iBasso Audio releasing a flagship UIEM is exciting, and certainly tuned for excitement is the brand-new IT07.  This seven-driver hybrid puts top quality components at your service, as a graphene dynamic driver for bass props up six premium Knowles balanced armatures. [See Product Desc. For More] IT07 proves its worth at the bottom and at the top of the spectrum, thrilling with its bass and treble performance. There's the option to dial these in further yet, with included interchangeable acoustic filters within reach to suit multiple sources, tastes and music genres. Tasteful emphasis of the frequency extremes flank a lucid and spacious mid-range performance that flows effortlessly, its liquidity reminiscent of AM05. Emotive vocals never risk being overshadowed.  Audio123 sees this as a legitimate step up from iBasso's previous IT04 in a comparison with today's popular flagship UIEMs. Headfonics has "no complaints because it does so many things very well ... Tesla driver can dig deep into the bass, the vocals sound very smooth and clear and the highs are clean and crisp with an overall balanced frequency response". MOONSTAR Reviews and Twister6 compare it favouribly with other flagships of its day, with IT07 holding its own against Meze's Rai Penta and 64 Audio's tia Trió, among the rest. An excellent stock cable terminated in balanced 2.5mm comes included, to work from the box with iBasso's DC01 USB-C DAC dongle, or one of our music players here.  // RECOMMENDED: Upgrade with the IBASSO CB16 if you're part of the 4.4mm club. View the rest of iBasso's releases here, or check out our other IEMs here.

iBasso Audio's Amp12 is now released as an ultimate separate amplifier module for their flagship DX320 music player, its large, dual batteries ensuring iBasso could take this module's analog circuit to town. Clean, precise and infinitely detailed, with plenty of headstage, air and also a rumbling, authoritative bass, Amp12 is a product of the comprehensive discrete circuit built within, one Headfonia says "enhances the player signature in many ways, giving you a more natural approach to the sound", complete with pictures. [See Product Desc. For More] Indeed, iBasso built Amp12 to act as a most faithful conduit to your music, allowing it to remain truthful to the way it was recorded. The voltage gain stage is tuned to provide a vast and open soundstage, while the power stage takes that and preserves all the low-end authority in your music. Headfonics throws this back to when iBasso championed the term neutral, in days gone by, Audio-PH talking about its perfect balance. Audiophile Heaven adds Amp12 gave music a new lease of life. Plug any big can from Sennheiser or ZMF Headphones straight in to be immediately impressed, or use its dedicated hardware line-out as the ultimate source for Cayin Audio's C9. Also view all our products from iBasso here or our other music players here.

New and improved USB-C to 4.4mm second-generation audio amplifier by Ibasso.  2 x CS43131 DAC Chips Up to 32bit/384kHz PCM Decoding  Up to 256x Native DSD Decoding with a THD+N below 0.00032%  High Power Output of up to 195mW@32Ohm, 4Vrms@300Ohm

For those who like it loud: DX320 Max TI goes up to 11. But iBasso Audio's trans-portable music player knows how to play it soft as well – a stepped resistor analog volume control preserves the resolution of four ROHM BD34301EKV DACs at any listening level. Headfonics hail DX320 Max TI as stunning, with few competitors. Twister6 echoed this. Audiophile-Heaven was unreserved in his praise of "the best sounding DAP that has ever been created ... heard and tested ... a device that [the Chord Electronics] Hugo 2 and FiiO M17 can't really even hope to reach sonically". Limited to 888 units worldwide, iBasso's third MAX in line had to surpass its predecessors. So they built this Android 11 DAP behemoth with a Super Class A amplifier operating on 9 volt rails to tackle Focal, HIFIMAN and ZMF Headphones ... But DX320 Max TI's stepped volume attenuator, developed in-house from individual resistors by iBasso, is where the money is at. It's that that enables it to play it delicately into your flagship earphones for enjoyment at realistically lower volume levels. That means performance can be wrought yet from anything like an Empire Ears Raven and Odin, Elysian Acoustic Labs Annihilator 2023, Oriolus JP Traillii and Subtonic Audio Storm. Indeed, a quad DAC array of familiar  BD34301EKVs from the ultra-resolution DX320 this Max TI is based on is given the platform to perform here unlike ever before. [See Product Desc. For More] Dual batteries – including a separate one for the analog section working at 8.4 volts, exactly DX320 Max TI's operating voltage – respond instantly to reproduce even the most demanding musical passages you ask of it.  The softest voice, on to the loudest passages, effortlessly rendered with the most aplomb regardless of how you choose to listen. Because, it's easy to play it loud, but everyone knows it's in playing back tiny sounds that is the litmus test of a powerhouse capable of outputting as much volume as DX320 Max TI. Without resting on the laurels of previous MAX attempts to increase and decrease both signal and noise levels together at the same time – as only an analog volume control can – iBasso went for the jugular with DX320 Max TI. After years of work, Head-Fi's analog specialists staved off launch till they could perfect their own, proprietary, stepped analog volume control. The results are impressive and a triumph for all Head-Fi to see – the first fully balanced, four-channel stepped attenuator of 0201 resistors miniaturised to work with full performance and reliability in something of DX320 Max TI's size. Transparent at any volume setting down low as much as up high, with virtually perfect +/-0.1dB channel-matching, this iBasso behemoth exposes detail buried deep around the noise floor of your music. The reason is simple: making use of the eight-channel output from four ROHM BD34301EKV DACs leashed to I2S supplied by iBasso's FPGA – the stereo redundancy yielding massive dynamic range and lowest distortion at the start of the chain.  Crucially, DX320 Max TI's BD34301EKVs output analog in current, as demanded by a DAP that claims to be of flagship status. iBasso are therefore afforded the opportunity to tailor the DAP's sonic profile as they wish with their extensive current-to-voltage I/V converter. That brings the added measure of ensuring that small-signal is of highest quality to begin with, with conversion errors manifesting as a DC offset that's easy to filter out – not more sinister total harmonic distortion. And fast optocouplers and I2C isolators ensure iBasso's digital section is galvanically isolated from its analog section, for purer performance still. So begins DX320 Max TI's fully-balanced, true differential analog circuit that runs at a massive 16.8 volt operating voltage for linear open-loop operation. Its power stage is fully discrete and boasts buffers capable of outputting more amperes of current than is needed in reality. Said power stage is another call for iBasso's Super Class A to appear. Current mirrors ensure DX320 Max TI's push-pull operation works without crossover distortion, yielding Class A-like performance at all power output levels. That makes for extremely linear open-loop operation before negative feedback is applied ... yet mostly avoids the heat and inefficiency typically associated with Class A designs. Certainly, the quantity of output power has been discussed, but the quality's not yet mentioned. DX320 Max TI's dual battery power supply component is split into one for the digital sub-system, and a separate 8.4 volt unit exactly for the afore-mentioned analog circuit's rails that avoids boost conversion and power supply ripple distortion along with it. All the above would mean little if DX320 Max TI wasn't built with the future of music consumption in mind. But thankfully Android 11 makes its appearance to be at the cutting-edge of DAP UI, processed by the speedy Snapdragon 660 SOC plus 6GB of RAM for smooth operation.  Tidal and Apple Music will be streamed at bit-perfect level via Direct Transport Authority (DTA), bypassing otherwise mandatory and detrimental Android re-sampling.  And to top all that digital and analog wizardry off, lavish your prized IEMs and headphones with the cherry on the cake they deserve, that is DX320 Max TI's expertly designed volume control – released to much fanfare and designed to tackle every one of the modern audiophile's desktop needs. Also shop iBasso's other releases here, or all our other music players here.

iBasso Audio didn't just add a 3.5mm output to its classic 4.4mm discrete Amp8, MKII also injects some DX320 magic straight into the DX240 music player. Twister6 thinks this completes iBasso's mainstay with a "resolving dynamic sound". Headfonia says it adds to DX240's flagship feel.  Audio-PH believes the ease of the Amp8 MKII upgrade was "to embody your skills and demonstrate them to a large audience", and MOONSTAR Reviews definitely seconds the added variety and sound quality. [See Product Desc. For More] Based off the stock Amp11 MKII of DX300, a high 8 volt operating voltage grants AMP8 MKII excellent open-loop linearity, with the ability to effortlessly reproduce large dynamic swings in your music.  That's all backed by discrete buffers capable of 2 amperes output to form a potent power stage, able to maintain excellent drive into the ever decreasing impedances that are typical of bone conduction or electrostatic IEM hybrids.  Add Amp8 MKII to your DX240 for a controlled sub-bass boost and detailed emphasis in your upper midrange, while giving your big, transparent, Craft Ears and Empire Ears flagships the footing necessary for them to show everything they can do.  Also browse the rest of iBasso's line-up here, or our other music players here.

iBasso Audio can't stop and won't stop loading Cirrus Logic DACs into their sources. DC07 Pro is their latest balanced 4.4mm dongle supplied by a quad of CS43131 DAC chips from the DX180 music player, working controlled by iBasso FPGA-Master technology. It's landed right on Headfonia's Recommended Buys list. DC07 Pro's state-of-the-art decode flows onto a fully-balanced analog path counting on common-mode rejection and claiming 134dB of signal-to-noise ratio. Audiophile-Heaven have added it to their Hall of Fame. An OLED screen basically adds to the illusion of music player levels of detail and fidelity even from USB's 5 volt supply are possible with DC07 Pro. A thoroughly regulated circuit and clean power form the basics here, as with every iBasso. It's solutions like DC07 Pro that continue to see USB DAC/amps raise their game. Further pushing decoding precision is an outboard clock that means DC07 Pro does not rely solely on its USB receiving chip for a master clock, but its FPGA. [See Product Desc. For More] Said FPGA sees DC07 Pro overachieve by supplying its CS43131s DACs the same pure I2S as iBasso's bigger DX180 and DX260 DAP alternatives, pushing down DAC phase noise and jitter for a stable decode. After decoding, iBasso's generous use of negative feedback quashes distortion and claims up to 134dB of signal-to-noise ratio. The employment of this feedback also sees DC07 Pro achieve bandwidth that's effectively flat from 10Hz to 75Khz. That means phase reproduction in the audible human hearing region is perfectly preserved, for the totally realistic portrayal of dynamics and natural transparency – a triumph of iBasso's budget DAC dongle. Powerful op-amp output buffers can supply nearly one watt of power. iBasso's little wonder promises high power and damping factor while maintaining its low distortion into low impedances typical of IEMs, Focals, Fostexs and Rosson Audio Designs. Still the closed-loop internal gain remaining after the application of negative feedback around DC07 Pro's op-amp IC analog circuit remains high. So where she really shines is in swinging volts, opening up the sound of any high-impedance Audio-Technica, Sennheiser and ZMF Headphones while barely breaking sweat. The quality of DC07 Pro's signal will translate to nearly everything you choose to drive from its balanced 4.4mm output, or 3.5mm – turning it into a miniaturised DX180, if you would. Flying the dongle DAC/amp flag high is DC07 Pro, till you turn to iBasso Audio's DC Elite here and other upgrades here, or others in our catalogue here.

Give all your music the DSD treatment, says D16. Built of individual resistors, capacitors and code carried on FPGA-Master 2, this all-to-DSD DAC/amp christened 'Taipan' packs DSP approaching -174dB of THD as iBasso Audio's most original, proprietary piece of work to date. iBasso’s USB-input DAC/amp eschews off-the-shelf DAC chips. D16 doesn't differentiate between CD rips, Hi-Res downloads and Spotify, Tidal or Apple Music streaming. It upconverts all your normal PCM material into DSD before decoding your digital to analog. All formats are passed as DSD through D16’s 1-bit decode. Without irony, D16 will yield the most improvement to collectors of SACD-rip, DSD64 files. As a heavily-upsampling DAC, iBasso take the honours for the first Head-Fi product to target and remove DSD64's terrible ultrasonic noise problems. Twister6 praises "a portable audio solution to deliver flagship-level performance with a neutral sound tuning and a natural analog tonality" before becoming a dynamic duo with PB5. It's landed on Headfonia's Recommended Buys list and in Audiophile-Heaven's Hall of Fame. Its strengths are comprehensively laid out on MOONSTAR Reviews. Buy this as the greatest gift for the SACD collector in your life, then. Following decoding, the pristine analog is kept totally intact by iBasso's now-familiar discrete stepped resistor analog volume control, before D16's Super Class A output stage pushes your flagship earphones and headphones. [See Product Desc. For More] iBasso build a 1-bit DSD DAC into D16 because there's zero error at the point of conversion. There, D16 relies on the total accuracy of DSD's 1-bit conversion to analog, taking advantage of DSD's sheer ease of decoding to boot. The pitch for DSD's 1-bit conversion is digital at its simplest and closest point to analog – level represented only either as a 1 or a 0, switching on or off. To achieve analog, the bitstream is simply low-pass filtered. But there's work D16 needs to do first, preparing incoming DSD and certainly PCM data from your smart devices over USB, coaxial or optical inputs to emerge as the best possible 1-bit digital stream for conversion. How D16 alleviates said white noise issues of DSD64 – indeed, of any inherent problems to single-rate material be it DSD's noise or PCM's steep digital filtering, intersample overs and digital pre-emphasis – is that it applies heavy oversampling to incoming data.  iBasso's DSP oversamples data to huge bit depth and sample rates synchronous to their new FPGA-Master 2 generating I2S. The new multibit data running many times DSD's base 2.8Mhz rate is then put through a Pulse-Width Modulated (PWM) process in preparation for 1-bit decoding.  iBasso treats each of D16's 32 0.1% resistors per DAC phase as individual entities, operating them at very specific moments in the time domain. Ordinarily that might spell chaos co-ordinating a total count of 128 individual DAC elements, but it's iBasso's FPGA-Master 2 that grants a firm grip of how each resistor-capacitor low-pass filter outputs in the time and frequency domain. The result of the entirety of 128 DAC elements outputting at phased intervals leads to a coherent, continuous waveform with finer stairsteps in time. That captures more detail in your music and reduces errors, decoding your music back more accurately to the original waveform. D16's PWM DSP pre-stage addresses the problems of conventional noise-shaped digital's inconsistent rise and fall edges at the frequency level, with adjustments made to facilitate more accurate, predictable switching. A digital volume control with large coefficients is also added here to trim levels and add datastream width. This approach results in a reduction of errors by avoiding intersymbol interference. Notably, non-linearities arising from rise and fall mismatches do not manifest as total harmonic distortion. iBasso's PWM DSP does not produce harmonic errors that vary with digital output levels. This high bit and sample rate headroom is free from overload issues when it is eventually brought back down to the required 1-bit DSD signal for low-pass filtered conversion – but now at a bandwidth of 49Mhz, moving DSD's white noise issues far, far out of the audible band. iBasso's discrete proprietary tech immediately differentiates itself from commercial DAC chips, where IC packages are often too small to perform an ideal 1-bit DSD conversion. D16 also avoids the errors of dynamic element matching inherent to 2-7 bit delta-sigma decoders. The delicate analog voltage waveform painstakingly decoded from DSD in D16 is precious. iBasso's R&D, invested building their own DAC, pays off as the fragile small-signal goes on to be volume adjusted by the same discrete resistor attenuator of DX320 Max TI fame. Said stepped attenuator preserves the resolution of D16 at any listening level. It's that that enables it to play it delicately into your flagship earphones for enjoyment at realistically lower volume levels. Because, it's easy to play it loud, but everyone knows it's in playing back tiny sounds that is the litmus test of a powerhouse capable of outputting as much volume as D16. Without resting on past laurels to increase and decrease both signal and noise levels together at the same time – as only an analog volume control can – iBasso went for the jugular here. After years of work, Head-Fi's analog specialists have once again applied their own, proprietary, stepped analog volume control here to great effect. Transparent at any volume setting down low as much as up high, with virtually perfect +/-0.1dB channel-matching, this iBasso behemoth exposes detail buried deep around the noise floor of your music. So begins D16's fully-balanced, true differential analog circuit that runs at a massive 13 volt operating voltage for linear open-loop operation. Its power stage is fully discrete and boasts buffers capable of outputting more amperes of current than is needed in reality. Said power stage is another call for iBasso's Super Class A to appear. Current mirrors ensure D16's push-pull operation works without crossover distortion, yielding Class A-like performance at all power output levels. That makes for extremely linear open-loop operation before negative feedback is applied ... yet mostly avoids the heat and inefficiency typically associated with Class A designs. Certainly, the quality of D16's power is not discussion, and will reproduce the fidelity of its 1-bit DAC – a milestone in iBasso's history – into your full-sized transducers of choice via your laptop or desktop's USB in your office, or your smartphone on business travels. With superb damping factor as a voltage source, enough standing bias current and signal-to-noise performance to follow today's flagship IEM impedance down low, you know PB5 will be even more in its element pushing TOTL headphones. Everything from Focal to a Fostex and Rosson Audio Designs plus Yamaha and ZMF Headphones is applicable. If you want to free yourself from USB's tether, check out the rest of iBasso's self-contained Android music players here, or view all our other DAC/amps here.

iBasso Audio makes a return to ESS Technology DACs in DC06 Pro, for the better. Their latest balanced 4.4mm dongle runs with dual ES9219C chips – all working controlled by iBasso FPGA-Master technology.  What's special about the ES9219C is that it grants DC06 Pro access to its on-chip analog volume control. MOONSTAR Reviews experienced the "significant upgrade" iBasso offered. This dongle attenuates volume in the analog domain granting much better signal-to-noise performance than the average competitor's lossy digital volume control. Music player levels of detail and fidelity even from USB's 5 volt supply are possible with DC06 Pro. A thoroughly regulated circuit and clean power form the basics here, as with every iBasso. [See Product Desc. For More] Further pushing decoding precision is an outboard clock that means DC06 Pro does not rely solely on its USB receiving chip for a master clock, but its FPGA. Said FPGA sees DC06 Pro overachieve by supplying its ESS DACs the same pure I2S as iBasso's bigger DX180, DX260 and DX320 music players, pushing down DAC phase noise and jitter for a stable decode. After decoding, iBasso's generous use of negative feedback quashes distortion and claims huge signal-to-noise ratio – aided by the analog volume controls of its ES9219Cs. The employment of this feedback also sees DC06 Pro achieve bandwidth that's extended out beyond the human hearing range.  That means phase reproduction in the audible human hearing region is well preserved, for a realistic portrayal of dynamics and natural transparency – a triumph of iBasso's flagship DAC dongle. Powerful op-amp output buffers can supply 100mA of current and mean iBasso's little wonder promises high damping factor while maintaining its low distortion into low impedances typical of IEMs, Focals, Fostexs and Rosson Audio Designs. Still the closed-loop internal gain remaining after the application of negative feedback around DC06 Pro's op-amp IC analog circuit remains high. So where she really shines is in swinging 10 volts, opening up the sound of any high-impedance Audio-Technica, Sennheiser and ZMF Headphones while barely breaking sweat. The quality of DC06 Pro's signal will translate to nearly everything you choose to drive from its balanced 4.4mm output. Flying the dongle DAC/amp flag high is DC06 Pro, till you turn to iBasso Audio's other upgrades here, or others in our catalogue here.

By popular request – iBasso Audio send DX300 and DX320 further down the tube with their balanced Nutube 4.4mm Amp14 amplifier card. Twister6 loved "fine-tubing" the sound! Building on Amp13, and the clamour for a balanced version on the back of its success, iBasso have come up with another Nutube module capable of swinging twice as much output voltage for bigger Focal and Fostex headphones.  iBasso's DX3XX series is a great platform to launch a design as ambitious as Amp14, with its dedicated analog section battery and extra chassis space for an uncompromising audio circuit put to great use here. Amp14 is the natural evolution for DX320, its strong liquidity and air the natural complement to one of Head-Fi's most detailed music players – despite its Nutube's cathode input providing strong immunity to Wi-Fi and external interference, in a reference implementation of Korg's direct-heated triode. [See Product Desc. For More] Placed at the voltage gain stage where it will yield the biggest sonic impact, the small output of Amp14's Nutube then gets boosted by Toshiba FET buffers. The differential stage begins there while preserving the square law function of the Nutube, and grants the voltage section enough juice to drive the rest of Amp14's solid-state output stage.  DX320's dynamic range is maintained through two NJR NJU72315 digitally-controlled analog volume parts. The fully balanced, differential, Amp14 is additionally able to count on common-mode rejection plus adequately applied negative feedback for more linearity and less distortion and noise. The separate 2,000mAh analog battery aboard the DX3XX line supplies the backbone of power for Amp14's high operating voltages, with clean, individual DC power sections for crucial parts of the module including a 14 volt supply for the Nutube's anode. Dual Texas Instruments OPA1622 op-amps make up Amp14's power stage with operating voltages of 8 volts, such that higher impedance transducers are given the swing necessary to perform. A dedicated 4.4mm line-out section on Amp14 also supplies DX320's excellent small signal to an outboard amplifier. Such is expected of a high-performance iBasso Amp14 module that yields excellent distortion and noise specifications, while capturing the romance of tubes in DX320. ichos-reviews says Amp14 completes iBasso's family of amp cards with its natural timbre. Also view Amp13 here, all of iBasso's other portables here, and our music player catalogue here.

Built of high-purity 6N single-crystal copper silver-plated wire, iBasso Audio release their CB18 USB-C to C digital interconnect to raise the levels of today's best dongle DAC/amps. With hand-braided conductors to ensure build integrity over long periods of use, and stainless steel USB heads, CB18 will go the extra mile ensuring your sound quality. The superior digital signal transmission iBasso built into CB18 will ensure lowered jitter and digital noise from your source to your asynchronous DAC/amp.  Expect to hear a positive difference with revealing sources like Cayin Audio's RU7, HiBy Music's FC6, iBasso's own DC04 Pro and Questyle Audio's M15, up to iFi Audio's xDSD Gryphon, into transparent transducers. Or, ditch separate transports entirely by going the DAP route with iBasso here, or view all our other cables here.

Beryllium and brass make IT01X another sure iBasso Audio buy. Premium materials make this single dynamic earphone another standout over-achiever after IT00, ready to rack up more plaudits from the Head-Fi world. A single dynamic driver appears enough to achieve the highest resolution possible. In this case, iBasso have helped this entry IT01X all the way, employing a beryllium-plated dynamic driver chambered in a brass inner cavity. [See Product Desc. For More] You'll know the moment you pick it up that iBasso engineered this for sonic honesty and transparency, to hear deeper within any mix. A sandwich driver has its surface coated with beryllium for the metal's stiffness, lightness and air acceleration properties. IT01X's driver material combination helps it move as a perfect piston over all frequencies up to and above its working range, keeping distortion down due to cone and modal break-up as frequencies rise. Low frequencies emerge with authority thanks to the brass chamber built into IT01X's compact and truly ergonomic shell, Helmholtz resonators stimulating proper airflow and reducing standing waves in the bass. The driver responds lightning quick due to a high-magnetic flux produced by a strong neodymium magnet, completing a package iBasso masterfully engineered at any price. IT01X promises high-resolution playback without the premium. Twister6 say it ticks the boxes anyone would want in an affordable reference. It touches Audiophile-Heaven the right way. MOONSTAR Reviews praise IT01X's "strong bass performance, highly transparent and silky smooth midrange, and with a treble region that is able to produce a great sense of airiness and sparkle". Ladies and gentlemen will put on the featherweight, easy-fitting shell for hours on end, lost in their music. You can also compare IT01X to its multi-coloured IT00 sibling here, check out everything else from iBasso here, or view our other IEMs here.

An iBasso 2.5mm - 4.4mm balanced adapter. For dongle type iBasso adapter, please check out the iBasso CA04.

2.5mm - 3.5mm adapter

After iBasso Audio's success with DX260, you knew DX180 was going to be on its way. Doing good by DX260's industry-leading measurements, DX180's 130dB of dynamic range and -115dB THD is ensured by 4 Cirrus Logic CS43131 DACs. Twister6 says it simply: "I'm impressed!" It exceeds the highest expectations of ichos-reviews. More than outright audio benchmarks, it's the continued evolution of iBasso's FPGA-Master 2 technology to lower entry points that's reason to celebrate. It landed on Headfonia's Recommended Buys list and Audiophile-Heaven's Hall of Fame. "DX180 is a very accomplished and natural-sounding" player says Headfonics, this iBasso arriving at the sweet spot between raw resolution and musicality. MOONSTAR Reviews praised a near-flawless display. iBasso's affordable player never pushes you out of your comfort zone, sweetening the deal – and detail – its correct, super-quiet operation, yields. With its unique CS43131 implementation, the Android 13 DX180 exceeds even Cirrus Logic's nominal specs giving listeners a degree of pocket fidelity from Spotify, Tidal and Apple Music never experienced before. [See Product Desc. For More] That's owed to iBasso's very precise decode thanks to its FPGA-Master 2, banishing noise and distortion with proprietary code aboard operating DX180's arsenal of DACs with an accuracy and co-ordination not thought possible before. This numbers-chasing from iBasso leads to a new-found transparency in your music playback. The technical basis upon which the idea of DX180 was founded was to operate its sheer number of DACs in as flexible and independent a way each. Each DAC answers to iBasso's veritable puppet master – the FPGA-Master 2 aboard. iBasso's treat each of the 4 CS43131s as individual entities, and operates them at very specific moments in the time domain. Ordinarily that might spell chaos, but it's iBasso's FPGA-Master 2 that grants a firm grip of how each Cirrus Logic outputs in the time and frequency domain. The result of the entirety of 4 DACs outputting at phased intervals leads to a coherent, continuous waveform with finer stairsteps in time. That captures more detail in your music and reduces errors, decoding your music back more accurately to the original waveform. Throughout, FPGA-Master 2 keeps an iron grip on proceedings as the CS43131s work in synchronous mode, counting on iBasso's FPGA-generated I2S to work in the exact manner intended.  Superior to the switched-capacitor output stage on Asahi Kasei Microdevices voltage DAC counterparts, the Class H analog outputs of CS43131s are accurate before being fed into DX180's low-pass voltage summing gain stage that smooths the audio wave removing ultrasonic artifacts further. After the differential decoding, iBasso's generous use of negative feedback quashes distortion and claims up to 130dB of signal-to-noise ratio. The employment of this feedback also sees DX180 achieve massive bandwidth that's effectively flat 10Hz to 75Khz. That means phase reproduction in the audible human hearing region is stellar, for realistic portrayal of dynamics and natural transparency – a triumph of iBasso's new mid-line player. Powerful op-amp output buffers supply current and mean iBasso's wonderkid promises high damping factor while maintaining its low distortion into low impedances typical of IEMs, Focals, Fostexs and Rosson Audio Designs. Still the closed-loop internal gain remaining after the application of negative feedback around DX180's op-amp IC analog circuit remains high. So where she really shines is in swinging voltage, opening up the sound of any high-impedance Audio-Technica, Sennheiser and ZMF Headphones while barely breaking sweat. And DX180's future-proof Android 13 software will mean Google Play Store app support of Tidal, Spotify and Apple Music for years to come, backed by a Snapdragon 665 SOC processor. Certainly, iBasso's FPGA-Master 2 wonderkind might be all the DAP you need. Till you step up to what dual battery power supplies, current-output DACs and a discrete output stage can do for you in DX320. Explore the rest of iBasso's range here, or view our other music players here.

Measure iBasso Audio's progress through DX260. Head-Fi's best measuring Android music player with 133dB of dynamic range and -121dB THD counts on 8 Cirrus Logic CS43198 DACs for its ultimate measured performance. But more than that, it's the debut of iBasso's FPGA-Master 2 technology that's reason to celebrate. Perfectly neutral with just a tint of sweetness, every musical nuance is audible against DX260's black background.  With that operating its CS43198 chips quad-mono, the Android 11 DX260 exceeds even Cirrus Logic's nominal specs giving listeners a degree of pocket fidelity from Spotify, Tidal and Apple Music never experienced before. DX260 lands in Audiophile-Heaven's Hall of Fame. Its qualities are evident for MOONSTAR Reviews to see. Ichos-Reviews says iBasso's "unparalleled transparency and neutrality surpass even flagship models". [See Product Desc. For More] That's owed to iBasso's very precise decode thanks to its FPGA-Master 2, banishing noise and distortion with proprietary code aboard operating DX260's arsenal of DACs with an accuracy and co-ordination not thought possible before. This numbers-chasing from iBasso leads to a new-found transparency in your music playback. The technical basis upon which the idea of DX260 was founded was to operate its sheer number of DACs in as flexible and independent a way each. Each DAC answers to iBasso's veritable puppet master – the FPGA-Master 2 aboard. iBasso's treat each of the 8 CS43198s as individual entities, and operates them at very specific moments in the time domain. Ordinarily that might spell chaos, but it's iBasso's FPGA-Master 2 that grants a firm grip of how each Cirrus Logic outputs in the time and frequency domain. The result of the entirety of 8 DACs outputting at phased intervals leads to a coherent, continuous waveform with finer stairsteps in time. That captures more detail in your music and reduces errors, decoding your music back more accurately to the original waveform. Throughout, FPGA-Master 2 keeps an iron grip on proceedings as the CS43198s work in synchronous mode, counting on iBasso's FPGA-generated I2S to work in the exact manner intended.  Superior to the switched-capacitor output stage on Asahi Kasei Microdevices voltage DAC counterparts, the Class H analog outputs of CS43198s are accurate before being fed into DX260's low-pass voltage summing gain stage that smooths the audio wave removing ultrasonic artifacts further. After the differential decoding, iBasso's generous use of negative feedback quashes distortion and claims up to 134dB of signal-to-noise ratio. The employment of this feedback also sees DX260 achieve massive bandwidth that's effectively flat 10Hz to 75Khz. That means phase reproduction in the audible human hearing region is stellar, for realistic portrayal of dynamics and natural transparency – a triumph of iBasso's new mid-line player. Powerful op-amp output buffers supply current and mean iBasso's wonderkid promises high damping factor while maintaining its low distortion into low impedances typical of IEMs, Focals, Fostexs and Rosson Audio Designs. Still the closed-loop internal gain remaining after the application of negative feedback around DX260's op-amp IC analog circuit remains high. So where she really shines is in swinging voltage, opening up the sound of any high-impedance Audio-Technica, Sennheiser and ZMF Headphones while barely breaking sweat. And DX260's future-proof Android 11 software will mean Google Play Store app support of Tidal, Spotify and Apple Music for years to come, backed by a Snapdragon 660 SOC processor and 4GB of RAM. Certainly, iBasso's FPGA-Master 2 wonderkind might be all the DAP you need. Till you step up to what dual battery power supplies, current-output DACs and a discrete output stage can do for you in DX320. Explore the rest of iBasso's range here, or view our other music players here.

The smaller iBasso Audio's engineering gets, the more ridiculous their feats get. So it is with DC Elite – virtually a miniature DX320 Max TI. It goes right onto Headfonia's Recommended Buys list. Headfonics adds "it's a monster of a dongle DAC" and Twister6 adds iBasso stepped it up with DC Elite. "iBasso's DC Elite redefines what’s possible from a portable DAC/Amp dongle" says MOONSTAR Reviews. DX320 Max TI was groundbreaking because it brought a discrete stepped resistor analog volume control to the fold. So how then should Head-Fi react to DC Elite packing exactly the same ridiculous marvel of engineering, in dongle DAC/amp size? DC Elite's stepped volume attenuator, developed in-house from individual resistors by iBasso, is where the money is at. It's that that enables it to play it delicately into your flagship earphones for enjoyment at realistically lower volume levels. Together with the resolution of ROHM's BD34301EKV DAC operating in full current-output mode, DC Elite is the zenith of mini USB DAC/amp development. Never has it been better. [See Product Desc. For More] Effortlessly capturing the spectrum from the softest whispers to the most resounding passages, this device shines, no matter how you choose to experience its performance. While it's a breeze to play it back loud, the true test lies in reproducing the nuances of subtle sounds – no mean feat for a mobile device relying on USB's 5-volt power supply. Rather than relying solely on the success of DX320 Max TI in simultaneously adjusting signal and noise levels – an achievement exclusive to analog volume controls – iBasso embraced an even greater challenge with the DC Elite. Maintaining transparency at both low and high volume settings, with an impressive +/-0.1dB channel matching, this iBasso dongle unveils intricacies hidden within the noise floor of your music. The key lies in leveraging the output from ROHM's flagship DAC, receiving pure I2S provided by iBasso's FPGA. Crucially, the DC Elite's BD34301EKV outputs analog in current, as expected of a high-performance circuit. This allows iBasso the flexibility to sculpt the sonic profile to their liking using an extensive current-to-voltage I/V converter. Consequently, DC Elite ensures the highest quality of small-signal from the outset, with any conversion errors presented as a manageable DC offset rather than more sinister total harmonic distortion. The inclusion of powerful op-amp output buffers, supplying 500mA of current, empowers iBasso's DC Elite to promise a high damping factor while maintaining minimal distortion even with low impedances typical of IEMs, Focals, Fostexs and Rosson Audio Designs. Still the closed-loop internal gain remaining after the application of negative feedback around DC Elite's op-amp IC analog circuit remains high. So where she really shines is in swinging voltage, opening up the sound of any high-impedance Audio-Technica, Sennheiser and ZMF Headphones while barely breaking sweat. Multiple DC-to-DC converters and LDOs provide sufficient power and also keep the noise floor down, working hand-in-hand with DC Elite's cutting-edge volume control. So here is Head-Fi's first dongle that can truly say it turns your smart device into a super DAP. Herald the arrival of the first super dongle DAC with DC Elite now, or view the rest of iBasso's releases here or our other DAC/amps here.