iFi audio hip-dac

First, let me thank iFi for providing me a Hip-Dac for a few days to give it a whirl. I appreciate the opportunity!

I’ll provide my high level summary and thoughts up top, and then below – if you’re so inclined – I include more details about what I listened to, with some more detailed descriptions of certain tracks.

You'll probably notice my comments are largely qualitative in nature - I don't have the capabilities yet to be particularly technical in my language, and so I just stuck to language and concepts I'm comfortable with.

Overall, I found the Hip-Dac a joy to use. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking to “up” their portable rig, and in particular given the $149 pricepoint. While I know it’s an overused phrase, I have to use it here – this thing punches SIGNIFICANTLY above its weight.

Pros: Smooth, warm sound signature, non-fatiguing, very engaging with a wide and enveloping soundstage, superb value for the money, and excellent build and form factor.

Cons: only con I could come up with was battery life; in my time using it, I could get 6-8 hours of battery life out of it. Note that the website says “up to 12 hours,” of course depending on the particulars (only reason I am scoring a 4.5 instead of 5)

Note that I didn’t use Xbass or PowerMatch in my listening – just didn’t think I needed each, so opted to not use either.

Lastly, I compared the Hip-Dac to my AQ Cobalt. In brief, I found the Hip-Dac to offer ~90% of what I could hear from the Cobalt sound-quality wise, of course at half the cost, which is an excellent ratio! In addition, one other way to think about this…as I mention below in the detail, had I been moving around (i.e., commuting or otherwise traveling), I am fairly certain I would not have picked up on the differences between the 2 DACs – the fact that I was in my office in a quiet setting enabled me to pick up super subtle differences between them. I’d keep that in mind, depending on how you intend to use this.
There are really only two reasons I could imagine one would choose the Cobalt over the Hip-Dac:

1. While the Hip-Dac is ultra-portable, it’s hard to beat the “USB stick” form factor of the Cobalt, so if you need something super ultra small, you may prefer the Cobalt (or Black or Red, for that matter)
2. The Cobalt is firmware-upgradable; while I don’t believe AQ has released any firmware upgrades for the Cobalt since launching. While it looks like iFi has firmware upgrades on it’s site, I’m not sure if the Hip-Dac itself is firmware upgradable

Here’s more detail for those interested:
IEM: EE Legend X (stock cable, Symbio W hybrid tips)
Source: Tidal via iPad (combo of streamed and downloaded tracks)
Environment: at my desk (i.e., not moving around; surroundings were very quiet)
Track list:

• 9th Ave (Rodg, extended mix)
• We Know (Boom Jinx, Soundprank, Katrine Stenbekk; Vintage & Morelli remix)
• Tatooine (Larsson, Mind of One)
• Vestido de Lunares (from Summer Sol II)
• South of the Border (Ed Sheeran featuring Camila Cabello & Cardi B) masters
• Bad Liar (Imagine Dragons) masters
• Ink (Coldplay) masters
• Better This Way (Jake Isaac) masters

Form factor: this is fantastic, truly lives up to the “hip dac” name – easily fits in your pants pocket, if that’s where you choose to place it; roughly the same height/width as a deck of cards, but thinner. Beautiful blue finish, and I love the copper rotary volume nob, which also couples as the power on/off nob (turning on/off with a very satisfying “click” – the same sort of satisfaction I get from the sound the front door on a well built German makes when you shut it). Feels very well built.

Xbass: Across the tracks I listened to, engaging the xbass wasn’t necessary, and in fact made the bass overwhelming. Keep in mind this is probably because of the combination of the genre of the tracks + my IEM; juicing the low frequencies just wasn’t needed in my opinion.

Power match: Similarly, I didn’t feel the need to engage power match; I tried it on all my tracks and concluded having it off was just fine, so no need to engage. This is consistent with the guidance in the manual included with the DAC (suggestion is to leave off with IEMs, but turn on for headphones).

Track details:

“We Know”

• bass line at ~30” is one of my favorite opening bass lines; bass hits slightly heavier and deeper on the Cobalt, but very very good on the hip-dac
• Times during the track when the high frequencies (for example, symbols and the like around 2’30” and 5’45” ) hit a bit harshly and overly bright; on the Cobalt, the harshness was a bit better controlled in my opinion

“Tatooine”: crescendo that peaks just after 3’ is extremely engaging and enveloping; with the Cobalt, I hear just a touch more crispness, with a bit more definition between instruments

“Vestido": bass rumble ~20” goes deep, yet stays tight and well-controlled throughout the track; I loved the background hand-clapping that starts ~1’45” – crisp and clear, yet undoubtedly in the background as it should be

“South of the Border”

• hint of sibilance, but soundstage is immersive, felt totally enveloped by the sound, particularly during the duets
• with Cobalt, at ~40 seconds, there’s some bass drum rumble, which I heard slightly more of with the hip-dac; felt that vocals were slightly better separated on the Cobalt

“Bad Liar”

• crisp, clear finger snaps; drumline is taught, deep, impactful; in the opening few seconds, there’s a crackling sound in the background (intentional!) that adds texture to the track, and I noticed first on the hip-dac and then had to listen to the Cobalt again to see if it was as pronounced (it wasn’t – sounded superb on the Hip-Dac)
• Crescendo to ~1’20” equally as impactful using either DAC

“Ink”

• opening drum line is deep, tight, very impactful with a great rumble; additional instruments at ~12 seconds results in great separation – feel like I can hear each instrument clearly and distinctly, including the subtle shake of the maracas at ~30”
• with Cobalt, the bass hits a bit deeper with just a touch more rumble; instrument separation is just slightly clearer in most, but not all, instances (but, as a counterpoint, the maracas that start at ~30” are not any clearer or more pronounced than on the hip-dac)

“Better This Way”

• I found the Hip-Dac, LX, and master quality recording an amazing combo on this track; felt like I was in an intimate club listening to Jake sing for ~50 people; able to distinctly pick up nuances in the music, the way he pronounces the letter “d” at the end of the word “instead” and “behind” and “dead” – almost sounds like a “t,” which is exactly as Jake pronounces it I imagine
• with Cobalt I hear a little more resolution and detail during certain parts of the song, for example during the opening ~60 seconds or so during which Jake sings with the piano accompaniment only; would I have noticed this difference had I been commuting or traveling? No.