Introduction

iKKO has been covered a few times here on TechPowerUp, beginning with my very first review of in-ear monitors in the form of the Obsidian OH10 in early 2021—how time has flown by! This was followed by another set of iKKO IEMs aptly named the Gems OH1S given they looked like ear jewelry too, and then iKKO decided to get into the source game by introducing a few different options including the Zerda ITM01 which is a wired-only portable DAC/amplifier with preset EQ modes and offering upgrade cables for added connectivity to PC/laptop, Android, and iOS devices alike. Amidst all this, iKKO decided to take a book out of Apple's page and go from IKKO (all caps, because why not?) to iKKO and enter the living room and everyday tech market with speakers, USB docks and hubs, and even some weird products such as perfumer dispensers for a while. Things have got back on the audio track with a few new releases lately and we will take a look at some of them beginning with a brand new portable DAC/amp unit.


iKKO's product naming scheme appears to include a random word followed by an even more random combination of letters and numbers, although the latter does have some logic to it. Don't ask me whether this so-called Heimdallr ITB03 has anything to do with Norse mythology but the IT part means this is a portable DAC/amp and the B following it lets us know it supports Bluetooth connectivity too. This makes the iKKO Heimdallr ITB03, which I shall henceforth refer to simply as iKKO ITB03 for convenience, a direct competitor to the likes of the Qudelix-5K, iFi GO blu, FiiO BTR5/BTR7, and several other such options in the market. The stock image shows there is an integrated display to further cement comparisons to the FiiO offerings, and we will cover the ITB03 today in this quick look article that begins with the product specifications below. Be sure to click the image twice to fully open it and go through all the details.

Packaging and Accessories

iKKO has always had functional and well-designed packaging and this continues with the ITB03 in the form of a thick two-piece cardboard box that is longer than it is tall. On the front is the product name along with a render of the portable DAC/amp and salient features so you know exactly what you are getting. This continues on the back with product specs in multiple languages to go with contact information for the company itself. The inner box slides out the side with the help of the attached pull-tag as seen above to make it one of the more fancier such unboxing experiences for what is ultimately a utilitarian device—perhaps iKKO wants to make sure you know this is a premium product!


We get paperwork in the form of a handy user manual (online copy here) which I highly recommend going over since there is a lot of functionality built into the ITB03 and there is no app support, to where it uses a combination of the integrated screen and buttons to get everything done—you will likely miss out on some of the neater functions here if you are not aware of how to access them. There is also a warranty/product registration card and then we see a thick foam sheet with two machined compartments to hold the ITB03 in one cutout and two separate accessory cardboard boxes in the other. I do appreciate the cutouts to allow one to easily extract the DAC/amp but the same can not be said about the other boxes that collectively contain three iKKO-branded cables of varying lengths to provide connectivity from USB Type-C on one end to USB Type-A, USB Type-C, and lightning for those using iOS devices.