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

[Dobrescu George]

Please, can anyone tell me if the IEMatch for example with the Campfire Andromeda could decrease the overall sound quality? I mean: are there any degradations of the sound quality using the IEMatch?

Besides the volume reduction and hiss removal, it shouldn't change the sound at all for 99% of people

 

[csglinux]

Besides the volume reduction and hiss removal, it shouldn't change the sound at all for 99% of people

Hi George, I'm going to disagree with you here, if only for the fun of playing Devil's advocate, ok... I believe the iEMatch is basically this:

iFi folks, do you deny it?!?!?

Even if my circuit diagram isn't 100% correct, the iEMatch definitely changes the FR (I've measured it). And if it changes the FR, it will also change the THD vs f distribution. The question is simply whether you like that change in sound or not. I don't think there's an answer as to which is better, at least w.r.t. FR - it just depends on your preferences.

The advantages of this device are: 1) less hiss and 2) if you like the sound of your IEM+iEMatch combo, then that particular sound should experience minimal changes if you plug this combo into a random, high-z-out source.

 

[Dobrescu George]

Hi George, I'm going to disagree with you here, if only for the fun of playing Devil's advocate, ok... I believe the iEMatch is basically this:



iFi folks, do you deny it?!?!?

Even if my circuit diagram isn't 100% correct, the iEMatch definitely changes the FR (I've measured it). And if it changes the FR, it will also change the THD vs f distribution. The question is simply whether you like that change in sound or not. I don't think there's an answer as to which is better, at least w.r.t. FR - it just depends on your preferences.

The advantages of this device are: 1) less hiss and 2) if you like the sound of your IEM+iEMatch combo, then that particular sound should experience minimal changes if you plug this combo into a random, high-z-out source.

Most times I don't get to hear hiss since I listen loud, so I do not employ anti-hiss quite that often myself, but when I did, I haven't noticed much of a difference while using iEMatch, except for the reduction in hiss, I did a test with a few friends, and none could have noticed any changes, besides the hiss reduction, so it is rather transparent.

I generally prefer music louder, and most of times, it may bottleneck me, even for IEMs, this is why I do not employ it often though, but for quiet listeners, it should be really good

 

[csglinux]

Most times I don't get to hear hiss since I listen loud, so I do not employ anti-hiss quite that often myself, but when I did, I haven't noticed much of a difference while using iEMatch, except for the reduction in hiss, I did a test with a few friends, and none could have noticed any changes, besides the hiss reduction, so it is rather transparent.

It will depend on the headphones you attach to it. You should be able to hear differences with IEMs that have both low impedance and wild impedance swings, e.g., Andromeda or SE846.

 

[Dobrescu George]

It will depend on the headphones you attach to it. You should be able to hear differences with IEMs that have both low impedance and wild impedance swings, e.g., Andromeda or SE846.

Good point, but I have the 2.5mm Balanced version, which means that I didn't try it with all the IEMs I have, and I actually do not have SE846, nor Andromeda

Simply judging from an electronic design point of view, I agree that it may induce some changes with some IEMs, at least on a theoretical level, it would change the way they sound with a certain source, because some IEMs do sound different when plugged in a high impedance output, but most people will cal the new sound fixed

 

[WHO23]

Hi, I just purchased the Apogee Groove USB DAC Amp. Would getting the iFi IEMatch with multiple BA IEMs work since the Apogee Groove using Current Drive and not the usual Voltage Drive?

 

[Kirieleison]

hi guys! could you tell me, what would be more profficient: using lotoo paw gold (old version) with my rhapsodio solar, ofc there is hissing (sometimes its very noticable and overall sound is harsh), what would be better, to get ifi device or mb smng like this (https://m.ru.aliexpress.com/item/32832583027.html)?

 

[iFi audio]

Hi, I just purchased the Apogee Groove USB DAC Amp. Would getting the iFi IEMatch with multiple BA IEMs work since the Apogee Groove using Current Drive and not the usual Voltage Drive?

We see no reason why it shouldn't.

 

[a-LeXx]

Hi George, I'm going to disagree with you here, if only for the fun of playing Devil's advocate, ok... I believe the iEMatch is basically this:



iFi folks, do you deny it?!?!?

Even if my circuit diagram isn't 100% correct, the iEMatch definitely changes the FR (I've measured it). And if it changes the FR, it will also change the THD vs f distribution. The question is simply whether you like that change in sound or not. I don't think there's an answer as to which is better, at least w.r.t. FR - it just depends on your preferences.

The advantages of this device are: 1) less hiss and 2) if you like the sound of your IEM+iEMatch combo, then that particular sound should experience minimal changes if you plug this combo into a random, high-z-out source.

No, that‘s not it, the iematch is a simple voltage divider, like this:

U is a source. R1 is something around 15ohm, R2 something around 1ohm, U2 is the output to the headphone (values for an ultra setting, because it has a damping factor of x16 )

It‘s a most simple thing...

Anyway, I have a question to ask: basically, by running iematch on a ultra setting what we are doing is, blasting 16^2=256 times more energy into a 16ohm load than we would do into a regular 16ohm headphone to achieve the same volume, and most of this energy is just converted into heat on the resistors. So the question I‘ve got, is: for those who use iematch with a Dragonfly on ultra setting connected to e.g. an iphone, did you notice a significantly increased battery drain? Because iematch would convert a lot of energy into heat, so I‘m afraid it will drain the battery much quicker...

 

[csglinux]

No, that‘s not it, the iematch is a simple voltage divider, like this:



U is a source. R1 is something around 15ohm, R2 something around 1ohm, U2 is the output to the headphone (values for an ultra setting, because it has a damping factor of x16 )

It‘s a most simple thing...

Anyway, I have a question to ask: basically, by running iematch on a ultra setting what we are doing is, blasting 16^2=256 times more energy into a 16ohm load than we would do into a regular 16ohm headphone to achieve the same volume, and most of this energy is just converted into heat on the resistors. So the question I‘ve got, is: for those who use iematch with a Dragonfly on ultra setting connected to e.g. an iphone, did you notice a significantly increased battery drain? Because iematch would convert a lot of energy into heat, so I‘m afraid it will drain the battery much quicker...

Thanks for the info! Yes, this must have some extra drain on the battery.

 

[a-LeXx]

Thanks for the info! Yes, this must have some extra drain on the battery.

Sure. It's clear to me it would drain the battery more, but maybe someone could post some numbers from the actual experience... My issue is - my source is an ipod touch 6th gen, and it has already a very small battery. With streaming of Tidal MQA plus powering a Dragonfly Red, it's already draining a lot at music playback. So, the question is, if the additional drain caused by iematch would account for a big impact in playtime, or something negligible... Depends on how much the DFR is consuming when playing at the upper volume limits (with iematch set to -24dB in order to keep a low output impedance)...

 

[csglinux]

Sure. It's clear to me it would drain the battery more, but maybe someone could post some numbers from the actual experience... My issue is - my source is an ipod touch 6th gen, and it has already a very small battery. With streaming of Tidal MQA plus powering a Dragonfly Red, it's already draining a lot at music playback. So, the question is, if the additional drain caused by iematch would account for a big impact in playtime, or something negligible... Depends on how much the DFR is consuming when playing at the upper volume limits (with iematch set to -24dB in order to keep a low output impedance)...

Just curious why you'd want to use this gadget with the DFR, since that already has a low z-out (< 1 Ohm)?

Even if you were to use the iEMatch with higher output-impedance sources, it's not clear that would be a benefit. It will change the frequency response - but maybe not in a way that you'd prefer. Are you simply trying to reduce hiss?

 

[a-LeXx]

Because DFR hisses with an SE846, as simple as this, and iematch will completely eliminate the hiss... Also, volume control is very coarse, and DFR would drive an SE846 to unbearable volumes at 10% of the volume setting... Actually DFR has a measured output impedance of 1.2 Ohm, so that there shouldn‘t be any changes in sound with iematch at ultra setting...

From a math point of view, iematch on ultra should be a nice fit for a SE846. SE846 has a sensitivity of 114dB with an impedance of 9 Ohm. With a -24dB attenuator, it will go down to 90dB, which from the loudness perspective would be the same as a 36 Ohm headphone with a 96 dB sensitivity would produce. So, a pretty average sensitivity, DFR should be perfectly capable to drive this...

 

[csglinux]

Because DFR hisses with an SE846, as simple as this, and iematch will completely eliminate the hiss... Also, volume control is very coarse, and DFR would drive an SE846 to unbearable volumes at 10% of the volume setting...

Got it. Understood.

Actually DFR has a measured output impedance of 1.2 Ohm, so that there shouldn‘t be any changes in sound with iematch at ultra setting...

Sure, what I was referring to was use of iEMatch with devices like the HiBy R6.

 

[iFi audio]

No, that‘s not it, the iematch is a simple voltage divider, like this:



U is a source. R1 is something around 15ohm, R2 something around 1ohm, U2 is the output to the headphone (values for an ultra setting, because it has a damping factor of x16 )

It‘s a most simple thing...

Anyway, I have a question to ask: basically, by running iematch on a ultra setting what we are doing is, blasting 16^2=256 times more energy into a 16ohm load than we would do into a regular 16ohm headphone to achieve the same volume, and most of this energy is just converted into heat on the resistors. So the question I‘ve got, is: for those who use iematch with a Dragonfly on ultra setting connected to e.g. an iphone, did you notice a significantly increased battery drain? Because iematch would convert a lot of energy into heat, so I‘m afraid it will drain the battery much quicker...

Your concern is valid in a way, but...

If we were using a steady state sine wave as signal, the same level at the earpiece would consume 256 times the power.

The usual "ultra" setting IEMs would be around 130dB/1V, so for 105dB SPL (Peak) they would receive 0.063V and around 0.2mW X 2. Note that 105dB peak is VERY LOUD.

Using even very heavily compressed music, the 'crest factor' (the difference between peak and average) is over 1:10 in terms of power.

So the load on a source will be 0.02mW or less *2. This is a lot less than the common 'no signal' power consumption in headphone stages.

Now lets add iEMatch at the same peak SPL (105dB peak) in ULTRA setting. We now have 1V & 16 ohm load. This is 62mW *2 for sine waves. This would impact the battery of the hosting phone substantially.

However, the average power will only be around 6.25mW *2 which will add a negligible increase in power draw over the case without iEMatch or would still fall inside the 'no signal' power consumption.

The bottom line: music needs high peak power, but average power is low. So the battery drain will not be substantially increased.