iFi
iFI Neo iDSD Performance Edition Headphone Amp/DAC - Open Box
$679.00 USDFeatures
Full MQA decoding for master-quality streaming and MQA CD playback via S/PDIF
High-resolution Bluetooth 5.1 with support for aptX, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive, aptX LL, LDAC, HWA/LHDC, AAC, and SBC
Reversible OLED display with new "Display Dim" firmware function
Single rotary knob control for streamlined, intuitive operation
Versatile use as a pure DAC, DAC/preamp, or headphone amp
Powerful balanced headphone output for driving demanding planar and in-ear headphones
What's in the Box?
Warranty
The NEO iDSD is iFi's new 3-in-one DAC/amp. Since its release, iFi has made some upgrades to the original version to create the NEO iDSD Performance Edition. With balanced ‘PureWave’ circuitry, unbeatable high-resolution Bluetooth 5.1, and MQA, the NEO is the ultimate in high-resolution playback. Team it with Qobuz to get access to an eclectic catalogue of more than 70 million high-quality tracks. Place it horizontally or vertically to suit its surroundings. The OLED display flips to match orientation, and the latest firmware provides a highly requested ‘Display Dim’ function. One rotary knob controls functionality. Sleek, sophisticated, and versatile.
All. Bases. Covered.
Enjoy the NEO iDSD as a pure DAC. Connect it to a separate integrated amp or preamp using the fixed-level analogue output. Or treat it as a DAC/preamp with a variable output—the ideal companion to a power amp or active speakers. And headphone users will love using the excellent amp stage to create a fabulous ‘head-fi’ system.
Movies and gaming ‘upsampled’
Love your music, but also love movies and gaming? The NEO iDSD Performance Edition will enhance your movie and gameplay experience even further. Add the included S/PDIF iPurifier2 to make movie or game audio match the amazing picture quality of your 4K TV. Feel more immersed than ever before as sound finally spectacularly matches picture. Pair the NEO with the PS4 or Xbox One X for the ultimate gaming experience.
Enhanced engine
The Burr-Brown DAC chipset still fuels the NEO‘s ‘digital engine’. But iFi upgraded it with a new 16-core, XMOS microcontroller that processes the data via USB and S/PDIF digital inputs. Double the clock speed. Four times the memory. Since its original release, iFi has added more digital filters for your listening pleasure. The NEO iDSD now comes with the GTO, Minimum Phase, Bit-Perfect, and Standard filters. Add in jitter eradication, including iFi's GMT femto-precision clock, intelligent memory buffer, and the newly included iPurifier3, and super smooth listening is yours.
Enhanced engine
The Burr-Brown DAC chipset still fuels the NEO‘s ‘digital engine’. But iFi upgraded it with a new 16-core, XMOS microcontroller that processes the data via USB and S/PDIF digital inputs. Double the clock speed. Four times the memory. Since its original release, iFi has added more digital filters for your listening pleasure. The NEO iDSD now comes with the GTO, Minimum Phase, Bit-Perfect, and Standard filters. Add in jitter eradication, including iFi's GMT femto-precision clock, intelligent memory buffer, and the newly included iPurifier3, and super smooth listening is yours.
Hi-res heaven
The NEO iDSD supports PCM up to 32-bit/768kHz, DSD up to 512, and DXDx2. All remain ‘bit-perfect’. The NEO provides full MQA decoding to ensure the best possible sound quality. Check out iFi's MQA set-up tutorial for Tidal, Roon, and Audirvana here. Plus, with MQA over SP/DIF, take advantage of any MQA CDs in your collection.
Bleeding-edge Bluetooth
iFi uses Qualcomm’s new QCC5100 Bluetooth processing IC. All current high-definition Bluetooth audio formats are supported – aptX, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive, aptX LL, LDAC, HWA/LHDC, AAC, and SBC. The NEO iDSD ‘remembers’ up to 7 devices and has an impressive range on Bluetooth 5.0.
Ride the ‘PureWave’
Not only is the NEO iDSD a purist design – no DSP, no digital filter selection, and no change in analogue playback – it is also all designed around a balanced circuit design named ‘PureWave‘. Read more below. It uses audiophile-grade components and delivers sonic ‘purity’ thanks to the extraordinarily low levels of noise and distortion.
Power and poise
The headphone amp stage maintains an engaging balance between sonic power and poise, no matter what it is tasked to drive. From high-sensitivity in-ear monitors to current-hungry planar headphones, it drives them with aplomb. It has a continuous power output of over 1000mW into 32ohms available through the balanced headphone socket. Plenty of oomph for the headphone user.
iFi uses Qualcomm’s new QCC5100 Bluetooth processing IC in combination with proprietary circuits to create an audibly superior ‘Bluetooth engine’. All the current high-definition Bluetooth audio formats are supported – Qualcomm’s aptX Adaptive and aptX HD, Sony’s LDAC and HWA’s LHDC, regular aptX and aptX Low Latency, AAC (Apple iOS devices) and SBC (the ‘plain vanilla’ Bluetooth codec). Of the 24-bit-capable codecs, aptX Adaptive and aptX HD support up to 48kHz, while LDAC and LHDC reach 96kHz. iFi’s ‘Bluetooth engine’ can also be updated over-the-air, so future codecs may be added.
Balanced, differential analogue circuit design has long been championed for its ability to reduce noise and crosstalk within the signal path by fully separating the left and right channels. PureWave is a new, balanced, symmetrical dual-mono topology with short, direct signal paths. The name refers to the sonic purity it achieves thanks to exceptional linearity and infinitesimally low levels of noise and distortion.
MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) MQA is an award-winning British technology that delivers the sound of the original master recording. The master MQA file is fully authenticated and is small enough to stream or download. The xDSD Gryphon adopts MQA technology to receive and decode MQA audio and provide master-level sound. Visit mqa.co.uk for more information.
The XMOS 16-Core chip processes the audio data received via the USB* digital input. This new low-latency XMOS microcontroller has greatly enhanced processing power. Compared to the current generation of eight-core chips, this new 16-core IC delivers double the clock speed (2000MIPS) and four times the memory (512KB), as well as the latest SuperSpeed USB standard. iFi’s in-house digital development team has programmed the XMOS firmware to optimise sound quality and ensure a perfect partnership with the Burr-Brown DAC.
(* Also on S/PDIF on the NEO iDSD/Diablo)
The Burr-Brown True Native® chipset means file formats remain unchanged or ‘bit-perfect’. This means you are listening to music as the artist intended in the format in which it was recorded. iFi uses Burr Brown extensively in their products, having selected it for its natural-sounding ‘musicality’ and True Native architecture. iFi's experience with this IC means they know how to make the most of it.
- Extensive jitter-eradication technologies are applied to the digital stage, including iFi's GMT (Global Master Timing) femto-precision clock and intelligent memory buffer. This represents a total ‘out-of-the-box’ systematic digital solution that solves jitter once and for all.
- Hi-res audio support is state-of-the-art with True Native® playback. It handles PCM data to 32-bit/768kHz, DSD up to DSD512, and single and double speed DXD. Thanks to the Burr-Brown DAC chip’s four-channel True Native design, PCM and DSD take separate pathways – this enables DSD, as well as PCM, to remain ‘bit-perfect’ in its native form right through to analogue conversion. This is not the case with all DAC devices from other brands – even if DSD compatibility is stated, many such DACs convert DSD signals to PCM.
- As with many other iFi audio products, iFi incorporated a custom OV Series operational amplifier. This top-notch component contributes to the extremely low noise, low distortion (0.0001%), and wide bandwidth.
- Texas Instruments' low-noise ICs offer great unity-gain bandwidth, very low noise and distortion, high output drive capability, Common-mode and Power Supply Rejection Ratios of over 100 dB, wide maximum-output-swing bandwidths, and high slew rates.
TDK C0G (Class 1 ceramic) capacitors offer high stability and low losses for resonant circuit applications. Getting ever closer to the theoretical ideal of pure, frequency-constant capacitance, these capacitors reduce capacitor-induced distortion to vanishingly low levels. They are pricey but are a perfect addition to iFi products.
muRata control-type, low-ESR, high-Q multi-layer capacitors. The ‘ESR control’ aspect of the Murata is something special. Their noise suppression abilities are impressive.
Switching between settings has been engineered to ensure sonic transparency with advanced trench technology MOSFET is used as a muting switch. This FET-based switching is handled by a microcontroller, which only ‘wakes up’ when the user changes a setting, thus eradicating any sonically deleterious interference.
| Parameter | Specification |
|---|---|
| Physical Specifications | |
| Dimensions | 214 x 158 x 41mm (8.4" x 6.2" x 1.6") |
| Net Weight | 916g (2.0 lbs) |
| Technical Specifications | |
| Format Support | PCM 768kHz DSD512 (22.6MHz) MQA Full Decoder |
| External Clock Sync | 10MHz, 1Vpp nominal, 75Ω (Sinewave or Squarewave) |
| Output Impedance | Headphone: < 1Ω Line: XLR ≤ 100Ω, RCA ≤ 50Ω |
| Audio Specifications | |
| Maximum Output Power (Balanced) | > 19.5V/650mW @ 600Ω > 13.3V/5,551mW @ 32Ω |
| Maximum Output Power (Unbalanced) | > 10.5V/184mW @ 600Ω > 9.5V/2,832mW @ 32Ω |
| RMS Output Power (Balanced) | > 19.3V/620mW @ 600Ω > 12.7V/2,530mW @ 64Ω |
| RMS Output Power (Unbalanced) | > 9.7V/157mW @ 600Ω > 9.4V/1,390mW @ 64Ω |
| Signal-to-Noise Ratio | Headphone: > 120dB(A) (3.3V 6.3mm / 6.2V 4.4mm) Line: < -120dB(A) @ 0dBFS |
| Dynamic Range (DNR) | Headphone: -120dB(A) Line: > 120dB(A) @ -60dBFS |
| THD+N | Headphone: < 0.0015% (125mW @ 32Ω) Line: < 0.0015% @ 0dBFS |
| Connectivity Specifications | |
| Digital Inputs | USB 3.0 B (USB 2.0 compatible) S/PDIF (Coaxial up to 192kHz, Optical up to 96kHz) Bluetooth 5.4 |
| Bluetooth Formats | aptX Lossless, aptX Adaptive, aptX LDAC, HWA/LHDC, AAC, SBC |
| Analog Input | Unbalanced 3.5mm |
| Headphone Outputs | Balanced 4.4mm: 3.5V / 19.5V max. (12Ω - 600Ω) Unbalanced 6.3mm: 4.5V / 9.5V max. (12Ω - 300Ω) |
| Line Outputs | Balanced XLR: 19.5V max. (variable), 4.4V fixed Unbalanced RCA: 10.5V max. (variable), 2.2V fixed |
| Power Specifications | |
| Power Supply | DC 9V/1.5A - 15V/0.9A (center positive) |
| Power Consumption | ~5W (idle) ~13.5W (maximum signal) |
| Warranty Information | |
| Limited Warranty | 12 months (or as required by local reseller laws) |
- TGThomas G.Verified BuyerRated 5 out of 5 stars3 years agoExcellent value
It’s a great DAC. Clear articulate but without the shrillness that comes with other DAC. True to the recording. Has Master which is great on some recordings. Handy remote. Excellent headphone output.
- MZMF Z.Verified BuyerRated 4 out of 5 stars4 years agoExcellent Value
Bought this to use exclusively as a DAC and it worked beautifully with the balanced outputs. It sounds warmer after about 50 hours of use. I liked the sound signature so much that I decided instead to use the NEO as a DAC/amp with Sennheiser 800s. I listen to symphonic, jazz, acoustic music. I gave this four stars because it would be more useful with an XLR out instead of the 1/4”.
- RERobert E.Verified BuyerRated 5 out of 5 stars6 years agoGreat DAC/Amp with clean power
This little Class D headphone amp handles everything (Focal Elegia Stellia Utopia and Jerry Harvey “Lola” In Ear Monitors) I throw at them with ease. I connect it to an Astell and Kern SE-100 Digital Audio Player (DAP). I use it In the line out mode so I use the DAP’s Digital Audio Converter (DAC) and the amp of the IQUBE V5 to provide clean power to my headphones. This allows me to keep the sound characteristics of my DAP of which I love but gives me all the power I want or need on tap. I can detect little or no noise. If your source material is poor quality it will highlight the flaws. I get 10 plus hours of playing time on a charge. It’s compact light weight and pretty much plug and play unless you are using it with a computer. I only use it with a DAP so I cannot say how it handles phones or computers as sources. It has a cool elegant flask look. You two gain modes so it handles headphones to f different impedances. Grew
- FSFrank S.Verified BuyerRated 5 out of 5 stars7 years agoIncredible Sound! Incredible Power!
What can I say! This amp has exceeded all of my expectations! The sound quality is off the charts the soundstage is incredible the separation of the instruments and vocals are dynamic. I pair this little beast up with my Astell and Kern music player and Campfire Audio Cascade Headphones and off I go! The DAC is a huge bonus I use it with my laptop. Brings my music alive while doing so. I have a few different portable amps. This little beast is by far the best one I now currently own. A huge fan of this little beast!