John Darko
When iFi announced last month that its Neo iDSD 2 DAC and headphone amplifier would support Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Sound with aptX Lossless, I shrugged. Why would I use Bluetooth to stream music to a wall-tethered device when my home network has handled lossless CD-quality streaming for two decades already? Just slap a streamer in front of the Neo iDSD 2 for quibble-free CD-quality and hi-res lossless playback over wi-fi — job’s a good’un.
But outside of the house, it’s a different story. Wifi is too battery power-hungry so headphone manufacturers have us use Bluetooth, only for us to learn that our chosen Bluetooth codec’s handling of CD-quality streams is lossy. Bluetooth codecs discard audio data in order to squeeze the audio stream down Bluetooth’s narrow data pipe. aptX? Lossy. AAC? Lossy. LDAC? Still lossy. It’s why many audio-focussed listeners opt for DAPs and dongle DACs to get their portable audio fix. Their mantra: no lossless, no deal.
Today, however, iFi has announced the iDSD Diablo 2: a 455g / 166 x 85 x 28.5mm battery-powered portable DAC and headphone amplifier whose inputs are analogue balanced, TOSLINK, coaxial and USB-C inputs but also a revised Bluetooth input that now supports Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Sound with aptX Lossless. Hook in a pair of headphones or IEMs into the iDSD Diablo 2’s 4.4mm balanced or 6.4mm single-ended sockets and you’re potentially off to the races with its lossless handling of CD-quality audio over Bluetooth: Translation: without a cable connecting your smartphone to a DAC.
From the press release: “aptX Lossless is the first Bluetooth audio format capable of streaming CD-quality (16-bit/44.1kHz) audio ‘losslessly’. Technically it still applies a form of compression, but it ‘zips’ and ‘unzips’ the audio file in a way that preserves the original data. It achieves bitrates of up to 1.2Mbps at CD-quality – that’s more than twice the maximum bitrate of aptX Adaptive and aptX HD, and roughly 20 percent higher than LDAC’s maximum figure.”
Sharp-eyed readers will have spotted my use of a weasel word. No, not ‘musicality’ but ‘potentially‘.
The first gotcha is that this lossless carriage here only applies to CD quality. Anything higher than 16bit/44.1kHz will be handled in a lossy manner. Bluetooth still cannot losslessly handle hi-res audio – no matter what the little yellow sticker on the packaging might suggest – and it likely never will.
The second gotcha is, as with all other Bluetooth codecs, we need a smartphone that also supports Snapdragon Sound with aptX Lossless. Right now, that includes a few Sony models, many Vivo units, some Sharp, Motorola, Asus and Nubia. In the broader sense, aptX Lossless is an Android-only deal as iPhones deal only in AAC. Sorry, Apple users, but you get to sit this one out.
But progress is progress. Especially when applied to a trans/portable audio product from iFi whose True Native DAC circuit offers different signal paths to DSD and PCM signals (and supports MQA) whilst giving us balanced analogue circuitry for over 5 Watts into 32 Ohms (and 0.6 Watts into 600 Ohms) via three gain stages. There there’s IEMatch for more sensitive IEMs, an ‘optimised’ OptimaLoop negative feedback system and a 4800mAh lithium-ion battery that offers at least 6 hours between charges.
It’s worth re-emphasising that amplifier quality – and to a lesser extent, DAC quality – will have a far greater impact on what we hear than the step up from lossy LDAC to aptX Lossless.
Oh — and the iDSD Diablo’s 22 grooves aren’t just for looks. They assist with cooling and the attachment of the supplied winged desk stand. Price? US1299, €1299 or £1299.
Further information: iFi
