iFi Hip Dac 3's Review - Rich sounding and Portable

 

General/Build/Packaging

iFi needs no introduction to fellow audiophiles. Having tested several products from the brand, I'm quite familiar with the brand’s house sound. HipDac3 that I have with me today is the brand’s step up from the HipDac 2. The inclusion of the IEMatch is definitely a game changer for those who have sensitive IEMs.

Build quality is solid, the buttons have good tactile feedback, switches/toggles are not wobbly at all. The packaging is the usual iFi’s packaging, HipDac 3 came with high quality USB C-C, C-Lightning, as well as C-A cables, which covers the use case for most of the users, sadly it doesn’t come with any storage pouch like the Gryphon.

Specifications (Grabbed from iFi HipDac3 product page)

• Input: USB-C

• Formats supported: DSD256 / PCM384k / Full MQA decoder

• DAC: Burr Brown

• Headphone outs: 4.4mm, 3.5mm

• Power output balanced: 400mW @ 32Ω; 6.3V @ 600Ω

• Power output unbalanced: 280 mW @ 32Ω; 3.2V @ 600Ω

• SNR: Bal ≤109db (A) 0 DBFS; Unbal ≤ 103db (A) 0 DBFS

• DNR: Bal ≤109db (A); Unbal ≤103db (A)

• THD: Bal ≤0.006% (360W/ 2V @ 600Ω); Unbalanced ≤0.001% (100mW/ 1.27V @16Ω)

• Power consumption: ≤2W idle, 4W max

• Battery: Lithium Polymer 2200maH / up to 12 hours

• Power system: Charging via USB-C, BV V1.2 compliant up to 1000maH charging current

• Dimensions: 102 x 70 x 14 mm (4” x 2.8” x 0.6”)

• Weight: 135 grams

IEMs/Headphones/Equipments used for this review

• Spirit Torino Twin Pulse IEM

• Tangzu Nezha

• Letshuoer EJ07M

• Macbook Air M2 -> iFi HipDac3 -> Tidal

• Macbook Air M2 -> iFi HipDac3 -> foobar 2k (tracks ranging from 16-44 to 24-192)

Foreword

My review is solely based on what I hear via my equipment and I never consider my reviews to be objective in any way rather a subjective approach. Do take into consideration that everyone’s ear anatomy is not the same, so the psychoacoustics perception might be different as well, but i believe it will not stray too far

Features

iEMatch

• HipDac3 comes built in with iEMatch toggle that allows you to choose either to enable iEMatch for 3.5 or 4.4 or off

• This feature is very useful for IEMs that has high sensitivity, meaning when you plug it into either 3.5 or 4.4 port, you will hear the hiss even though there’s nothing playing, this annoying phenomenon can be eliminate by turning on the iEMatch

• Another useful point for the iEMatch is that it will enable a better dynamic range for your IEM that is sensitive, Eg: current volume step is at 30/100, turning up the volume to say 35/100 is very loud, while turning down to say 32/100 is not that loud but you feel that the dynamic is not there, this is when iEMatch comes into play, allowing you with additional headroom, hence staying at 35/100 will not be that loud anymore while retaining that dynamics, not to mention you will be able to push it to say 40/100 as well

Battery Life

• The rated battery life is 12 hours, i did not test it for that long, a mixed usage of Tidal, foobar 2k, volume pot at 11 O Clock, PowerMatch off, Xbass Off, and i’m getting around 8-9 hours of run time and the LED indicator is not flashing red yet, if the usage for the week is light, say 2 hours of run time a day, i only have to charge the unit approximately once a week, quite impressive in my opinion

• Of course if you push it with a more power hungry headphones or IEMs, the run time might vary, this is based on my pairing and your experience might vary

Sound Impression

I have tried and owned several iFi products in the past and I would say the tonality is more on the warm-ish side, HipDac3 is no exception either, but it is not as warm as the Zen Dac+Can stack, I would say a slight hint of warmth. Transient response is fast enough and the overall experience is quite musical to my ears. If you are someone who prefers a reference or uncolored sounding DAC/AMP, you should look for other options as HipDac3 is not that, it is musical and slightly coloured to give the listeners a musical experience rather than clinical sounding experience. Overall it is natural and slightly warm sounding, definitely not clinical sounding.

However, with the GTO firmware, HipDac3 doesn’t sound that warm and it is a lot more dynamic and also the speed of the transients is faster, in my own words, it sounds more musical, and lively, high hats and cymbals especially.

Bass

• Bass has good texture and it kinda make the IEM that’s paired to it has a little bit more body on the bass

• Sub bass has fairly good extension and rumble when it’s called for

• With the Xbass at your disposal, you can be certain that whichever IEM or headphone that you find is lacking low end, turn the Xbass on and be prepared to be amazed by the quality it produced

• Why is iFi’s Xbass different from others bass boost feature is that Xbass is implemented entirely on the analog section instead of digital, hence the output is clean and distortion free

• With the Xbass on, bass has got even more body and also quantity to it, sub bass also rumbles harder, all this without distortion and clean sounding

Mids

• The mids has got the good old iFi’s house sound to it, warm and lush yet doesn’t sound veil

• Stringed instruments has sufficient warmth to it which translates into good note weight and not thin sounding

• The vocal presentation of both male and female has very good body to it and the positioning of the vocals are not too recessed nor forward

Trebles

• There’s no elevation on the treble on the HipDac3 as with most of the iFi products that i have tested (GoBlu, Zen Dac/Amp/Air Can)

• The trebles are smooth and non offensive, yet detailed at the same time

• The definitions are good and even when you crank up the volume, the treble doesn’t fatigue you, it is just natural sounding, in my opinion, it makes the HipDac3 a good candidate to pair with IEM/Headphones that are slightly hot on the treble

Pairings

Spirit Torino Twin Pulse IEM

• Bass exhibited better extension, sub bass has better extension and it has more body to the bass and better texture overall with this pairing

• The treble has been extension and doesn’t sound that tame compared to other source

• Soundstage has more width and depth, doesn’t sound that 2D anymore

• Hit the Xbass on, and you will be rewarded with thumpy and punchy bass even on the stock nozzle of the Twin Pulse IEM, also better sub bass extension

Tangzu Nezha

• Tangzu Nezha’s sound profile is neutral warm on its own, some might think it’s a bad idea to pair it with HipDac3

• Pairing it with HipDac3 makes the soundstage has slightly better width and depth based on my listening experience

• Bass has better body to it overall as well, being a full BA set, i’d switch the Xbass on to get a little bit more thump (this is personal preference of course)

• Treble doesn’t have much changes to my ears

Letshuoer EJ07M

• This particular pairing is the most interesting to my ears

• EJ07M itself is quite musical to my ears, pairing it with Gryphon that has slight neutral  warmth characteristic to it makes the overall experience very pleasant

• Bass is slightly elevated and Gryphon seems to smooth out some “rough edges” on the treble

• Soundstage has very good width and depth to it and seems to image better as well

Comparison (Fiio Q3 MQA)

• Slightly different sound signature compared to HipDac3, not as warm compared to HipDac3

• In terms of size, HipDac3 is much more pocketable compared to Q3 MQA, shorter in terms of length

• Q3 MQA does have the bass and gain switch similar to HipDac3, but the bass boost’s implementation is definitely nowhere near iFi’s as there are some slight distortion that can be noticed if you really pay attention to it

• Feature wise, the Q3 MQA has line in to be used as an amp whereas you can’t do the same with HipDac3, but HipDac3 does have IEMatch switch which in my opinion is much more useful compared to line in

Final Thoughts

Having tested and used the HipDac3 for several months prior to publishing this review. HipDac3 definitely has what it takes to still make the statement today in the fast moving market with the competition from the Chinese and other brands. HipDac3 is a versatile product and I find the use case is very suitable for portable users and also users that don't use any power hungry headphones.

The power output is sufficient for most IEMs out there and also headphones that aren’t power hungry (Tested with the headphones which I owned, Hifiman Ananda Nano, Grado SR325X). In terms of sound, it has the usual iFi’s house sound making it suitable to pair with a wide range of transducers, on top of that, with the inclusion of IEMatch, even sensitive IEMs can be used with HipDac3 without the noise. While the power output on the spec sheet doesn’t really shine when compared to the chinese peers, my personal opinion is that numbers are not everything and it is the experience that really matters. Will definitely recommend HipDac3 without any hesitation.

*HipDac3 is sent by iFi without any monetary compensation, i am free to write what i feel about the product without any influence from iFi

Head over to the official store if you are interested in getting one

iFi Hip Dac 3 Official Store Page - Non Affiliated