🔷 iFi Hip-DAC

Polygonhell · February 16, 2020, 6:53pm

Agreed the Bass Boost is well done and was pleasant on the T4.

epic225 · February 16, 2020, 9:40pm

The bass boost can be too much on some headphones and some songs. I did find if I increased the volume on some of the songs the bass became more balanced.

Polygonhell · February 16, 2020, 10:33pm

Sure you’d want to use it selectively.
I didn’t like it on the headphones I tried it with, but though it was nice with the T4’s

epic225 · February 16, 2020, 11:58pm

Yeah, I found generally that I could leave it on with the T2 Pros

epic225 · February 17, 2020, 12:02am

But that’s the only one that I found I could leave it in continuously, the HE4XX balanced I think I could leave it on 95% of the time. Other headphones would become a muddy mess. I think it’s better on harder to drive headphones.

The T2 and 4XX actually like a bit of power but the clears, Grado become a muddy mess and increasing the volume to balance the bass on them would make you deaf.

WaveTheory · February 17, 2020, 12:21am

You probably answer this in your review, but how does the Hip-Dac do with your 600 ohm 880s?

epic225 · February 17, 2020, 12:53am

Yeah, I do but I’m under the weather a bit and haven’t had a chance to finish it up.

You need like 80 volume min to get a good listening volume, I probably prefer about 95% volume.
I don’t get any noticable distortion and they sound pretty good… That’s on high gain (power match) on

WaveTheory · February 17, 2020, 1:24am

Cool. Thanks for answering that. Take care of yourself and get well soon.

epic225 · February 17, 2020, 10:27pm

M0N · February 17, 2020, 10:32pm

Nice review

Regarding the 32 bit thing, windows will kinda shit the bed with 32 bit audio enabled, and nobody really needs nor uses that for listening, so I would highly recommend setting all the dacs you get to 24 bit to avoid any issues lol. Also to correct the stuttering and pops, in the ifi control panel, you would set your usb streaming mode and asio buffer size to be more lenient if you experience pops and want to continue to use higher sample rates. By increasing the buffer you can prevent the clicks and pops but also increase device latency (which some might not like, and if you don’t like it just set it at like 24/96 or less and call it a day lol)

I would agree with a fair bit of what you said, it lines up to what I heard when I spend time with it

WaveTheory · February 17, 2020, 10:48pm

Thanks for the review. I’m giving serious thought to this as a replacement for my Topping NX4-DSD. The micro-usb connector on the Topping is loose and keeps dropping connection to my phone. The recessed type A connector here is a big draw.

M0N · February 17, 2020, 10:49pm

I would personally prefer this over the nx4 after giving it a listen if you have a balanced setup

WaveTheory · February 17, 2020, 10:50pm

Yep. Several of my headphones can run balanced. I’ll just have to also invest in some 4.4 mm cables for them. Gonna have to reach out to @brux before too long here…

epic225 · February 18, 2020, 12:58am

I emailed him about a week ago, he said the earliest he could have something for me was mid march. I ended up grabbing some cables and adapter from amazon. I do want to support him and show him some love with a cable review on the website when he gets caught up and the Coronavirus isn’t making it hard to get components.

WaveTheory · February 18, 2020, 1:13am

Good to know. After I asked you about how will the Hip handles the 600 ohm Beyers, I realized I haven’t yet tried them on my NX4. I don’t use it much during the winter because there’s not a whole lot of mobile to be done this time of year near the center of North America. But it lost connection with the phone at least 3 times during the simple act of picking up my phone to switch tracks. So, I ordered the Hip-Dac. Amazon’s stock is currently out but they’re expecting more by Feb 21. They say my unit will arrive somewhere between 2/28 and 3/2. That’s not terrible. At least by spring time I’ll be able to go sit out in the backyard and watch birds while listening to good music.

Martin_Lesch · February 18, 2020, 9:22pm

wonder how it compares vs the xDSD with balanced hf out

M0N · February 18, 2020, 9:24pm

It’s not as refined, but I would say about equally as powerful. The xDSD is a step up in dac and amp, but I think the hip dac is more bang for the buck imo

Martin_Lesch · February 18, 2020, 10:07pm

Thank you @M0N - good to read

If you don’t need:
Bluetooth,
the optical in and can live without the 3d+ setting …

To be honest…all things I personally use
super rare(3d+),
never(optical in)
or less and less (Bluetooth)

The look and the 4.4 balanced out(no need for a silly 3.5TRRS balanced adapter) makes the HIP DAC really interesting- however can’t justify it myself
Even for this entry budget

Mr_Makua · February 20, 2020, 8:51pm

Looking at the Hip Dac, XD-05, and BTR5 currently. The headphones I would be driving are AQ Nighthawks, BLON BL-03, Sony MDR-1A, and whatever IEM upgrade I make this year (FiiO FH7, Fearless S8F, JVC HA-FDX1, or similar). I would want to use with my phone and my laptop and be able to take it between work and home. Bluetooth is not a big priority to me. Sound is paramount. What would you guys choose? Is there another portable dac/amp I should be considering?

M0N · February 20, 2020, 8:52pm

So if you are willing to buy balanced cables for your hawks the ifi hip dac, and if not, the xd05 imo.