for me to read. If you are visually challenged like me, they do have a very good website with user information and a downloadable PDF. You will also find several recent reviews of this product online by searching the product name. It is getting some very favorable press.

So, my conclusion is that this DAC is amazing! It’s going to be a great present for our son’s birthday next month. It is truly worthy of being called a next-generation product for portable audio.

Technical Specifications