I’ll start this review with a little confession. Unlike some of the others, I’m not an audiophile.
I enjoy music. A lot. I’ve spent years playing in bands, playing bass, standing in front of loud speakers, listening to music through headphones and generally having some form of music following me around wherever I go. So while I’m probably not the person who is going to tell you that a particular electronic component has transformed my favourite song, I do know when something sounds bloody good.
That brings us to the iFi iDSD GR 2. Currently retailing for £529.
The GR 2 is a portable DAC and headphone amplifier designed to sit somewhere between your phone, computer or other audio source and your headphones. It is effectively the middleman responsible for taking that digital audio signal and turning it into something your headphones can actually make sense of.
Musically Versatile
On paper, it is seriously impressive. There is a new Burr-Brown PCM1795 DAC, Bluetooth 5.4, support for high-resolution audio, balanced connections, K2HD processing, iFi’s familiar audio processing options and enough amplification power to make some fairly demanding headphones sit up and take notice. It can deliver up to 1,513mW into 32 ohms through its balanced output, which is considerably more power than most people will ever need from something you can put in a bag.
But specifications are only half the story. What really matters is whether the GR 2 makes listening to your music more enjoyable. Thankfully, this is where things get interesting.
Design
If you’ve seen iFi products before, the GR 2 will look instantly familiar. It has that distinctive elongated shape which makes it look more like a piece of miniature hi-fi equipment than something that belongs in your pocket. At 141mm long, 75mm wide and just 19mm thick, it is certainly portable, although at 268g it isn’t exactly something you’ll forget is sitting in your pocket. It’s not quite the SONY Discman days though! Inside the box you get the GR 2 itself, USB cables for connecting it to your devices, a protective microfibre bag and the standard user documentation.
The GR 2 feels like a proper piece of equipment. Pick it up, and there is a reassuring amount of weight to it. This isn’t a cheap plastic box that happens to have a headphone socket on the side. It feels like something that has been designed to be used for years. The biggest change compared with the previous generation is immediately obvious when you switch it on. Sitting on the top is a new colour OLED touchscreen, and I really like it.
One of my frustrations with some audio equipment is that you end up remembering combinations of buttons to access different settings. You know the sort of thing. Hold this button, press that one twice, rotate the wheel three clicks and then hope you’ve actually changed what you wanted to change. I’ve lost track of how many times I have inadvertently sent my headphones into pairing mode! The touchscreen gets rid of a lot of that nonsense.
You can see what you’re doing and access the important settings directly. It makes the GR 2 feel much more modern and, more importantly, much easier to live with. The screen can also be locked, which is useful if you’re carrying the unit around rather than using it on a desk.
Get yourself connected
Around the device, you’ll find a 4.4mm balanced headphone connection and a 3.5mm S-Balanced connection, along with the inputs and outputs needed to use the GR 2 in a variety of different setups. There is USB-C, optical/coaxial connectivity through S/PDIF and Bluetooth 5.4 for wireless use. The Bluetooth support is particularly useful because it means the GR 2 doesn’t have to be permanently attached to your phone with a cable.
It supports a huge range of codecs including aptX Lossless, aptX Adaptive, LDAC, LHDC, AAC and SBC, so whether you’re using an Android phone, another Bluetooth source or something more basic, you’ve got plenty of options.
Overall, the design is very much what I have come to expect from iFi. Solid, slightly industrial and packed with technology without looking like it has tried too hard.
Performance
This is obviously where the GR 2 needs to earn its money; you can have the best-looking DAC in the world, but if your music sounds exactly the same coming out of it, then what is the point? Thankfully, the GR 2 sounds fantastic.
The first thing I noticed was how much space there seemed to be between the different parts of a recording. Vocals sit nicely in the mix while instruments have their own room rather than everything becoming one big wall of sound. You can shut your eyes, and it feels as if they are playing live in front of you. You can pick out exactly where each musician is when listening to some tracks.
The new Burr-Brown PCM1795 DAC is one of the big changes with the GR 2, and iFi has clearly gone for a sound that retains that slightly warm, analogue character rather than giving you something that sounds overly clinical. And for me, that’s exactly the right choice. Music should sound enjoyable!
There are times when listening to some high-end audio equipment can feel a bit like you’re analysing a recording rather than actually enjoying it. With the GR 2, I found myself simply listening.
I’ve got the power!
Bass has plenty of weight without becoming ridiculous. Kick drums have that lovely punch that makes you want to turn the volume up another couple of notches, while bass guitars have enough definition that you can actually follow what they’re doing. So far it is ticking the boxes for me!
Vocals sound full and natural, while guitars, keyboards and other instruments have plenty of detail without becoming harsh. This works particularly well with older recordings, where the additional processing options can help bring a little more life back into the mix.
Then there is K2HD. This is one of the more interesting features of the GR 2. The technology is designed to restore harmonic information that can be lost during digital recording and processing, with the aim of giving music a more natural and engaging character.
Whether you want to leave it switched on all the time is going to come down to personal preference; however, I actually enjoyed experimenting with it. The same goes for iFi’s other processing features such as the XSpace and XBass+. Rather than simply giving you one fixed sound, the GR 2 gives you options to adjust the experience depending on what you’re listening to.
With up to 1,513mW RMS at 32 ohms through the balanced output, the GR 2 has considerably more grunt than you would expect from something this portable. iFi claims around 50% more headphone drive than the previous xDSD Gryphon. I never found myself thinking, “I wish this had a bit more power.” If anything, I spent more time turning the volume down.
One of the things I really like about the GR 2 is its versatility. You can use it as a portable headphone amp, connect it to your computer, use Bluetooth from your phone or incorporate it into a more permanent desktop setup. That makes it much more useful than simply being something you throw in your bag when you go travelling.
Battery life is around seven hours, depending on how you’re using it, with a 4,900mAh battery. Charging takes roughly three and a half hours. Seven hours might not sound massive compared with some modern devices, but for a portable DAC and amplifier it is enough for a decent day of listening. And if you’re using it at a desk, you can simply have it connected to power.
The only real criticism I have is that the GR 2 can feel like overkill if you’re using basic headphones or cheap earbuds. You’re buying a serious piece of audio hardware here, so you really need decent headphones or speakers to get the most from it.
The detail, separation, punch and overall musicality are genuinely impressive. More importantly, it doesn’t feel like you’re listening to technology. You’re just listening to music, which is exactly what I want from something like this.
Conclusion
The iFi iDSD GR 2 is one of those pieces of hardware that is surprisingly difficult to criticise. It isn’t the smallest portable DAC I’ve ever used. It isn’t particularly lightweight either. If you’re simply looking for something to make a pair of cheap headphones slightly louder, this is probably more equipment than you need. But that’s not really what the GR 2 is about.
This is for someone who wants to take their headphone or speaker listening seriously without having to sit in front of a huge desktop hi-fi system. The combination of the new Burr-Brown DAC, powerful amplification, balanced output, Bluetooth 5.4, touchscreen controls and a whole host of audio processing options makes this an incredibly flexible bit of kit.
What impressed me most, though, was the sound. The GR 2 doesn’t just make things louder. It gives your music more presence. Instruments feel separated, vocals have more character, and there’s a level of detail that makes you start noticing things in recordings you’ve probably listened to hundreds of times.
That’s ultimately what I want from a piece of audio equipment. I don’t want to spend my time looking at numbers and wondering whether I’m getting my money’s worth. I want to put my audio app on, press play, and disappear into the music for a while. The iFi iDSD GR 2 makes doing exactly that very easy. It’s powerful, versatile, beautifully built and, most importantly, sounds bloody good.
For anyone looking for a serious portable DAC and headphone amplifier that can comfortably move between home, desktop and portable use, the iFi iDSD GR 2 is an excellent choice.
For me, the iFi iDSD GR 2 gets the Thumb Culture Platinum Award.
Disclaimer: A sample was received in order to write this review.
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