Back later with impressions!
Back with belated impressions. My first month with the iDAC2!
Test conditions: Bit-Perfect mode / ASIO / Foobar2000 / Win 10 64-bit
The Cable: Fisual Havana (1.4m) with iFi Audio Purifier
The Cans: Shure 1440 (Stock) [101 dB SPL/mW - 37 Ω]
The short:
Superb, great sounding DAC and solid headphone amp.
The long:
The packaging is excellent and certainly looks the part. Arriving in a robust matt laminated box with silver foiled logos accenting both ends, the clean minimalist design looks great.
I particularly liked the pictures posted on Head-Fi showing the internals, perhaps iFi should include them on the packaging or pamphlet as the PCB definitely looks the business!
Curiously the website and box state differing weights (Box: 193g / Web: 265g), with no scales to hand I cannot determine which is correct but it's of no major concern (one will be the boxed/device weight).
The iDAC2 is a nicely constructed unit and certainly feels solid. Given a colour choice I may have preferred black but the matt silver does look good.
Curiously my sealed unit did arrive with a slight grubby mark on top but it has polished out. A 'very' short USB 3.0 lead is also included to get you started.
Three small LEDs adorn the top of the device and I find the bit-rate light particularly useful and gently reassuring. As a non-battery powered unit the other two are perhaps unnecessary but at least they look appealing as a trio.
For the PC/DAC connection I'm currently using a Fisual Havana USB lead. Despite shortlisting the popular Supra cable and quite striking Wireworld Chroma, eventually it did come down to price and potentially dimishing returns.
The Twin USB solutions (e.g. iFi Gemini/Forza Audioworks) do look like a great concept and logically make sense, however with my budget blown this is not an area I can explore any further.
I'm definitely saving my pennies for a FAW 'quad copper' headphone cable though!
The sound
My previous DAC was the Fiio E10 and the iDAC2 improves upon this in all areas. I was honestly not expecting such a stark difference and I'm thoroughly impressed, there is definitely no going back.
I'm not going to spend too much time attempting to explain the difference but there is a distinct separation to all elements of the sound, comparatively the Fiio sounds very muddled and confused.
It's very pleasurable and I just wish I had more time to spend enjoying the music. I used to love the Burr Brown sound from my Denon 2900 and it's great to have it back again with the iDAC2.
The iDAC2 certainly pairs well with my Shure 1440s and has revealed a detailed low end which seemed relatively absent. Those slightly fatiguing mids have also been brought under control affording extended listening sessions.
There is plenty of power under the hood for these headphones but I could find myself short with something less efficient (e.g. AKG K702). Maybe I will need an iCan one day... or even an iTube. Can it really get better!?
My HD audio collection is fairly decent and unquestionably the iDAC2 handles these superbly but I was really surprised by it's strong performance with 'bog-standard' VBR/320 MP3 files.
It's hard to avoid brickwalled output these days with their ghastly clipping and generally poor dynamic range, but compared to the Fiio these recordings are a far more comfortable listen.
I'm also using the iDAC2 for gaming and so far I'm pleased to report there are no latency or compatibility issues. [For general use I have Windows Audio set to 32bit/192kHz].
The minor quibbles
It would be nice to have the L/R outputs on the back of the unit though I do appreciate they are positioned there for technical reasons.
The iDAC2 has a pretty decent headphone section though I wish it had L/R inputs for my old SACD player. I'm sure the end-users that would benefit from this are a relative minority though.
My dream iFi would be slightly larger unit, desktop based, but with external power and a slightly beefier headphone output. The power on tap is good but I would have to take further upgrade costs into consideration if I changed my headphones.
The future and beyond?
I've not tried the iDAC2 without the iPurifier yet and really should try some blind A/B tests. Admittedly it was a bundle purchase and I'm not sure I could justify the cost as a separate item.
Unfortunately I lack the income to take risks and gambles but this device was worth every hard earned penny (though way over my £200 budget). I'm confident I will enjoy it for many years to come unless iFi release something truly spectacular. And breathe