Audiophilepure

The NiPO A100 is a linear sounding device with a clean profile, which seems to be another one of NiPO’s niche points. The frequency response is well extended, covering deep bass, and to highs that produce lots of sparkle.

The background is dark, and there is no hiss perceived, even with sensitive IEMs. This darkness makes way for a clear view into the music it’s producing.

This shows that power is not an issue and can be controlled even with those harder-to-drive units. IEMs, on the other hand, benefit from the IEM switch, darkening the background to a minimum, especially with the notoriously delicate Campfire Audio offerings.

What transpired is a thoroughly organic, yet musical sound emanating forth with deep-reaching bass (especially with Bass+ on) that flowed without bother into the sumptuously tube-like midrange.

The treble reach, while not far-reaching, lends enough presence to expand the height of sound offered. Vocals come across as thick and lush but accurate, finishing off the L-Amp sound signature.

At the heart of it all is a locked-down, highly optimized operating system based on Android 8.1, which has been stripped of its usual functions, including networking, to focus solely on delivering the best possible sound quality. This means no third-party apps are supported, allowing the N3 Ultra to bypass Android’s Sample Rate Conversion (SRC) to ensure bit-perfect playback. Navigating through the N3 Ultra’s OS is smooth, despite the rather low-end Snapdragon 425 processor and 2GB of RAM. This is where the software comes in, and the more optimized it is, the better for both the sound and the UI experience. The N3Ultra’s UI snappiness far exceeded my expectations and I was amazed to see it outperform the unlocked Android 13 DAPs with better processors I have. The 4.1-inch TFT touchscreen is responsive and fairly bright, with a good ppi, and displays album art and UI elements sharply. The capacitive home button below the screen acts as an LED indicator, changing colour depending on the sample rate of the file being played.

https://www.hifinews.com/content/ifi-audio-idsd-diablo-2-headphone-ampusb-dac

Played via Tidal through Sennheiser HD 660 S2 headphones, the soundtrack of the new Leonard Bernstein biopic Maestro [DG 486 5466; CD res] sounded a clear notch above regular Bluetooth. While aptX Adaptive and LDAC can also be quite good – there’s a lot of audiophile snobbery around the technology – a wired connection has always had the edge for me. I might have to rethink that stance, as from the exuberant intro detailing Bernstein’s last-minute substitution for conductor Bruno Walter, to the horns on ‘Anniversaries’, this sounded superb for something which professes to be ‘merely’ a mobile solution.

On the inside we next to the double tubes find Woo Audio’s Mighty-Drive technology. The result – according to Woo Audio – is the warm sound of vacuum tubes and the superpower of MOSFET amplification for an effortless sound that comes alive with full-sized headphones. There are three technologies working seamlessly in TUBE mini – a power management system for plug-and-play setup, a tube headphone amplifier, and a high-resolution lossless DAC; all in an impossibly small design.