iFi AUDIO micro iDSD Black Label Edition

2019-10-14T22:58:48

Only Chord Mojo beats it but only on non DSD material. Any reason why this thing doesnt go on deal anymore?

Rourke G.

2018-02-02T17:56:06

sound quality was not high enough.

darrell m.

2017-12-18T16:48:36

Great amp.If you're planning to go with MQA (Tidal) would suggest you look at ifi's Nano. much better and for 200 bucks unbeatable.

MATTHEW B.

2017-09-19T19:03:27

So...I trust my ears to tell me what it likes even though I do a lot of research online prior to making any purchases. Of the current devices I have, I prefer the Gustard H10 amp and the Schiit Modi 2 DAC (planning to upgrade to the Gustard X20u soon). I do most of my listening through HE400i, HD700 and SZ2k while at home and use a QC35 or ATHM50X while mobile, in addition to IEMs paired with my DAPs. I had found a lot of good reviews on the iDSD BL and was eyeing a purchase and when I found a good deal, jumped on it! I have to say that the iFi guys thought of everything! All the accessories provided along with the BL make it a complete package. Also, given its size, I didn't expect it to be able to drive my headphones as well as the Gustard could but I was pleasantly surprised. It could easily drive the headphones, even on normal power mode. I used turbo only for my SZ2k. The DAC also does a fantastic job and can hold its own against many more expensive DACs. It outperformed my Modi 2 on several aspects including the provided sound stage and the layering. One thing to note though: The BL has various settings for power output,filter and iEMatch. You need to play around with this combination well to find out which best suits your headphones. This is important as otherwise you will never get the most out of this device. After much playing around with the various combos, I found the BL best paired with the dynamic headphones. This is not to say it performed badly with planar, it is just that the H10 is amazing with planars and to my ears, HE400i was better to listen to with the H10. As a result, now I have left the HE400i coupled with the H10 and everything else is driven by the BL. Also. the XBass boost is really good. When I paired my JVC SZ2000 (the bass king!!) with the BL, I found myself using the xBass quite often to get that extra punch at lower volume levels. The bass performance of the BL is not matched by my Schiit stack (Magni2) or the Gustard or the Fiio E11. It is a clear winner on that front. By the way, the Gustard weighs about 7 pounds and is quite big. Considering the slim profile of the iFi and its versatile features including its ability to act as a DAC alone, having an inbuilt battery for portable use, various inputs and outputs provided and even its ability to be used as a battery pack to charge your phone when it is low on battery, in my eyes, the BL is a clear winner and one of the best value for money DAC/AMP combo in the market today. I do recommend the BL irrespective of whether you plan to use it as a desktop device or as a portable or transportable device. If you are still contemplating a purchase, just go for it, you won't regret it!!

Manoj C.

2017-09-19T11:31:43

Have many functions. It's fun to use it. The sound is very clean, without to much rendering. It can use about 8 hr, I think this is very good.

Sheng G.

2017-09-14T15:43:50

Impressive sound quality for the price, easily powers all my headphones including planars. Highly recommend.

Joshua S.

2017-09-11T15:55:17

Good stuff. Recommend for any skill level

HAI C.

2017-09-11T10:06:02

This DAC/Amp has plenty of power to drive any headphones. At 4 watts it could drive small speakers ! Great Bass and clear detailed mids and highs!

Peter M.

2017-09-01T03:59:40

First impressions where wow this is a very small device. Then with little knowledge of audio amps for headphones I was a little over whelmed with all the buttons and functions. So when I decided I was going to open the box and finally give it a try I was surprised that the manual was basically the size of a business card. Everything is very straightforward and clearly written what each switches function is. Gives you general guidelines for what you set up is. Turns out this is a pretty simple amp with all the bells and whistles i'll need. Now for testing of this black beauty I just used my iphone 6+ and sennheiser hd700's. The HD700's where about to be sold because they just weren't anything special to me. I've used them with little dot I+, schiit modi uber, lyr 2 and just never was wowed by them. I slowly played with the different power outputs of the black and the Xbass+ and 3d functions etc. They all change the sound to some degree. Eco wasn't powerful enough for my taste on the HD700's had the volume close to 3 o'clock. The middle option by itself I run the volume around 12-1 o'clock. Xbass switched on I keep it around 12. The Xbass really wakens up these headphones to me and the main reason I bought the amp. I'm not a base head by any means. I do enjoy the extra sound note. Acoustic music comes alive. The 3D switch doesn't do anything for me. My wife loves it. She is not into headphones etc but now is hooked listening with the 3D switch on. I can't speak on the battery life etc. I can speak on the simplicity and ease this amp is to use. It's very small as well. Not much longer than my iphone 6+. Thickness is just over two iphones stacked on each other probably. The HD700's are around 150ohm headphones which most say are efficient. On Turbo the volume only goes to about 10 o'clock. I hope this will be able to push my 300ohm headphones that are on there way. If you want to buy one amp/dac combo and be done I would highly recommend this amp. It's light weight and very portable. comes with all accessories needed to start listening right away. I won't be selling the HD700's now and look forward to long listening sessions this fall.

DAVID S.

2017-08-30T20:01:31

Yeah, with the BL revision this unit is INCREDIBLE. I wanted to give it a shot and figured hey - 30 day return period.. no problem right? Wrong. Day 2 and I was completely sure this was taking over my main desktop rig. Sold it all for $ I won't mention what I had but.. it was popular. This is cleaner, clear, and SMALL. Doesn't get hot while running and has the best feature set in the market. ONE DOWNSIDE! The stock USB cable was loose fitting and drops, currently using an amazon cable and it works perfectly. Contacted Ifi for a replacement.. will update review with how good the support is. Fixing this issue gets the fifth star...

Nicholas P.

2017-08-09T10:26:30

My very first portable dac/amp at this price point. I needed this for my Senn HD 650 to drive it to its operating ohms. Many to choose from as far preamp, direct, 3d, bass boost options. I have many types of music and can change those modes to best suit my tastes for that particular type of music. Its a VERY A GOOD PRICE at the time of purchase. I have a jds labs amp and it blows it away as far as bringing out better clarity to making the mids fuller and bass more body. I highly recommend this to anyone if you are in the market for a portable amp. I will surely buy from adorama again, and not just for audio.

PETER N.

2017-08-09T02:51:53

Best dac/amp combo ever bought! Perfect pairing with HD650 truly match made in heaven. Works great with all IEMs and earbuds I had thrown at it too. To bring this up to the next level of enjoyment I had to get the ipurifier2 to tie up with it. Hopefully Adorama will provide some discount on that too.

Merlion O.

2017-08-08T11:23:46

This amp is absolutely amazing. Replaced my previous audioengine amp (Beginner's amp) with this and now my headphones truly sound amazing. Such a true reproduction, I am in love with this thing. I use it on my desktop and couldn't be happier. Got it on sale but I wouldn't hesitate to buy at full price. Worthy product.

BJN0F8

2017-08-02T17:24:18

The sound is very detailed, clean and clear with balanced frequency responses and excellent imaging and sound stage, particularly when playing high resolution audio files, e.g. DSD or SACD. Personally, I use it more frequently than my Chord Mojo, which is also an excellent DAC/Amp.

Natalie C.

2017-08-01T11:40:34

Purchased the item when it's on sale, the service was great. Unit was received in great condition. The unit sounds good with very flexible connections to hook up various device. I have the Chord Mojo, IMO, the iDSD sound better and have more power to spare.

DAVE C.

2017-08-01T10:33:51

I had the Mojo, loved it. Then got a Schiit Jot for that balanced and it was a tad better. Got this big black bad boi and I am satisfied beyond belief.

BLAKE B.

2017-07-30T09:09:15

As described and made with great quality. Parts seem well manufactured and the product works great!

Scott B.

2017-07-13T17:57:11

I initially bought this unit for mobile use. However since I've gotten it about 2 weeks ago, I haven't used any of my desk amps. I own a Schiit Valhalla 2 and a Aune S/6 S/7 stack, and honestly I enjoy the way my music sounds so much more on the Micro Black Label.

George T.

2017-07-04T11:54:40

I bought this item based on a lot of hype in the headphone enthusiast forums. For once the hype was completely justified. This is now my go-to desktop rig - both the DAC and the amp capabilities are stellar. Plenty of power and the music is addicting. I will say I like it more as a desktop DAC-amp than as a portable piece of kit, though I'm not sure why. Battery life is fine - it just sounds better to me connected to a computer than a DAP.

David C.

2017-05-30T16:12:38

This thing is a swiss army knife for audio hobbyists! Very nice DAC, powerful amp, and great value (especially if you catch it on sale). Highly recommended!

ITZHAK F.

2017-04-22T20:49:16

Great little DAC/AMP, powers LCD2 nicely

MAHEEDHAR R.

2017-02-15T10:45:31

Great product great sound quality The different power and sensitivity settings drive any headphone with confidence This unit works slso as a preamp which is a plus. The dac can play basically any file type in existence and sounds fantastic.

Joel S.

2016-12-19T07:50:38

Summary: Significantly better than iDSD micro in imaging, resolution, separation, darker black, and the entire frequency response range. Setup: I used the original iDSD Micro as a dedicated desktop DAC. So this review is centered around it's performance as DAC/Preamp. So when the Black Label came in, all I had to do is swap between the two, no changes to the supporting drivers, hardware, etc. Truly plug and play. Rig: Cans: HD800 SD, Ether C Flow, Meze 99 Classics all in balanced XLR 4 pin. Amp: Mjolnir2 with ifi NOS 6922 tubes USB: ifi iUSB 3.0 micro with split USB power and Data cable QuickReview: Due to it's ability to resolve sound in a much smoother manner without sacrificing resolution or dynamics, I'm able to enjoy listening at a higher volume level. With the original, when listening at higher volumes it becomes a bit fatiguing. Especially if I listen to rock/pop/edm. But with BL, I'm actually able to turn up the volume and truly immerse myself in the music. The background is darker, so every note comes through clear and precise. Especially helped the massive soundstage the HD800 SD offers in instrument separation and imaging. Other notable is, the xBass didn't sound any different for me. It still sounds great and not artificial. Specifically for the HD800 SD it makes it sound full throughout the entire frequency range. The new 3D+ is a bit better. Before, it was overly artificial and especially on HD800 SD it made it sound like a video game, simply yuck. While 3D+ on HD800 SD still sounds horrible, on the Ether Flow C it actually helped bring out a bit more detail. It's great for recordings that are mid shy, but for anything else still a bit too artificial for my taste. Value: Well, considering the original can be had these days for [less] used.Is $more for the BL worth it? The answer, it depends. If you have a near TOTL headphone, then yes, you owe yourself the treat. But as i found, listening on the Meze classics 99 which is head of the pack in midfi cans like: SINE, PM3, etc.. I think you'll have a slight tougher justifying the improvements. For me, having seen what the BL can do with TOTL, I'm anxiously waiting for the iDSD Pro!

David C.