PowerStation

This review first appeared in December 2019 on HifiKnights.com. By request of the manufacturer and permission of the author, it is hereby syndicated to reach a broader audience. All images contained in this piece are the property of Dawid Grzyb or iFi Audio – Ed.

Reviewer: Dawid  Grzyb
Transport: fidata HFAS-S10U
DAC: LampizatOr Pacific (KR Audio T-100 / Living Voice 300B + KR Audio 5U4G Ltd. Ed.)
Amplifier: Trilogy 925, Kinki Studio EX-M1
Speakers: Cube Audio Nenuphar, Xavian Jolly
Speaker cables: Boenicke Audio S3, LessLoss C-MARC
Interconnects: Audiomica Laboratory Erys Excellence
Power components: Gigawatt LC-3 EVO, PC-3 SE EVO+, Gigawatt PF-2 + Gigawatt LC-2 MK2 + Forza AudioWorks Noir Concept/Audiomica Laboratory Ness Excellence/LessLoss C-MARC
Rack: Franc Audio Accesories Wood Block Rack
Music: NativeDSD
Retail prices of reviewed components in EU (incl. 22% VAT): €549

For years now iFi audio have mainly been known for quality DACs, headphone amps and multiple accessories associated with USB. By late July this year, their portfolio expanded in a not exactly novel but nonetheless intriguing direction. The result? Today's arrival, iFi audio's new PowerStation. Their prior track record gave me numerous reasons to expect this to again be unique. Alongside goods which the industry considers standard issue—variously tiered, sized and priced D/A converters and headphone amps—this company's catalogue also includes products designed for very specific often niche applications. There's grounding (Groundhog), headroom expansion for headphones/IEMs (iEMatch), USB reclocking (iUSB3.0) and galvanic isolation (iGalvanic3.0). There's harmonic injection via tubes (iTube2), an energizer for electrostatic cans (Pro iESL) and a full-sized desktop speaker system (Retro Stereo 50).

All this demonstrates profound prior design versatility. It also paints the picture of a firm that's not afraid to send its engineering assassins deep into virgin territories. This hit squad is not only tasked to land meticulous kills but return home on a budget so as to raise no suspicions of lethal intent. To frame this florid description in plainer context, iFi audio's micro iGalvanic3.0 and micro iUSB3.0 remain, by far, the two most wallet-friendly residents of my setup. Off duty, these petite components lead to a significant overall performance plunge so have become quite irreplaceable. I've been unable to find, for less, any other USB upgrade as impactful as iFi's two-box team. Once this fact plus joy rides with their Pro iCAN and Pro iDSD are factored in, anything new by this team is bound to intrigue me automatically.

Having said so, past my visit to their room shared with German distributor WOD Audio in Munich this year, I was intrigued once more. In Munich the iFi audio team had showcased several new products in their affordable Zen range whose Zen Blue and Zen DAC didn't seem quite up my alley at least not right awy. This changed after learning about the former's LDAC support and internally balanced architecture from none other than legendary John Curl. Nonetheless, iFi audio's Aurora AiO crowd pleaser and PowerStation were my personal highlights of the WOD Audio exhibit, not their costly big exotics. Once our domestic fall show in Warsaw closed, a PowerStation sample stayed with me.