Colourful. Capable. Crisper.

The much loved, original hip-dac has had a makeover!

The portable, hi-res DAC/headphone amp looks ultra cool in its new vibrant Sunset Orange. Not only has the hip-dac2‘s super sleek aluminium case had a update, but its insides have also been enhanced.

The new 16-core XMOS chip, which processes data over USB, delivers double the clock speed and four times the memory. This improves overall performance and adds full MQA decoding to the hip-dac2‘s skill set. There also a upgraded crystal clock which contributes to purer, crisper sound.

So, whether you are working in your favourite coffee shop or chilling on your daily commute, sunrise or sunset, you’ll definitely want to take the hip-dac2 with you wherever you go.

Shooting from the hip

The hip-dac2 replaces the inferior DAC (Digital-to-Analogue Convertor) and amp circuitry in smartphones, tablets, PCs and Macs to vastly improve headphone sound.

Connect your playback device via USB, plug in your favourite corded headphones or in-ear monitors and the hip-dac2 delivers a sound brimming with bold dynamism and fluid refinement.

The Burr-Brown DAC chip selected for for its fluid, highly ‘musical’ sound quality and True Native architecture, together with iFi custom circuitry, enables the hip-dac2 to deliver excellent sound quality across digital audio formats, including bit-perfect PCM, native DSD and MQA.

The upgraded crystal clock eradicates jitter (digital distortion), using iFi’s GMT femto precision clocking system. This maintains the integrity of the digital signal until conversion to analogue and enhances sound quality.

MQA decoded

Thanks to the XMOS 16 core tech, the hip-dac2 is now an MQA Decoder rather than a Renderer only.

This enables you to play back MQA audio files and streams, delivering the sound of the original master recording. The LED glows green or blue to indicate that the unit is decoding and playing an MQA stream or file, and denotes provenance to ensure that the sound is identical to that of the source material. It glows blue to indicate it is playing an MQA Studio file, which has either been approved in the studio by the artist/producer or has been verified by the copyright owner.

MQA rendering technology (used in the original hip-dac among other iFi products) connects to an MQA Core signal (such as TIDAL) and completes the final unfold of an MQA file. Usually, the computer has carried out the decoding.