[Ichos]

I do not, but I do have the signature and apparently the DAC chip is the same and I can attest to the fact that the hugo 2 DAC is better...

It should be , it's almost double the price.

 

[gto88]

I guess that

It should be , it's almost double the price.

The price comes from the DAC chip is developed in house, not ordinary DAC chip most products use..

 

[Ichos]

Yes I know , so I guess it should sound better...
(as was not the case with mojo...)

 

[emilsoft]

I know but power is one thing, and SQ is another. Besides, Hugo2 has enough power to drive more HP well.
That said, I might get Diablo with enough positive reviews.

The Diablo apparently has a superior digital section/clocking which can bring additional sound improvements to the dac. I have the apogee element 24 interface which uses a 9016 sabre - nothing special - but it sounds superior than all other higher grade sabre chips I've heard in other dacs (like sony pha3 etc) because Apogee spent serious effort in creating the perfect home for it..

Also the Fiio M11 Pro has very good clocking, so the AKM sound very clear on it more so than other sources with same chips I've tried.

However most of these chips are fairly recent, so they have a lot of scope to eke out additional performance. The chips ifi uses are quite old now, and I'm not so sure they can scale up so much.

 

[emilsoft]

I guess that

The price comes from the DAC chip is developed in house, not ordinary DAC chip most products use..

It's not developed in house, it's off the shelf chip which is quite old now. Ifi do have lot of experience with this chip however to eke out all they can out of it although maybe it's time for them to move to a newer chip or do their own ladder perhaps

 

[Ichos]

He is talking about the Hugo 2....

 

[Baten]

It's not developed in house, it's off the shelf chip which is quite old now. Ifi do have lot of experience with this chip however to eke out all they can out of it although maybe it's time for them to move to a newer chip or do their own ladder perhaps

He meant the Chord

 

[gto88]

Yeah, I meant chip on Hugo 2.

 

[Gippy]

Call me skeptical. It's 50% more expensive than the iDSD Black Label and Signature, is the same size, uses the same DAC chip, and lacks a number of features that the others have, such as XBass/3D and analog input. I own a Black Label, and while the output wasn't the absolute cleanest, it was my workhorse for years. I'll pass on this one.

 

[Baten]

I think the selling point of the Diablo is insane power in portable package, since it's truly balanced (unlike micro signature).

But who really needs a crap-****-ton of power in such a low footprint? Who drives Susvaras with transportable device?
Not to mention IEMs + 4.4mm will be way too ****ing loud, and there's no IEmatch feature, and there's no IEmatch existing for 4.4mm.......

 

[Nixdmon]

I don’t think they’re gonna completely throw all that R&D money out the window to have a new board made. Maybe on some future product next year.

Yup, agree don't expect them to scrap all the units and R&D. Just planting a seed for a future version that hopefully will be in a few years time.

 

[ClieOS]

I have been following iFi since the beginning. I do want to say that, though I love seeing new products from time to time, there are major overlapping (*price, features amd intended market wise) on some of the models that don't fully make sense to me. I'll rather see fewer but better distinguished models.

 

[ianjturner]

I must admit I've only been following for a couple of years, but in that time I've seen iFi release several new products, some upgrades, some overlaps. It seems quite different from most other vendors who prefer the status quo. I like the experimental nature of some of the releases, it's exciting. It's why I still follow them and why the Diablo idea is exciting. And probably why it's red. :-D Because why not?! I think it's plenty ballsy of iFi, and it's great that the folk on this forum take interest both positive and negative because that will help iFi to build a better view of the market and future releases. The combination of experimentality and the following, is why I went for this over anything else. Now my only question is - what will my ears think of it?

 

[maricius]

I remember the OG Micro iDSD to be inferior DAC wise to the OG Hugo but a competitor in overall sound quality as a DAC/amp. I also recall the Hugo 2 pulled away from succeeding Micro iDSDs. If the Diablo hasn't caught up to the Hugo 2, at least as a DAC/amp, I think iFi should finally consider newer DAC implementations.

Owning a slowly dying OG Micro iDSD, I've skipped the BL hoping the Signature would have the leap in quality. That not being the ultimate case, it seems I'm betting on the Diablo. I just wished iFi would offer a solution to allow Balanced solution for IEMs instead of continuously turning up the power. The days of HE-6 and AKG K1000 have long passed.

Maxing out IEM quality, imo, should be the way to go.

 

[531412]

Call me skeptical. It's 50% more expensive than the iDSD Black Label and Signature, is the same size, uses the same DAC chip, and lacks a number of features that the others have, such as XBass/3D and analog input. I own a Black Label, and while the output wasn't the absolute cleanest, it was my workhorse for years. I'll pass on this one.

Was my first thought as well. I do not get this device and the position on the market. Specially if I compare the prices.

And just my opinion, but the BL and the Signature looking muuuuuch better and more premium. This plastic looking red looks just ugly, sorry for the words.