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Inside ifi iOne Nano Portable DAC and Headphone Amplifier

amirm

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I reviewed the ifi nano iOne a while back. Before sending it back and with owner's permission, here are the guts of the unit.

I don't have much time to do a reverse engineering on it. So I will provide the top and bottom images of the PCB and let you all do that if interested :).

Here is the bottom side of the unit: (click on the image for full size)

ifi ione nano DAC teardown top PCB.jpg


I have marked the main engine: the DSD1793 DAC.

Clearly visible at the bottom is the all-in-one module from CSR for Bluetooth.

I can't see the markings for U500 on the right. And the numbers for the tiny output buffers seem proprietary to iFi.

Assembly looks very clean with no manual re-work.

Here is the top side:
ifi ione nano DAC teardown bottom PCB.jpg


The main item is the XMOS USB interface on a daughter card. Nice to see glue on the connectors to keep it from coming lose.

I also appreciate the CE mark showing likelihood of compliance with European safety and emissions standards.

I have to put the thing back together and mail it now. :)
 

Jimster480

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Looks like a well designed and mfg'd unit.
Atleast none of these major fails associated with other products you have opened in the past.
 

frogmeat69

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It might not have measured up to peoples expectations, but I hope that by sending it to Amir it helped with your decisions on future purchases down the road.
To me at least, it sounds fine, pretty much like any other lower priced DAC I own or have owned.
 
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amirm

amirm

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It might not have measured up to peoples expectations, but I hope that by sending it to Amir it helped with your decisions on future purchases down the road.
To me at least, it sounds fine, pretty much like any other lower priced DAC I own or have owned.
ifi products are super popular so it most definitely was worth getting and testing. :)
 

mansr

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I can't see the markings for U500 on the right.
That's an STC12LE5A60S2 microcontroller. Somewhat odd choice.

And the numbers for the tiny output buffers seem proprietary to iFi.
Those are TI parts with space-saving markings. The same parts are used in the IDAC2.

The main item is the XMOS USB interface on a daughter card.
The same module is used in several other iFi DACs.
 

Jimster480

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It might not have measured up to peoples expectations, but I hope that by sending it to Amir it helped with your decisions on future purchases down the road.
To me at least, it sounds fine, pretty much like any other lower priced DAC I own or have owned.
I know that this review has already helped out a few of my friends. So I am quite glad that it is here and I was able to share this data with friends of mine to help them make informed decisions :)
 

jcbenten

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I think this DAC sounds pretty good and has a couple of pluses that I like: 1) Connects instantly to my Windows Laptops unlike my Fiio Q5 which takes a couple of tries, and 2) charges while playing...I am thinking of installing in my home system to replace my Nuforce HDP from many years ago...
 
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