iFi iDSD Valkyrie Review

Design

• 30 x 160 x 172mm (HWD), 882g
• Expertly built and finished
• It has wings!

Obviously a headphone amp/DAC doesn’t have to look like this. But when you’ve committed to Valkyrie as a model name, you may as well commit to a design that tries to suggest (and I quote) “the majestic wings of the Valkyrie’s horse”. At least you can be sure your product won’t be mistaken for anyone else’s.

It may not be mistaken for portable or transportable either, despite what iFi might hope. At 30 x 160 x 172mm and 882g this is a big boy by desktop standards, and it arrives in an (admittedly lavish) wooden box that has to find room for a big semi-soft carry case and a load of connecting cables too – whichh means it’s about the size of your hand-luggage allowance on a budget airline.

Still , there’s no arguing with the standard of construction or finish here. Everything fits perfectly, there’s a degree of tactility to it, and overall the Valkyrie looks and feels like a quality product that’s been built to last for the long haul. Which is just as it should be, given how much it costs.

The slightly overwrought design has resulted in a few ergonomic compromises, though. It may look at first glance like the Valkyrie has a lot of sockets and buttons – and it does. It doesn’t have enough, though, because some of them are working overtime.

For example: the rear panel features a USB-C socket for charging and another for data transfer. There’s also a pair of stereo RCA sockets for connection to a system.

Fair enough. But there’s also a hybrid optical/coaxial 3.5mm digital input, and two further analogue connections – an unbalanced 3.5mm socket and a 4.4mm balanced alternative. Each of them function as both inputs and outputs.

Around the front, meanwhile, there’s another 4.4mm balanced analogue socket – this one doubles as a connection for MEMS headphones. There’s another 3.5mm unbalanced output, too.

The big dial in the centre is a volume control and a mute button – it’s also a power on/off button, and a multifunction jog dial used for navigating the menus available in the display on the top panel.

The button that allows you to cycle through your half-a-dozen filter options also lets you switch on DSD upsampling (to 512 or a giddy 1024, depending on how you like your files and how long you press the button for). 

Up front there’s another 4.4mm balanced analogue output – this one doubles as an output for MEMS headphones. There’s also another 3.5mm unbalanced analogue output, with a (relatively) large volume/mute control-cum-power on/off dial in the centre.

A button that allows you to cycle through your numerous filter options and to initiate upsampling to DSD (512 or 1024) is adjacent to a button that deals both with input selection and turns K2 or K2HD processing on or off.

It’s next to a button that either cycles through your input option or engages K2 or K2HD processing. And the labelling for each of these controls is minute.

And it doesn’t end there. On the bottom of the Valkyrie there’s your usual iFi iEMatch switch for finessing output relative to the demands of your headphones (3.5mm, Off or 4.4mm).

On the top there are two tiny buttons dealing with audio modes – one switches the XSpace mode (which is intended to improve imaging) on or off, but also lets you cycle through the three different types of power output levels, the other engages XPresence mode (for extra midrange projection) and XBass II mode (don’t make me tell you).

This button lets you access those menus on the invaluable little screen on the top of the device that confirms what all of your very many button-pushes have resulted in.

Features

• Four Burr-Brown PCM1793 DACs
• 20000mAh battery power giving 18 hours of play-time
• Includes Bluetooth 5.4 with aptX Lossless codec compatibility

The design section lets you know about physical connectivity – the Valkyrie uses Bluetooth 5.4 for wireless connectivity (it’s strictly a receiver, not a transmitter) and there’s compatibility with codecs up to and including LDAC and aptX Lossless.

No matter how your audio information gets on board, it’s dealt with by a quartet of Burr-Brown PCM1793 DACs – this allows hi-res support up to 768kHz PCM and DSD512. The DAC line-up is working in cooperation with an FPGA that allows a whole lot of bespoke upsampling, processing and filtering options to be deployed.

There are six filtering options: bit-perfect, standard, minimum, GTO, apodising and transient aligned. Each has a specific effect on the output of the Valkyrie, and each is worthy of investigation.

PCM or DSD files can be upsampled to DSD512 or even DSD1024, giving the chance to adjust the sample rate of incoming digital audio files quite radically.

And when it comes to processing, the Valkyrie features the JVC Kenwood’s K2 system originally developed back when 16-bit/44.1kHz compact disc standard was the cutting-edge technology – it tries to restore information that might have disappeared during the original remastering from analogue to digital. And, of course, the upgraded K2HD developed in response to the move to hi-res content is on board too

Four batteries, giving an all-in total of 20000mAh, mean the Valkyrie can run for as many as 18 hours before it needs charging. It has a quick-charge facility, too, so it can go from flat to full in around three hours.   

Performance

• Detail and insight to spare
• Organised, controlled and thoroughly engaging sound
• Makes finding your preferred sonic characteristics a bit of an adventure

Plug and play? Do me a favour. Of course you can just plug the Valkyrie into your source of music at one end, and your headphones at the other, and then just leave it at that. But that would be a shame, because you have so much input into the sound that comes out of those headphones it’s really worth investigating what the iFi can do for your audio content.

It’s fair to say, though, that no matter the specific sonic balance you hit upon, the major talents of the Valkyrie will shine through. And there are quite a few of them.

A listen to a big (DSD64) file of I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do) by Hall & Oates reveals quite a lot about this iFi.

Its ability to organise, control and define a soundstage, for example, is immediately made apparent. There’s a whole lot of space on the stage when this recording is playing, and every element of the tune gets the room it requires to fully express itself – and the Valkyrie gives appropriate weighting to the silences and gaps between them.

There’s width and depth to the presentation, and a proper sense of distance (or the lack thereof) between individuals.

This recording also lets you know the Valkyrie’s tonality is carefully and impressively neutral. It doesn’t seem all that interested in getting involved where this is concerned, and is much happier to get out of the way and let the flavour of the recording itself be the focus.

So in this instance that means deep, textured and quite obviously processed low frequencies, a bright and shining top end, and a clean midrange that communicates in absolute torrents. Detail levels are high across the board, and frequency response is smooth and even from top to bottom – the distance from top to bottom is pretty significant here, too.

Rhythmic expression is confident and naturalistic, and there’s more than enough attention paid to harmonic variation to keep things engaging.

Switching to a 24-bit/192kHz FLAC file of John Cale’s Fear is a Man’s Best Friend gives further confirmation of the Valkyrie’s dynamic potency and its ability to bring order to bear even when a recording is trying its hardest to be disorderly.

The aggression of the tune is expressed fully, but there’s nothing feral about its presentation here – discipline is what the iFi deals in, but it’s never at the expense of entertainment. It can analyse a recording and explain what makes it tick, but it’s perfectly happy to get on board with the more visceral aspects of music-making too.

Ultimately, there’s really nothing the iFi iDSD Valkyrie can’t turn its hand to. In terms of absolute performance, it’s a thrillingly complete product.

Should you buy it?