[alekc]

I have a question for long time owners of iDSD micro signature: I'm looking for a cans that I can travel with and I could use during traveling (plane/train/etc.) so no open ones unfortunately, IEMs are fine but would prefer something along the lines of Audeze LCD-1 but closed ones. Cans should be neutral or with a bit of warmth, the bigger sound stage the better and a lot of air and dynamics. Would be great if micro details were in place too, but this is not obligatory. I will be grateful for any tips. Thank you in advance.

 

[FooFighter]

Hi chaps
I am still looking for some bedside rig to be paired with my Denon AH-D9200 and VE EXT.
Diablo was sounding super but actually hardly usable without digital headroom in Roon or IEMATCH which I don't want to use.
The Ifi headphone calculator is actually showing any! IFI device to be unsuitable without IEMATCH.
What are your guys ecperiences using non sensitive IEMs like my VE EXT respectively sensitive DD Overear with 23 Ohms using IDSD SIGNATURE economy mode without IEMATCH or some Gryphon for example.
Is it usable without channel imbalance?
Thx!

 

[alekc]

Hi chaps
I am still looking for some bedside rig to be paired with my Denon AH-D9200 and VE EXT.
Diablo was sounding super but actually hardly usable without digital headroom in Roon or IEMATCH which I don't want to use.
The Ifi headphone calculator is actually showing any! IFI device to be unsuitable without IEMATCH.
What are your guys ecperiences using non sensitive IEMs like my VE EXT respectively sensitive DD Overear with 23 Ohms using IDSD SIGNATURE economy mode without IEMATCH or some Gryphon for example.
Is it usable without channel imbalance?
Thx!

@FooFighter Signature may be problematic for your case. As I'm writing this I'm listening to Signature with Fiio FH5 and the imbalance ends right before 11 o'clock while 12 o'clock on volume pot maybe already way too loud while in Eco mode and IEMatch disabled. Enabling IEMatch is indeed rather poor idea IMHO as the sound is loosing a lot of dynamics at the best case.

 

[FooFighter]

@FooFighter Signature may be problematic for your case. As I'm writing this I'm listening to Signature with Fiio FH5 and the imbalance ends right before 11 o'clock while 12 o'clock on volume pot maybe already way too loud while in Eco mode and IEMatch disabled. Enabling IEMatch is indeed rather poor idea IMHO as the sound is loosing a lot of dynamics at the best case.

Thx!
Will post the same question now in Gryphon thread and if that won't work look for either some Mojo 2 or return to DAPs

 

[alekc]

Thx!
Will post the same question now in Gryphon thread and if that won't work look for either some Mojo 2 or return to DAPs

@FooFighter good idea I can't help you with Gryphon or xDSD/xCAN since I never had them and have exactly zero experience with that line of ifi products. Mojo 2 maybe the way to go, since if you are after "ifi house sound" you can get close to it thanks to DSP and you will not loose anything from SQ contrary to ifi xbass, 3d and IEMatch implementation: all of those have some impact on sound signature not always in the desirable way IMHO.

As far as Gryphon is concerned I would make one remark regarding its size: I've tried travelling with ifi micro iDSD Signature for last few days and due to its size and clunky USB cable it has been a little nightmare when comparing to traveling with Mojo2+Poly.

 

[Tomm11]

Thx!
Will post the same question now in Gryphon thread and if that won't work look for either some Mojo 2 or return to DAPs

Topping G5
Shanling H7
Fiio Q7

...

 

[Johnfg465vd]

Hi chaps
I am still looking for some bedside rig to be paired with my Denon AH-D9200 and VE EXT.
Diablo was sounding super but actually hardly usable without digital headroom in Roon or IEMATCH which I don't want to use.
The Ifi headphone calculator is actually showing any! IFI device to be unsuitable without IEMATCH.
What are your guys ecperiences using non sensitive IEMs like my VE EXT respectively sensitive DD Overear with 23 Ohms using IDSD SIGNATURE economy mode without IEMATCH or some Gryphon for example.
Is it usable without channel imbalance?
Thx!

With Signature, you will definitely have to use IEMatch in order to get out of the Channel Imbalance zone.

With Gryphon, you will get some hissing but if you listen at normal volume, it may not be as noticeable. The problem is, sound quality will be a small step down compared to Signature or Diablo.

With Mojo 2, I don't have any issues with noise but there are some users who complain about hiss. Most of them returned their unit and got a replacement which fixed their issue so maybe some QC Issues? It's also source picky and sounds a bit "off" from some USB sources, it sounds the best from Optical Input.

 

[Johnfg465vd]

Topping G5
Shanling H7
Fiio Q7

...

G5 does not sound warm, it's more on the analytical side so might not be what the person wants.

 

[Tomm11]

G5 does not sound warm, it's more on the analytical side so might not be what the person wants.

You are right, the G5 is not "warm". From everything I've read, the Fiio is not "warm" either. I don't know about the Shanling.
I didn't read further up the page to see that the member was looking for a warmer sound signature. Just listing some options. My mistake.

 

[Johnfg465vd]

You are right, the G5 is not "warm". From everything I've read, the Fiio is not "warm" either. I don't know about the Shanling.
I didn't read further up the page to see that the member was looking for a warmer sound signature. Just listing some options. My mistake.

No, you are right that there is no mention about the member looking for warm sounding gear. I'm just assuming that he is looking for this type of signature and not dry/analytical type of sound based on his DAC/Amp choices. I could be wrong, just thought I'd make it clear that G5 has a different sound characteristic compared to iFi.

 

[jjazzy]

In short, it's all about the gain range to use with as many IEMs/headphones as possible. I wouldn't use iEMatch on top of turbo drive and it's a bit difficult for me to imagine a scenario where this would be useful. I see an option to use i.e. the Eco mode and iEMatch for some very sensitive IEMs that pick up a lot of background noise easily, though.

I tested one unit, with a sennheiser hd595(yes a bit older) and my iem se846 inbalance in both and had to use iematch ultra sensitivy to be able to listen beyond the imbalance? Which was actually dissapointing because not at the sennheiser that much, but on the shure it really had impact on the sound negatively.
Had to go almost at 11:30 to be clear if inbalance. Without eco and ultra iematch it was unlistenable loud to me.

It is a powerfull decice but in my opinion useless for too sensitive iem or to sensitive over ears… I like the gryphon with iem’s though(without iematch)

 

[jjazzy]

In short, it's all about the gain range to use with as many IEMs/headphones as possible. I wouldn't use iEMatch on top of turbo drive and it's a bit difficult for me to imagine a scenario where this would be useful. I see an option to use i.e. the Eco mode and iEMatch for some very sensitive IEMs that pick up a lot of background noise easily, though.

I had to use iematch on a sennheiser overear to be able to listen on (not ear hurting) levels. And that was on eco… and that was nearly, because I actually wanted it to be little less loud but that was impossible because of the sound imbalance

 

[jjazzy]

Again, to clarify things here that we always try and do so from time:

IEMatch does not affect the sound signature of any product or dynamics.

User @goodyfresh summed it up best from a user perspective in his review of the IEmatch here that's currently the 2nd review after you scroll down:

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/ifi-audio-iematch-headphone-travel-accessory.22072/reviews

It does affect, at least with some ba iem’s

 

[Sebastien Chiu]

It does affect, at least with some ba iem’s

It's mainly affecting your perception.

That's because of math with any impedance adapter and high sensitivity.

It's not the direct intention of IEMatch itself or any similar adapter.

 

[Lightspeed12]

It does affect, at least with some ba iem’s

I use iematch all the time because I prefer the volume control & no imbalance.
I don't notice any difference in sound stage or quality as long as they are compared at same volume level.