iFi Audio Valkyrie - Flagship Portable DAC with DSD Remastering

Introduction

In my experience, iFi Audio over the past five years has been a pioneer in accessible electronics, with a focus on price and quality. They’ve been doing this for a long time now, with the ZEN products driving the brand forward.  Now iFi Audio is expanding its price range, firmly targeting the Chord Hugo bracket with a headphone amplifier and DAC packed full of their latest features.

Design

Looking like the rear diffuser of a hyper-fast sports car, this Valkyrie is the pinnacle of iFi Audio’s know-how in DAC technology.  It features four Burr-Brown DACs, with 5,700mW of peak output, lossless Bluetooth, and 18 hours of battery life.

The iFi Audio Valkyrie is a DAC and a DAC/headphone amplifier; it can be used as either, or both.  The Bluetooth stage features Qualcomm’s flagship QCC518x chipset, which supports aptX Lossless (1200kbps), LDAC (990kbps), or aptX (352kbps), AAC, LHDC, aptX Adaptive and SBC are also supported.

The Valkyrie can be transported, but it’s not truly portable—although a backpack could work. It has four 5,000mAh lithium-polymer batteries, claiming 18 hours of playback.

The inputs to the Valkyrie include, on the analogue side, balanced 4.4mm and single-ended 3.5mm.  There is USB-C, S/PDIF (Coaxial/Optical) and Bluetooth 5.4 on the digital side.  Outputs are balanced 4.4mm (13.5V/5,700mW (@32Ω)) and two single-ended 3.5mm jacks, as well as a stereo pair of RCA outputs.

The iFi Audio Valkyrie features an array of filters and settings on the digital side to optimise the performance to the listener’s needs.  It includes iFi’s EQ type enhancements, XSpace (wider soundstage treatment), XBass II (erm, a bass bump!) and XPresence (a midrange bounce).  There are also eight filters, namely Bit Perfect, Standard, Minimum, GTO, Apodising and Transient Aligned.  There are iFi’s ‘K2’ mode and ‘K2HD’ mode as well as a DSD remastering algorithm that, I think, uses custom-coded FPGA technology, beloved of Chord Electronics’ Hugo 2.

Quality

The Valkyrie has a premium feel with a scratch-resistant Gorilla glass display on the top, and the unit is hewn from a CNC-machined aluminium chassis with a champagne anodization and satin (soft touch) finish. The dimensions are 172 x 160 x 30mm, and it is 882g.

Specification and Price

Performance

Review Equipment

I’ve been mainly using the Valkyrie on the desktop with Qobuz and Tidal from my computer, USB-C input. On the computer SSD, I have most of my music on the hard drive, and I have used Audirvāna Studio.

I’ve also used the Valkyrie in place of an older iFi Pro iDSD, which stands as my reference DAC, taking input from an Auralic ARIES streaming transport using a USB cable.  I’m using Qobuz Connect these days to the ARIES for ease from my Pixel Android phone.

Headphones used have included on-loan Meze Audio Elite headphones and their excellent sibling, 109 Pros.  I’ve got a pair of Beyerdynamic DT990 PROs as well. I have the Chord Hugo 2 here for comparison.

Physically

The Valkyrie comes in a heavy wooden case that has the unit front and centre on opening, with the Custom Travel Case under it, with a bunch of accessories, including an iPower X ultra-low noise power supply.  Also enclosed are a few USB-C connection cables and adaptors, and a helpful Quick Start Guide.  It was slightly confusing at first to have the iPowerX power supply in the box, as the Valkyrie has a massive battery, but silent USB-C powered mains operation is welcome.

The Travel Case is nice, with a handle strap, which somewhat supports the portable moniker.

The footprint of the iFi Audio Valkyrie is as deep as a CD, slightly wider than a CD, but not as wide as a paperback book sideways; it’s about 3 CDs high.

The Valkyrie shuts itself down with inactivity, which is a good thing, as I’m often just walking off at the end of the day.

There’s an iFi Audio Nexis App, however, this appears to use 2.4GHz WiFi, mine is 5GHz, so I’m struggling with an app I don’t need. I gave up in the interests of time because I can’t figure out the App, it’s not the kind of thing I feel I need in any case.

The filters are bewildering. Have a listen and pick a few to suit your mood. They all do something. The display on the top is clean, intuitive and clear with the XSpace/XBass and XPresence easily selectable here.

Meze Audio Elite

One thing you do need with the Valkyrie is a decent pair of headphones, and I have, for this review, these flagship Meze Audio Elite headphones, balanced. I’ve ended up with XBass II on (open-backed), XPresence off and XSpace on. Filter-wise, I’m on ‘Apodising’ for no real reason other than it sounds great to me, but you’d be forgiven in a blind test for not pinpointing the difference between the various filters.

At the desktop, if the Elites are crisp and effortless, the Valkyrie complements them perfectly with an accurate yet tonally neutral drive that is just about as good as it gets. Tracks I adore come to the fore, like Van Morrison’s It Stoned Me (Qobuz 24 bit, 96kHz) and Paul Simon’s beautiful track Let Me Live in Your City (Work in Progress) (Qobuz 24 bit, 96kHz). These tracks take me to different moments; they represent real music at different phases of my life. Having recently seen the tribute band Beatles Complete live at the Cavern Club and watched various Led Zeppelin documentaries on Sky Arts, this music comes flooding out, as does Human Fly by The Cramps (Qobuz 24 bit, 96kHz) (who can forget I Was A Teenage Werewolf (Qobuz 16 bit, 44.1kHz) ), another phase in my life.

DSD Remastering On/Off

Leaning on the filter button at the front lets you up-sample the digital input all the way up to DSD1024; DSD 512 and DXD768 is also an option (though DXD is not listed in the eManual). I settle unequivocally on DXD768, which gives an agreeable lift and breadth to the soundstage in my Kudos Titan 505s, particularly when listening to Van Morrison’s Crazy Love (Qobuz 24 bit, 96kHz). The upsampling seems to act like a pre-filter.

I listen to all of Vivaldi’s beautiful Nisi Dominus by Andreas Scholl, and it is as smooth as silk with excellent resolution, particularly the haunting track Cum Dederit (Andante) (Qobuz 16 bit, 44.1kHz), which stands out.

Meze Audio 109 headphones

With the Valkyrie appearing neutral, with nothing but clarity, the Meze Audio 109 Pros challenge the Elites as best they can, but the Elites win out, though not by the multiple suggested by the price tag.  Again, the filters are subtle, but they add energy if needed.  As with the iFi Diablo 2 (see below), I’ve not needed to mess with the Turbo or Nitro Gain settings, but they are there on the output side. I have not really played with the K2 technology, preferring to settle on the limited settings suggested above, in the interests of keeping a degree of naked processing.  XPresence is easily accessible at the desktop with a button on the top side of the display.

As a DAC

Using an Audioquest Carbon USB-A to C cable from the Auralic ARIES, the Valkyrie steps into the Pro iDSD’s shoes with ease in my reference system, which is notable. In the end, though, it is just a transfer of music files to analogue without fuss or bother.  I’ve tried battery vs USB-C power supply, and there’s nothing in it for me if I’m being honest with myself, though I have stuck to the iPower X supply going forward, plugged into the PowerGrip. I believe the Valkyrie is as clean as it can be, and it is impressive. Indeed, I have not wanted to move back to the iFi Pro iDSD as yet, though when it goes back, I won’t be unduly concerned, given the quality of both. The 4.4mm balanced output to the rear is noted and is worth a thought with a suitable XLR cable.

One should note that plugging in headphones here will cut the RCA output from the DAC, but the volume does not revert to a default or last used headphone volume.  Ouch: I had the volume at 100 to the preamplifier (there’s no fixed output that I can find, which would be good), but the Beyerdynamic 990s, and my ears, seemed to have survived.

Bluetooth

I’ve gone for an obligatory reviewer’s walk with the dog and the Valkyrie in the tan coloured travel case in a rucksack with some Meze Audio ALBA IEMs. You’re Bluetooth pairing before you do all this, of course. The ALBA are fabulous anyway at their price point, but this is a premium experience as the ALBA get their first proper workout.  I use XSpace, which is more fun here, but I do not feel the need for IEM Matching, which manages the Gain, on the underside of the Valkyrie on the base.  With my Pixel smartphone, I have access to LDAC (990kbps) for a fuller, richer Bluetooth experience.  Newton Faulkner’s bass drops in Teardrops (Qobuz 16 bit, 44.1kHz) come across well with that sternum crunching, raspy bass control.

On return, with a cup of tea, I build the playlist in the lounge at my convenience on Bluetooth.

Musical Interlude

This is the Qobuz Playlist used in this review. This Playlist is rapidly building to the definitive review tracks Playlist.

Thoughts

The Valkyrie has been an absolute audiophile trip, and it has been wonderful. It feels to me, as a DAC, staying away from the DSP options is a wiser choice in a more revealing system, same with a decent pair of headphones.  The filters are just there, and the up-sampling is nice to have and gives you wings, but I will always prefer not to flit about too much with filters in the interests of purity.

What about the ‘cheaper’ iFi Diablo 2? The Valkyrie is certainly cleaner and more dynamic, but the Diablo still has that livelier sound that many might like. Again, this one’s all about filters (the Diablo 2 does not have any), preferences and budget. I guess one might call the Valkyrie a more mature product over Diablo 2 with a greater array of options, such as the DSD up-sampling and filters.

What about the Chord Hugo 2 in the same price range (£1795 v Valkyrie at £1699)? I have thought for a while now that the Hugo needs updating, at least to a USB-C solution, with both power and digital input. It may also benefit from updating to the filter options from the MoJo 2 that make it such a good performer.  Today, the Hugo 2 has met its match in my view with the features on offer, the USB-C input and the competitive clean and resolving sound. I would suggest there is not much in this one between the two of them. It’s a bit like choosing between an original film and a remake with the latest film star. The original is generally always the best, but the newer one usually has that added bit of lustre that attracts you to it.

If you’re in the market for this type of DAC/Headphone Amplifier, listen to them both at a good retailer, like Hifonix! In my view, the Hugo 2 is Christian Bale’s Batman versus the Valkyrie being Robert Pattinson’s The Batman.

Overall

I have absolutely loved this iFi Audio Valkyrie, and it has been a thrill every time I have used it, whether as a DAC, portable on the move, or poolside. This is surely the ultimate desktop offboard headphone amplifier.