Innovation has always been at the core of everything we do at AFUL. After spending years refining our acoustic technologies and developing highly-acclaimed IEMs, we are ready to venture into an entirely new territory by focusing on the source itself, introducing the AFUL ICEBORNE, our second portable DAC/AMP after the humongous success of the Snowy Night. Built with a world’s first fully handcrafted 3D printed resin material chassis, it houses a dual Cirrus Logic CS43198 DAC architecture and combines with our unique Dual-Core Tuning and Lossless USB transmission to give our community a completely uncompromised, high-resolution sound experience.
We are thrilled to offer the AFUL ICEBORNE at an exceptional price of just $149.99.
Our Design Philosophy: Hiding Rhythm in Form
When we first created the vision for the ICEBORNE, we wanted to break away from the generic, cold metal dongles that dominate the market and frequently heat up during long listening sessions. We developed this device around our core philosophy: "hiding rhythm in form, hiding sound in the core."
By choosing a premium 3D-printed resin material over standard metal, we completely eliminated common issues like static shocks and heat retention. AFUL ICEBORNE runs cool even after hours of operation. The striking exterior design draws direct inspiration from the beautiful "ice crack patterns" found in traditional Suzhou garden window lattices.
To ensure an absolutely flawless finish, each unit undergoes a meticulous hand-finishing process, including the careful manual removal of printing supports and extensive polishing using four distinct grades of sandpaper. Finally, we coat the chassis with a low-temperature cured German skin-friendly varnish, giving the ICEBORNE a smooth finish while ensuring it runs completely cool.
Flagship Performance with Our Dual-DAC Architecture
To achieve the pristine sonic excellence our users expect from us, we equipped the ICEBORNE with a high-performance Dual DAC configuration featuring two Cirrus Logic CS43198 32-bit chipsets. This advanced architecture provides clean, master-level audio signal processing with native support for up to 32-bit/768kHz PCM and native DSD256 audio files.
While decoding your favourite high-resolution tracks, the ICEBORNE maintains an ultra-low distortion level of less than 0.00037%. We didn't simply stop at standard factory chip specifications, our engineering team implemented a rigorous dual-core tuning process to guarantee total sonic purity, high SNR, and excellent dynamic range across the entire frequency spectrum.
Pitch-Black Noise-Free Background and Lossless USB Transmission
We believe that true resolution requires an entirely silent background. To achieve this, we developed a proprietary stage-by-stage power ripple suppression system and precise ground loop segmentation specifically for this DAC/AMP. This sophisticated internal layout actively calibrates thermal noise, letting us achieve a near-silent noise floor of just 1μV on the 3.5mm single-ended port and 1.5μV on the 4.4mm balanced output. Even when paired with highly sensitive modern IEMs, you will experience a completely dark background.
Additionally, we solved the frustrating digital transmission bugs common in portable audio by creating an optimized USB lossless transmission architecture. By completely reworking our hardware buffers and clock synchronization protocols, the ICEBORNE actively eliminates data packet drops and jitter, unlocking high-frequency clarity and an expanded soundstage that easily rivals premium coaxial or optical inputs on desktop-tier gear.
Versatile Dual Output Ports and Commanding Drive Power
To provide seamless compatibility with your entire collection of audio gear, we designed the ICEBORNE with dual headphone output options, featuring both a 3.5mm single-ended port and a 4.4mm balanced interface. Don't let its pocket-friendly size fool you, it delivers a robust driving thrust of up to 300mW per channel at a 16Ω load, giving you plenty of clean power to effortlessly run everything from sensitive IEMs to demanding full-sized headphones.
To ensure an uncompromised digital data stream from your source device, we include a premium, high-purity 6N single-crystal copper silver-plated Type-C to Type-C interconnect cable right in the box. The AFUL ICEBORNE is an engineering milestone for us, a device that beautifully captures the true soul of your music and presents it with crisp, high-resolution clarity. It is available directly through our retail partners, priced at $149.99.