Ever been given an unexpected upgrade on a flight? Air travel’s never the same once you know what you’re missing while slumming it in coach or economy class. iFi’s new flagship streaming player is threatening to do something similar to how you listen to music. The iDSD Phantom takes everything the firm knows about DACs and headphone amplifiers, then turns it up another notch with world-first remastering skills to rival professional recording studios.
This desktop system is part hi-res network streamer, part DAC and part headphone amp, with four Burr-Brown DACs providing native 768kHz PCM and DSD512 playback – including from hi-res streaming platforms like Qobuz Connect and Tidal Connect. Spotify Connect and AirPlay 2 are also on board.
The secret sauce is studio-grade DSD2048 conversion, which samples tracks at a phenomenal 90 million times per second to guarantee minimal distortion. And if you don’t have a library of massive DSD files? K2HD upscaling developed by JVC works its magic on PCM audio, making CD quality tracks sound more like 192kHz/24-bit ones.
Switchable solid-state and tube stages then let listeners pick between outright precision or a warmer, smoother sound that’s more in keeping with analogue audio equipment. The end result should be sublime sound, no matter the source or your headphone hardware.
The iDSD Phantom isn’t short on connectivity. As well as one USB-B 3.0, two USB-As and a single USB-C for playing back from external hard disks, there’s an Ethernet port for streaming via network storage. Optical, S/PDIF and XLR inputs let you hook up other hi-fi kit, while balanced XLR and RCA can send your tunes to a set of speakers.
It’s mainly designed for personal listening though, with an extensive number of ways to hook up your headphones. There are S-balanced 3.5mm and balanced 4.4mm, 3-pin and 4-pin XLRs, and two 6.3mm ports – one in positive phase and the other inverted.
There’s then enough Class A amplification inside for a massive 7,747mW peak output, which should let this drive virtually every headphone, no matter how exotic or expensive. If the $4499/£4499/€4695 asking price is any indication, iFi expects buyers to have at least a few pairs of high-priced cans to hand.
The iFi iDSD Phantom is on sale right now, direct from iFi and from high brow hi-fi dealers.
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