iFi iDSD Diablo 2

iFi's usual custom operational amplifiers show up here in a design that boasts more careful application of local negative feedback, rather than the more standard global variety.

By using sparing error correction, iDSD Diablo 2 veers from the glare and harshness of cheaper solid-state designs caused by transient intermodulation distortion, with the signal from its Burr-Brown DAC still being clean and precise throughout.

Purewave, the name coined for the direct-coupled analogue circuit developed for iFi by Hi-Fi and Parasound legend John Curl, ensures a fully balanced, differential signal path produces minimal distortion and up to 120 dB of signal-to-noise ratio. 

Such performance is possible also due a high 15 volt operating voltage – a number much more akin to desktop amplifiers – that expands headroom and circuit linearity in tandem with Diablo 2's local, carefully applied, negative feedback.

That precision gets backed by even more power: nearly five watts stands ready to drive any headphone load, including a HEDDphone 2 GT.

Accessorisation fitting for the premium status of this red arrow is included, not least a carrying pouch that'll accomodate iFi's low-noise iPower DC charger and a 4.4mm balanced line-out cable to dual XLR cables, to feed a desktop amplifier.

Check out the rest of iFi's gear here, and our other portable DAC/amps here.