Southport’s iFi has refreshed its mid-range digital lineup with three new boxes, all sharing a common thread: JVCKENWOOD’s K2HD processing, upgraded capacitor arrays and revised internal circuitry.
Each product targets a different listener, but all three sit within the same ecosystem, controlled by iFi’s Nexis app.
NEO iDSD 3
The flagship of the trio is a desktop DAC and headphone amplifier – pictured above – built around a custom Burr-Brown chipset with separate PCM and DSD signal paths. It handles PCM up to 768kHz and DSD512 via USB, coaxial, TOSLINK and Bluetooth: aptX Lossless, LDAC and LHDC. A new RCA line-in replaces the previous model’s 3.5mm input, better suited to turntables with built-in phono stages or external phono preamps.
On the headphone side, iFi says the amplification stage draws on its Diablo 2 portable, pushing up to 2,532 mW RMS out of the balanced 4.4mm output. That’s five times the output of the original NEO iDSD according to iFi’s own figures. Both XBassII and XSpace analogue processing modes carry over, and a 2″ colour display rotates to accommodate vertical or horizontal positioning.
NEO Stream 3
The NEO Stream 3 is a network streamer and pre-amplifier with a built-in DAC. iFi says it borrows the DAC stage from the NEO iDSD 2, again using a Burr-Brown chipset. It handles 768kHz PCM and DSD512 natively and now includes Qobuz Connect alongside Tidal Connect, Spotify Connect and Apple AirPlay 2. The idea here is a single box that adds streaming, D-to-A conversion and K2HD upsampling (to 24-bit/192kHz) to any system with a power amplifier or active speakers.
iFi’s OptiBox, an optical isolation module for the Ethernet socket, returns from the first-generation model. Both S/PDIF outputs incorporate iPurifier2 processing, and the USB output includes Active Noise Cancellation. New IoT hardware promises faster setup and firmware updates through the iFi Nexis app or a web-based interface.
ZEN Stream 3
The ZEN Stream 3 is the stripped-back option: a pure digital transport with no onboard DAC. It’s designed to feed an external D/A converter via USB or S/PDIF, supporting up to 384kHz PCM and DSD256. It shares the NEO Stream 3’s updated streaming engine (Qobuz Connect, Tidal Connect, Spotify Connect and AirPlay 2) and gets the same upgraded polymer and ELNA Silmic II capacitors, iPurifier2 processing on its S/PDIF outputs and Active Noise Cancellation on its USB output.
The ZEN Stream 3 receives K2 processing (which preserves the file’s native resolution) but not the K2HD upsampling mode found in its NEO siblings. iFi’s Exclusive Modes, which shut down unused system processes during playback, also return.
K2HD is a JVCKENWOOD-developed signal processing technology that attempts to restore harmonic content lost during digital encoding or compression, with an optional upsampling mode to 24-bit/192kHz.
The iFi NEO iDSD 3 and NEO Stream 3 are both priced at €999/US$999/£999. The ZEN Stream 3 comes in at €399/US$399/£399. All three are available now from ifi-audio.com and select dealers.
Further information: iFi