[iFi audio]

This is a great point. Would you say we should just plug in the IE match and leave it there permanently regardless of headphones we use?

No, iEMatch has a specific job, that is to make headphones and IEMs of high sensitivity (and thus tend to show excessive background noise and leave little volume control range between "silent" and "way too loud") compatible with "normal" headphone amplifiers.

If headphones/IEMs falls into the high / ultra (high) sensitivity category, iEMatch should be tried and will most likely be beneficial, reducing noise, increasing available dynamic range and offering a much increased volume control range.

If the headphone (or IEM) falls into the "normal sensitivity" or "low sensitivity" group iEMatch will offer no benefit, on the contrary, it may result in insufficient loudness available before the amplifier overloads.

Thus the use of iEMatch is a function of the headphones/IEMs used and to a lesser degree that of amplifier used.

It is not specifically designed for iFi equipment either, it will work with most/many headphone amplifiers, DAP's and DAC/amp combos on the market.

Even if we're already using an iTube2 into an iCan SE?

The iTube 2 cannot do anything for sensitivity / gain / output level mismatches between headphones/IEMs and headphone amplifiers. So using it or not has no bearing on employing iEMatch or not, what matters is the specific headphones/IEMs used.

 

[Monsterzero]

So im interested in more info on this product. I have read the thread and have a basic understanding of what it actually does. I guess the answer to my questions are a bit on the subjective side but....

I run my system from laptop into a Mojo and then out to various vintage receivers,currently a 1971 Sansui 5000a,which is the warmest SS receiver Ive ever heard.The Sansui acts as my headphone amp as well as driving my near field speakers,which lean heavily on the warm side.

So,with a warm DAC,amp and speakers already in place,will this provide me with a tube like experience,or will it just make an already warm sounding SS system warmer and not good?

That being said what is the return policy on this product in case its really not a good match for my system?

Tube rolling voids the warranty?

 

[Witcher]

No, iEMatch has a specific job, that is to make headphones and IEMs of high sensitivity (and thus tend to show excessive background noise and leave little volume control range between "silent" and "way too loud") compatible with "normal" headphone amplifiers.

If headphones/IEMs falls into the high / ultra (high) sensitivity category, iEMatch should be tried and will most likely be beneficial, reducing noise, increasing available dynamic range and offering a much increased volume control range.

If the headphone (or IEM) falls into the "normal sensitivity" or "low sensitivity" group iEMatch will offer no benefit, on the contrary, it may result in insufficient loudness available before the amplifier overloads.

Thus the use of iEMatch is a function of the headphones/IEMs used and to a lesser degree that of amplifier used.

It is not specifically designed for iFi equipment either, it will work with most/many headphone amplifiers, DAP's and DAC/amp combos on the market.




The iTube 2 cannot do anything for sensitivity / gain / output level mismatches between headphones/IEMs and headphone amplifiers. So using it or not has no bearing on employing iEMatch or not, what matters is the specific headphones/IEMs used.

Thanks for clarifying!

 

[iFi audio]

So,with a warm DAC,amp and speakers already in place,will this provide me with a tube like experience,or will it just make an already warm sounding SS system warmer and not good?

There's a chance that this will be the case, but one never knows for sure before trying the product. Tubes aren't about warmth only, it's so much more with them than that.

That being said what is the return policy on this product in case its really not a good match for my system?

Generous. As above, we're into convincing people to try our goods for themselves and making a choice past that and not earlier. Please ask your local iFi reseller/distributor about returns, but there shouldn't be any issue at all in thius regard.

Tube rolling voids the warranty?

Yes. And, in our humble opinion, to get better tube that GE5670 inside iTube2 you'd need to spend a lot of money.

 

[iFi audio]

Thanks for clarifying!

You're welcome.

 

[Bansaku]

Sublime!

 

[iFi audio]

Sublime!

Dandy!

 

[Witcher]

Hey Guys, I'm finding that triple amping my music (PC > Mojo > iTube 2 in 6dB Preamp > iCan SE) seems to produce some noticeable distortion. Not in the "warm amplifier" way, but more like noise distortion. This is only with certain tracks which have been mastered very loud like this:



Could it be the fact that I'm using the iTube 2 in preamp? It's almost akin to having slight tube distortion in a guitar amplifier, where a Class A tube amp is played very loud and the notes start to break up (like on my Fender Princeton Reverb played above vol lvl 6.).

Could the triple amping be the issue? Note that it only occurs with music from this band. I don't get this with other bands or music genres. I'm going to switch the iTube 2 back to buffer mode and see if this goes away. I don't get this distortion when I use just the mojo.

EDIT: solved. It was triple amping that was giving me this distortion. moving back into buffer mode fixed everything.

 

[iFi audio]

Hey Guys, I'm finding that triple amping my music (PC > Mojo > iTube 2 in 6dB Preamp > iCan SE) seems to produce some noticeable distortion. Not in the "warm amplifier" way, but more like noise distortion. This is only with certain tracks which have been mastered very loud like this:



Could it be the fact that I'm using the iTube 2 in preamp? It's almost akin to having slight tube distortion in a guitar amplifier, where a Class A tube amp is played very loud and the notes start to break up (like on my Fender Princeton Reverb played above vol lvl 6.).

Could the triple amping be the issue? Note that it only occurs with music from this band. I don't get this with other bands or music genres. I'm going to switch the iTube 2 back to buffer mode and see if this goes away. I don't get this distortion when I use just the mojo.

EDIT: solved. It was triple amping that was giving me this distortion. moving back into buffer mode fixed everything.

We would not recommend using the iTube 2 with gain in this configuration.

The Gain is not 6dB but 9dB, so if a DAC with 3V output is used the output from the iTube 2 will be around 9V, which is close to clipping, add X-Bass and you are overloading the output of the iTube 2, ahead of the iCAN.

So switching the gain back to 0dB is the way to handle this. And it's nice that you were able to fix this! Good job!

 

[Witcher]

We would not recommend using the iTube 2 with gain in this configuration.

The Gain is not 6dB but 9dB, so if a DAC with 3V output is used the output from the iTube 2 will be around 9V, which is close to clipping, add X-Bass and you are overloading the output of the iTube 2, ahead of the iCAN.

So switching the gain back to 0dB is the way to handle this. And it's nice that you were able to fix this! Good job!

There you go! Thanks for confirming this! So in what cases should we look at using the 9dB preamp mode?

 

[iFi audio]

There you go! Thanks for confirming this! So in what cases should we look at using the 9dB preamp mode?

Our iTube2 should be used WITH GAIN in situations that require a preamplifier, hence between a source and a power amplifier, whereas the former is of lower output than needed. For example, a portable DAC/amp combo can be 3V @ 0dBFS and many smartphones are 0.5 - 1V @ 0dBFS (a 9dB gain makes such a device similarly loud than a normal line out). One thing to note, though: too much gain without turning the volume down will overload the output stage. Hopefully this helps!

 

[Witcher]

@iFi audio I added the Schiit Loki to my ifi audio chain. So my current setup is linked as so: Sony PHA3 DAC (Line out) > Schiit Loki Mini EQ > iFi Audio iTube 2 (buffer mode) > iFi Audio iCan SE. Is this optimal? or is the Loki supposed to go between the iTube 2 and the iCan SE? What do you advise?

 

[iFi audio]

@iFi audio I added the Schiit Loki to my ifi audio chain. So my current setup is linked as so: Sony PHA3 DAC (Line out) > Schiit Loki Mini EQ > iFi Audio iTube 2 (buffer mode) > iFi Audio iCan SE. Is this optimal? or is the Loki supposed to go between the iTube 2 and the iCan SE? What do you advise?

It's for the best to ask Schiit Audio about that. That's the safest way to go because they know exactly what their product does and where it fits the best.

 

[Witcher]

It's for the best to ask Schiit Audio about that. That's the safest way to go because they know exactly what their product does and where it fits the best.

Ok thanks. Have a feeling they might ask me to ask you! LOL

 

[iFi audio]

Ok thanks. Have a feeling they might ask me to ask you! LOL

As remarked before, we can't comment specifically, however, we asked the technical boffins and they can offer some general guidance.

As a buffer, our iTUBE2.0 offers a very high input impedance and low output impedance. As such, it is best used after DACs equipped with op-amp output stages, as the driving circuitry of this sort generally is not designed to handle much Class A loading. However, with a 100kOhm or even 1MOhm load as presented by the iTUBE, op-amps will remain in Class A.

Further, if the chain is to include any additional device with an input impedance lower than that of the iTUBE while having a fairly low output impedance, said additional device is best placed after the iTUBE.

If additional devices have equal or higher input impedance than the iTUBE and relatively high output impedance, they usually should be placed before this product of ours.

Finally, if the iTUBE is used in the preamplifier mode, it is recommend to be the last device in the chain, so any noise etc. created by additional devices is attenuated when the volume control is lowered.

These basic rules should make it easy to determine best placement.