iFi iDSD Diablo DAC & Headphone Amplifier

Devilishly Brilliant

The iDSD Diablo, with its sleek new design and fiery red finish, sits proudly at the top of the range of portable/transportable DAC/amps. It is built for purists – the true headphone enthusiasts who crave pure, unadulterated sonic performance.

Just like a racing car designed for uncompromising speed, the iDSD Diablo sets aside sonic tailoring as well as Bluetooth connectivity to focus on pure sonic power. Prepare for a riveting ride as it will drive any headphones on the planet with aplomb.

Put simply, the iDSD Diablo is iFi's best-ever transportable amplifier designed to deliver reference-level sound.

Positively pure

A balanced, differential analog circuit design reduces noise and cross-talk within the signal path by fully separating the left and right channels. The iDSD Diablo benefits from further refinements to the balanced, symmetrical dual-mono topologies with short, direct signal paths. This is called PureWave.

Negative feedback is used in amplifier circuits to compare the output signal with the input signal and correct errors. BUT there are drawbacks. iFi turns the negatives into positives with OptimaLoop.

Diabolically dynamic

Able to drive all manner of headphones with ease, the iDSD Diablo delivers up to 5000mW of prodigious power, propulsive energy, and engaging dynamics, coupled with a remarkable ability to resolve fine texture and detail.

With 3 settings, you can adjust power and gain to suit your daily driver or track day supercar!

• Turbo – ramps up the level of drive for current-hungry headphones
• Normal – for most over or on-ear headphones
• Eco – dials down the power to suit high-sensitivity in-ear monitors

Power that does not corrupt.

The iDSD Diablo’s focus on pure, unadulterated performance, means much attention has been applied to the power supply circuity.

Battery power provides ultra-clean and stable DC current avoiding the issues of mains electricity – dips, spikes, and noise-inducing RFI/EMI pollution. BUT there are sonic downsides resulting from low output voltage and inconsistent output impedance as the batteries discharge.

These issues are fully tackled by the iDSD Diablo’s design.

In order to make less efficient headphones, like planar magnetics, sing, the voltage needs to be stepped up from 3.7V to +/- 15V.  We use a step-up converter running at 1.2MHz – a frequency far beyond audibility that is easier to filter than a typical switch-mode supply, enabling high linearity and ultra-low noise.

Accessories galore

As befits a reference-level product, included is a whole host of accessories in a luxurious travel case, the iTraveller.

As the iDSD Diablo may be powered from the mains, as well as by its built-in battery, we’ve included the super silent, noise-canceling iPower 5V AC/DC adapter to ensure optimal sound quality.

Also included is a 4.4mm Balanced to XLR balanced interconnect cable to connect the iDSD Diablo to an amp and speakers (or a pair of active speakers) with balanced XLR inputs.

Other supplied connectors include a high-quality USB-A audio cable, a USB-A to USB-C charging cable, and an adapter to connect headphones with a 3.5mm jack to the 6.3mm single-ended output.

Technical Specs