News today of iFi’s NEO iDSD hi-res DAC/headphone amp, available from tomorrow at a rather reasonable £699, ideal for Lockdown 2.0. It looks really nice from here and it features a whole bunch of options, both input and output.

Housed in Aluminium casework the NEO iDSD can stand up or rest flat, the OLED display flips automatically to suit the preferred orientation, brilliant.  The NEO iDSD can be used as a DAC (with fixed output), as a DAC/pre amp (variable output) or just as a DAC/headphone amp.  The NEO iDSD features a Burr-Brown DAC at its core for hi-res audio support, handling PCM data to 32-bit/768kHz, all levels of DSD up toDSD512, and single- and double-speed DXD.

The NEO iDSD supports MQA, the hi-res streaming codec, as used by Tidal’s ‘Masters’ tier, through the USB
and S/PDIF inputs, with full decoding of MQA files up to 384kHz thanks to the processing power of the
new 16-core XMOS chip.

Inputs include three digital inputs – asynchronous USB Type B, as well as both optical and coaxial flavours of S/PDIF. Three devices may be connected simultaneously via these inputs, plus a fourth via Bluetooth, with the desired input selected using the multifunction rotary control or the supplied remote.

Balanced outputs are supplied, to make the most of the NEO iDSD’s fully balanced circuitry. At the front, alongside a standard 6.3mm single-ended headphone socket, resides a 4.4mm Pentaconn output for headphones offering balanced connection.

Around the back, to connect the NEO iDSD to an amp and speakers (or active speakers), single-ended RCA outputs are accompanied by a pair of XLR sockets.

The iFi NEO iDSD is available from selected retailers from Friday 6th November at the RRP of £699.