iFi Announces Audiophile-grade OTG Cables
If you’re a fan of lugging around an external DAC/AMP to attach to your Android mobile device or dedicated DAP, then iFi recently announced two new products that they’ll be releasing to the market – OTG cables.
Unless we’re talking about WiFi or Bluetooth connections, a cable connection must be made between a source device and a DAC/AMP device. iFi is well-known for producing some of the finest-sounding audiophile equipment, including various portable and desktop DACs, AMPs, USB-cleaners, and impedance-matching adaptors. And yet, odd as it may seem, they’ve never produced any high-quality OTG cables for their devices. Well, the wait is over, and these new cables from iFi look great!
We often neglect the importance of a good, stable, and secure OTG connection. If your interconnect cable is flimsy or suffers from a dodgy connection (whether internally or with regard to the connector itself), then your music enjoyment will often be interrupted by intermittent connection issues. One of the things that sets iFi apart from the rest is that their most competent portable DAC products all use full-sized USB connectors rather than the smaller and less secure microUSB ports used on the vast majority of portable DAC/AMP devices. This has always been great as it means you can just use any regular OTG cable instead of having to source a specific adapter from, for example, Type-C to microUSB. It seems fitting then that iFi should create some OTG cables to complement their range of DAC/AMP devices.
iFi has produced 2 version of these cables, one for Type-C connectors, and one for microUSB connectors. As the vast majority of portable music players and smartphones out there use either one of those 2 connections, it makes sense to have 2 different versions available. the OTG cables are constructed from pure OFHC continuous cast copper, which conducts clean sound between the source device and DAC. Measuring in at a length of just 120mm, these cables are neat and unobtrusive.
Pricing
iFi has indicated that both versions will cost roughly $15 (excluding taxes where applicable).
