What the $^&# heck is it?.........iFi iEMatch!

[Rowethren]

You seem to be reading my mind at the moment, first some amazing NOS 6922 tubes and now this! Just what I wanted so I can run my K10s off my desktop setup . When will these be avaliable from UK dealers?

 

[iFi audio]

You seem to be reading my mind at the moment, first some amazing NOS 6922 tubes and now this! Just what I wanted so I can run my K10s off my desktop setup

. When will these be avaliable from UK dealers?

 
Hi,
 
The global launch is towards early Sept so in the next week or so.
 
No need to pay, just reserve with one of the dealers on the list.

 

[iFi audio]

The next 3 winners are:
 

joeq70

mp101

jackpot77

 
Save us answering PMs, the global launch of the IEMatch is around 15 Sept. By all means feel free to reserve with your dealer. They will drop you a line when they have it in-store.
 
We prefer to wait to everyone has them before we do the global launch.
 
Cheers.

 

[Rowethren]

The next 3 winners are:

joeq70

mp101

jackpot77

[tr] [/tr]

Save us answering PMs, the global launch of the IEMatch is around 15 Sept. By all means feel free to reserve with your dealer. They will drop you a line when they have it in-store.

We prefer to wait to everyone has them before we do the global launch.

Cheers.

Thanks for the update, I have sent the dealer a message asking to reserve one.

 

[Bansaku]

  The next 3 winners are:
 

joeq70

mp101

jackpot77

 
 

 
Congrats guys! 

 

 

[glassmonkey]

  The next 3 winners are:
 

joeq70

mp101

jackpot77

 
Save us answering PMs, the global launch of the IEMatch is around 15 Sept. By all means feel free to reserve with your dealer. They will drop you a line when they have it in-store.
 
We prefer to wait to everyone has them before we do the global launch.
 
Cheers.

Congrats @joeq70, I've never seen anybody win something twice in the same give-away. Must have been some excellent answers. 

 

[iFi audio]

  Congrats @joeq70, I've never seen anybody win something twice in the same give-away. Must have been some excellent answers. 

 
Good spot.
 
Should be 
 
Aerosphere
not Joeq70!

 

[Middy]

I was hoping to win the best joke....
Any more winners left?

 

[Jackpot77]

Hi guys

Very happy to be one of the lucky winners. One quick question - is there anything more to the balanced/SE switch mentioned in your explanation, or is it simply to allow the adapter to be used in both to types of socket?

Just checking there isn't any magic tech in there that will do anything unexpected and turn a pair of SE headphones into a balanced setup by plugging them through the adaptor (hey, I know the physics is unlikely, but I figured I might as well ask!).

 

[iFi audio]

Hi guys

Very happy to be one of the lucky winners. One quick question - is there anything more to the balanced/SE switch mentioned in your explanation, or is it simply to allow the adapter to be used in both to types of socket?

Just checking there isn't any magic tech in there that will do anything unexpected and turn a pair of SE headphones into a balanced setup by plugging them through the adaptor (hey, I know the physics is unlikely, but I figured I might as well ask!).

 
Hi,
 
We're good but not that good!
 
Having said that, yes there will be more info on how/why we decided to do what we do with the S-Balanced: switchable between SE and Balanced.

 

[iFi audio]

I was hoping to win the best joke....
Any more winners left?

 
Yes.
 
We haven't heard from all the winners - they need to hurry up or someone else gets the iEMatch!

 

[YAGIZ]

Oh,I am quite happy right now! Thank you iFi!

 

[iFi audio]

A question of Balance (Part 2)

Does this matter? Who cares about balanced headphone connections?

 
Well, we all SHOULD care.
 
A key problem with common Headphones and their 3-wire connection is that left and right ground are joined at some point BEFORE the connector and then run together. 
 
 

 
The larger 6.3mm Jack Connector already has high enough contact resistances to cause extra crosstalk and inter-channel distortion, especially if the headphone cable is a 3-Wire type. The situation for 3.5mm Jacks is much worse.
 
With a 6.3mm Jack having 0.02 to 0.04 Ohm typical contact resistance a 50 ohm Headphone will experience crosstalk at around -68dB to -62dB which is generally unproblematic, while with a 300 Ohm Headphone we are looking at -84dB to -78dB which exceeds the channel separation of many electronics.
 
Yet with a high sensitivity IEM type Headphone having a 12 Ohm Impedance and the around 0.1 Ohm typical contact resistance for a 3.5mm Jack ground connection we only get -41dB crosstalk, something that is inadequate.
 
Using a balanced connection on mobile equipment will eliminate this issue entirely.
 
Another benefit of using a balanced connections is that we can create a ‘bridged’ amplifier that will give us four times the output power (two times the output voltage) for the same power supply, something that again becomes especially relevant for portable, battery-powered equipment.
 
 
Next time, the hour of the Bewilderbeast.

 

[audio123]

   
Yes.
 
We haven't heard from all the winners - they need to hurry up or someone else gets the iEMatch!

count me in

 

[bflat]

 

A question of Balance (Part 2)

Does this matter? Who cares about balanced headphone connections?

 
Well, we all SHOULD care.
 
A key problem with common Headphones and their 3-wire connection is that left and right ground are joined at some point BEFORE the connector and then run together. 
 
 

 
The larger 6.3mm Jack Connector already has high enough contact resistances to cause extra crosstalk and inter-channel distortion, especially if the headphone cable is a 3-Wire type. The situation for 3.5mm Jacks is much worse.
 
With a 6.3mm Jack having 0.02 to 0.04 Ohm typical contact resistance a 50 ohm Headphone will experience crosstalk at around -68dB to -62dB which is generally unproblematic, while with a 300 Ohm Headphone we are looking at -84dB to -78dB which exceeds the channel separation of many electronics.
 
Yet with a high sensitivity IEM type Headphone having a 12 Ohm Impedance and the around 0.1 Ohm typical contact resistance for a 3.5mm Jack ground connection we only get -41dB crosstalk, something that is inadequate.
 
Using a balanced connection on mobile equipment will eliminate this issue entirely.
 
Another benefit of using a balanced connections is that we can create a ‘bridged’ amplifier that will give us four times the output power (two times the output voltage) for the same power supply, something that again becomes especially relevant for portable, battery-powered equipment.
 
 
Next time, the hour of the Bewilderbeast.

If this means you are coming out with a new mobile ready balanced amp/DAC, I would like to point out that I did mention that in my entry so I would not be upset if you gave me one of the new balanced amp/DACs.