Below 9:00, though, sound is just not there at all – the device is completely silent. Not only can the micro iDSD Black Label drive headphones, it can also drive powered speakers and other amplifiers through the RCA output on the back. It can work in line-out mode and preamplifier mode: the first seems to be most useful in case you use another amplifier, while the latter allows you to adjust the volume of the output and therefore comes as especially convenient when using powered speakers or other equipment where full line-out volume is too loud. When in line-out mode the micro iDSD Black Label silences the RCA output when a headphone is plugged in, but it reproduces sound on both headphones and RCA outputs when in preamplifier mode. The micro iDSD Black Label also features a 3.5 mm jack input that allows one to use it as a headphones amplifier or preamplifier only, thus making it more flexible than its nano counterpart. It can be connected to a PC using the onboard USB connector (a full-size male USB connector!), but there is also a SPDIF in/out port to connect the micro iDSD Black Label to other sources. It is therefore rather flexible and can be used in a variety of situations, from the desktop amplifier paired up with a PC to the DAC for a CD player in the living room and so on. It is possible to take advantage of the iFi IEMatch technology just by using a switch on the lower side. Just like the dongle, it can be set to two different levels when engaged: “high sensitivity” and “ultra sensitivity”, with the latter being recommended (almost mandatory to me…) for headphones below 32 Ω impedance and with sensitivity higher than 95 dB. IFi chose to make the device sleep after three minutes of inactivity. They say they chose this in order to allow for the device to have a long battery life and to charge while inactive (up to 80%), as the micro iDSD Black Label is first and foremost a portable device.
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