iFi Audio Unveils New Hip-DAC

iFi already has a pretty decent legacy of creating high quality audio devices which include the likes of their legendary Micro iDSD Black Label, the iTube2, the more recent Pro iDSD, and numerous portable products such as the xDSD and xCAN. However, since the Nano iDSD Black Label, iFi have not released a more budget-friendly portable DAC/AMP product, but that is set to change with the release of their new Hip-DAC.

As the name suggests, the design of the Hip-DAC is one which bears similarities to a hip-flask. With various rounded-edges and a centrally-aligned volume-pot, there’s no denying that this similarity has indeed been reached. iFi’s products have thus far only been available on various mono-chromatic colour-schemes which ranges from black to various shades of grey and silver. The Hip-DAC, on the other hand, seems to be the first portable DAC/AMP product under iFi’s belt to feature a splash of colour.
The seemingly petrol-blue colour looks great in photos, and it’ll be interesting to see if it gives off the same impression in the hand. Equally nice is the copper-coloured volume-dial. As is traditional for iFi’s products, the volume is controlled entirely within the analogue domain. There’s no DSP trickery going here, nor is there for the bass-boost function.
Speaking of functions, the Hip-DAC also sports what iFi calls PowerMatch, which is essentially just a low and high gain switch to enable you to power both low and high-sensitivity headphones/IEMs. Speaking of power, iFi has claimed that the Hip-DAC is capable of producing up to 400mW of driving power form the 3.5mm single-ended output, where as a whopping 700mW can be had via the 4.4mm Pentaconn balanced connection.

Apparently, iFi is planning to officially release the Hip-DAC in February, and will be available for preview at CanJam NYC. The retail price for the Hip-DAC has been announced to be $149.