[jsmiller58]

Fair point. I don't like using the iematch dongle with my CA Andromeda.

Is there a reason people “don’t like” to use IEMatch? I mean, it is a personal decision and preference, so I will respect that, but if there is a better reason it may help educate others.

 

[Polky74]

Is there a reason people “don’t like” to use IEMatch? I mean, it is a personal decision and preference, so I will respect that, but if there is a better reason it may help educate others.

What I will express is only my personal opinion.
I've never liked I.E. Match because I found that it changed the sound in a way that I didn't appreciate and in fact I never use it. By enabling this function I feel that everything becomes more muffled, the sound loses a good part of its dynamics, it becomes compressed, I would say it gives me a sense of "vacuum". I much prefer to use impedance adapters (if done well) like the one from Hiby which adds 20 ohms of impedance but doesn't change anything about the IEM you connect it to. But I would also like to make another consideration... is it really necessary to use iems with a very low impedance with the ifi GO bar? Instead, I prefer to use headphones/IEMs that can fully benefit from the type of amplification that the ifi GO bar provides rather than looking for one that undermines it. Can't I use the UM Mest MKII? Perfect, I will use the PULA PA02 (36 ohm) or the SLIIVO (43 ohm), I can't use extremely sensitive headphones... perfect, I will use the HER10D which with the GO bar is simply perfect. Why try to undermine a device instead of putting it in the best conditions to express itself? Having said this (usually) I stay away from IEMs that have very low impedance and I have always done this also because the ifi GO bar is not the only one to show these limits (FiiO M15) but also considering these limits I would never deprive myself of its splendid sound.

 

[thaslaya]

Got to take some pictures today for my review. Should be posting tomorrow. Here's a sneak peak

.

 

[BS5711]

Is there a reason people “don’t like” to use IEMatch? I mean, it is a personal decision and preference, so I will respect that, but if there is a better reason it may help educate others.

It only matters sonically if the increase in output impedance messes with the frequency response of the IEM.

Most of the time that doesn't matter and it may even be preferential sonically depending on the frequency response of the IEM versus the output impedance and ones personal preference.

I think most folks that are against it base that on the change in sound when it is turned on, that is the sound goes flat. That is almost always simply because the volume changes dramatically. If one does a careful enough comparison with volume matching and intentionally going below and above the relative volumes it is apparent that it (mostly) doesn't alter the sound. That is supported by the designer (Thor) in respect of the 3.5mm version at least, he did say that he had nothing to do with the 4.4mm and was a bit surprised at the somewhat high output impedance of the 4.4mm version of it. Again, that will only matter if the IEM is significantly effected by the output impedance, many won't be. Logically that same design principle has been implemented in the Go Bar.

As I stated before, my objection is more just my sense of the need for it in that it seems like a plaster over a problem that many other devices don't have. I suspect that is byproduct of shoehorning so much power in a small device but I don't know if that is technically correct or not.

 

[wolfen68]

What I will express is only my personal opinion.
I've never liked I.E. Match because I found that it changed the sound in a way that I didn't appreciate and in fact I never use it. By enabling this function I feel that everything becomes more muffled, the sound loses a good part of its dynamics, it becomes compressed, I would say it gives me a sense of "vacuum".

x2. I felt I experienced something similar with my JH13 v.1. Since then I get by without IEMatch and everything sounds great to me.

 

[jsmiller58]

@Polky74 @wolfen68 @BS5711 - I will of course respect your opinions and perceptions, but I have to say that once I’ve volume matched I cannot tell a difference in the sound, but I guess that is just me.

Also the IEMatch as I understand it is not about simply putting a resistor in series with the output - that would dramatically alter the sound signature of most IEMs. IEMatch is more about creating a resistor divider circuit which reduces the gain. This is a much cleaner approach. One can always ask why such a design is needed in iFi products versus some others, but I think it is a very innocuous circuit.

 

[BS5711]

@Polky74 @wolfen68 @BS5711 - I will of course respect your opinions and perceptions, but I have to say that once I’ve volume matched I cannot tell a difference in the sound, but I guess that is just me.

Also the IEMatch as I understand it is not about simply putting a resistor in series with the output - that would dramatically alter the sound signature of most IEMs. IEMatch is more about creating a resistor divider circuit which reduces the gain. This is a much cleaner approach. One can always ask why such a design is needed in iFi products versus some others, but I think it is a very innocuous circuit.

You are absolutely right, I also don't hear a difference, I believe I understand why others do and yes it is an innocuous feature if one doesn't need it, of course that is sound logic.

I am just being fussy, not exercising sound logic and my criticism is only that I would prefer the Go Bar if it had a low noise floor and no built in IEMatch simply because for my use cases with that would make it perfect. As it is I have a noise floor consideration in trade off for more power than I need from the Go Bar so it is slightly imperfect for me personally.

It is very obvious to me that the way that it is designed provides far more people with a far better overall fit so the design choices are perfectly understandable and my comments are the very definition of a first world problem

 

[thaslaya]

Just published my review for the iFi GO bar Kensei on Head-fi and my blog. Its the first one to be posted here on Head-fi which is pretty exciting. Check it out if you're curious. Thanks!

 

[Syan25]

It's a wise call.

 

[jsmiller58]

It’s been quiet in here for a couple of days! Question for the folks with the Kensei - do you find that the LEDs that indicate bitrate are accurate? I try to match up the LED indicated values to the bitrate reported in UAPP and don’t see good correlation… I am wondering if maybe I am misreading something.

 

[Audiofilobrpt]

I have a Gold bar and I would like to know if Kensei has improved the issue of background noise with sensitive IEMs a little without using iematch. I think it might still contain a hiss, but I was wondering if it had reduced a bit. I know that when using iematch on my Gold Bar, the hissing is almost non-existent. But, if the Kensei had a little less noise without using iematch, I could consider purchasing it to include in the collection and test the K2HD function. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[jsmiller58]

I have a Gold bar and I would like to know if Kensei has improved the issue of background noise with sensitive IEMs a little without using iematch. I think it might still contain a hiss, but I was wondering if it had reduced a bit. I know that when using iematch on my Gold Bar, the hissing is almost non-existent. But, if the Kensei had a little less noise without using iematch, I could consider purchasing it to include in the collection and test the K2HD function. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I cannot comment about comparisons as the Kensei is the only one of the family that I have. I definitely will say hiss is there with sensitive IEMs, but in my experience the background is completely black with IEMatch enabled.

 

[Audiofilobrpt]

I barely hear or almost never hear hissing on the Gold Bar with iematch activated. But, I confess that I would like to be able to listen without activating iemmatch with most of my iems. There may be no difference in the frequency response of the IEM when you enable or disable IEMMatch. And in fact, I feel like in the same volume match, I don't know if I would be able to discern whether it's on or not. But, there is always that thought and doubt: “Is there a difference in the frequency response?” . Also, I'm thinking about the hypothetical case of the iematch button breaking one day and being "hostage" to the hiss for the remaining period of use of the Ifi Bar. That's it... the sound quality it delivers makes us try to overlook this situation.

 

[jsmiller58]

I barely hear or almost never hear hissing on the Gold Bar with iematch activated. But, I confess that I would like to be able to listen without activating iemmatch with most of my iems. There may be no difference in the frequency response of the IEM when you enable or disable IEMMatch. And in fact, I feel like in the same volume match, I don't know if I would be able to discern whether it's on or not. But, there is always that thought and doubt: “Is there a difference in the frequency response?” . Also, I'm thinking about the hypothetical case of the iematch button breaking one day and being "hostage" to the hiss for the remaining period of use of the Ifi Bar. That's it... the sound quality it delivers makes us try to overlook this situation.

Yes, there is always the “human factors” to consider, including how intellectually you can know something, but you still have unspecified worries. That is an individual thing for everyone to consider. For me, I don’t give it a second thought- I am perfectly happy and confident using IEMatch. Others of course will make their own decisions.

 

[djdtm]

At Axpona and will be spending time at iFi tomorrow with the Kensei, comparing it to my Mojo 2 as I am looking for a slightly smaller solution for traveling with my IEMs.