The only concern I have with the IEmatch, is a sub quality wire and plug components (not using furutech carbon core plugs, or full 8 strand shielded OCC silver/copper wires for the interconnect, solder used within the parts). At the price we pay for our iems, the last thing I want feel we should do is add a bottle neck between the source and the iem.
At least, with the 2ak, I know that it wont compromise the sound quality as long as the interconnect used is the best you can get. At any rate, having demoed the iematch, I remained unconvinced by it. The iematch, as you all mentioned, compromised the sound in certain areas, which was an immediate no-no in my books. The 2ak however, actually enhanced my listening experience by increasing the holographic presentation while improving on the articulation of each note (e.g. the treble seemed to reach higher and the bass became tighter).
So, yes, the iematch is a budget option, but it was a compromise on my 'no-compromise' take to portable audio, where every little compromise is made more salient in a system that is in itself already limited by virtue of its design. Heck, even the AK players are compromised, if you examine the ribbon wires and clock used, which can be upgraded to full OCC wires and so on.
Just my two cents worth, within the context of iems and players that cost upwards of 4k per unit.
Edit: i realized that the iematch employs a "6N copper silver matrix" for signal transfer, which isnt too bad i guess. But that means that it is a resistor based circuit. which will have an impact of different part of the sound frequency since it will act as a filter of sorts. The 2ak, is a transformer unit of sorts, bypasses that issue. The drawback of course, is the price.
