[Voxata]

@Sebastien Chiu I'm sorry, but you really shouldn't be trying to argue this. The iematch is a resistor network, and there is no such thing as a perfectly transparent resistor network.

Clearly we should be listening with frequency and THD+N graphs instead of our ears.

I encourage others to try the Gryphon. I recommend it even. Overall I'm fairly impressed. I just have an incredibly sensitive IEM in my stable that works better from 3.5 vs 4.4+IEmatch. Noticably so, no consideration of audio science will change that opinion. I look forward to more opinions of this great little device. I'm sure there will be others who like the IEmatch with their unique setups.

 

[gLer]

I'll just add here that anyone testing portable sources with Campfire Audio IEMs needs to add a disclaimer, and @Voxata has clearly done so. I don't consider an amp too powerful or too hissy if the IEM in question is from CA. If it hisses with less sensitive IEMs, that's a problem.

Gryphon outputs 1000mW into 32ohms balanced. I think that's the perfect level for both headphones/IEMs and gives decent headroom, which is also important. More than this becomes too powerful, or strictly for harder to drive headphones.

 

[Voxata]

I'll just add here that anyone testing portable sources with Campfire Audio IEMs needs to add a disclaimer, and @Voxata has clearly done so. I don't consider an amp too powerful or too hissy if the IEM in question is from CA. If it hisses with less sensitive IEMs, that's a problem.

Gryphon outputs 1000mW into 32ohms balanced. I think that's the perfect level for both headphones/IEMs and gives decent headroom, which is also important. More than this becomes too powerful, or strictly for harder to drive headphones.

Absolutely agree here. I will add that I'd be curious to see some third party measurements on the Gryphon's 4.4 noise floor down the road. It's more audible than the iDSD BL in Eco. Still, dead silent with everything except for the CA IEM. *Edit* other IEMs show the noise floor, dug up some samples.

 

[Johnfg465vd]

I'll just add here that anyone testing portable sources with Campfire Audio IEMs needs to add a disclaimer, and @Voxata has clearly done so. I don't consider an amp too powerful or too hissy if the IEM in question is from CA. If it hisses with less sensitive IEMs, that's a problem.

Gryphon outputs 1000mW into 32ohms balanced. I think that's the perfect level for both headphones/IEMs and gives decent headroom, which is also important. More than this becomes too powerful, or strictly for harder to drive headphones.

I second what @gLer has to say, 1000mW is a good amount of power to have for a portable of this size and cost.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but is it not better to use 3.5 out for IEM's, the Gryphon does not have true Balanced right? You'd need Dual DAC's for that? So not much benefit using Balanced out for IEM's in Gryphon or most iFi products.

I have a swappable cable (similar to Fiio LC-RC) and difference between 3.5 & 4.4 on my Signature is minimal, mostly some improvement is seperation or imaging with 4.4 out.

 

[gLer]

I second what @gLer has to say, 1000mW is a good amount of power to have for a portable of this size and cost.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but is it not better to use 3.5 out for IEM's, the Gryphon does not have true Balanced right? You'd need Dual DAC's for that? So not much benefit using Balanced out for IEM's in Gryphon or most iFi products.

I have a swappable cable (similar to Fiio LC-RC) and difference between 3.5 & 4.4 on my Signature is minimal, mostly some improvement is seperation or imaging with 4.4 out.

I believe you can have true balanced with a single DAC chip, though I stand to be corrected. What you described as the differences - improvements in separation and imaging - is the main benefit of balanced for me, aside from the obvious power boost.

 

[Voxata]

I second what @gLer has to say, 1000mW is a good amount of power to have for a portable of this size and cost.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but is it not better to use 3.5 out for IEM's, the Gryphon does not have true Balanced right? You'd need Dual DAC's for that? So not much benefit using Balanced out for IEM's in Gryphon or most iFi products.

I have a swappable cable (similar to Fiio LC-RC) and difference between 3.5 & 4.4 on my Signature is minimal, mostly some improvement is seperation or imaging with 4.4 out.

Gryphon is fully balanced I believe, the signature has that connector for convenience. Power output is the same on sig on both, Gryphon is significantly different. It was stated by Ifi best Sonic performance is from BAL on the Gryphon. I'd have to agree from my full size headphone testing.

 

[Johnfg465vd]

Gryphon is fully balanced I believe, the signature has that connector for convenience. Power output is the same on sig on both, Gryphon is significantly different. It was stated by Ifi best Sonic performance is from BAL on the Gryphon. I'd have to agree from my full size headphone testing.

Got it. So it's a similar story to my EarMen Sparrow & BTR5, where Balanced Out sounds a lot better than Single-Ended Out.

 

[Voxata]

Got it. So it's a similar story to my EarMen Sparrow & BTR5, where Balanced Out sounds a lot better than Single-Ended Out.

The best sounding amp I have ever heard and own is SE so it's not an end all rule of thumb. Depends on how it's built. Like I said, I still enjoyed the Solaris OG from 3.5 on the Gryphon.

 

[gLer]

@iFi audio and @Sebastien Chiu - tuning-wise, is Go Blu closer to Gryphon/Diablo or iDSD?

 

[emilsoft]

Feel like I have to chime in. I've always heard a slight difference in SQ with IEMatch. This is both with the feature in the micro idsd BL and with the iFi's separate dongle (with all kinds of headphone, not just sensitive ones). You can push graphs at me all day, I hear what I hear. Glad others are confirming the same.

Am I the only one wondering why there's so much power in a portable? Why should we have to scale it down, which adds complication? I just feel like manufacturers have lost their way, or I am the wrong one? Just seems crazy to me to take hard-to-drive headphones on the go. Most headphones aren't hard to drive. I can understand it for a product like the micro idsd, which is transportable. But isn't the Gryphon a pocketable DAC/amp?

I agree with this, but typically IFI has usually been about power stats on small devices as their selling point.. I'd rather see less power but more headroom and current drive, more quality.
My ifi micro ican se can go nuclear when on max power settings, the problem is that it also sounds strained, etched and glare galore when pushed to it's high power settings - i will never run any headphones like this, and ones that actually need this much power are very expensive headphones so one would likely use them with higher tier headamps - I don't see use case for this much power on this kind of device.

I have a Woo WA8 amplifier which is around 400mw i think, but it class A and it absolutely grips and drives headphones like HD650/800 with authority, it's not even the tube tonality, it's able to start and stop the hp drivers without any doubt it's a different kind of experience. Interestingly it's 3.5mm output is dead silent even with Andromeda, so i think it's time to ditch the iematch, decrease the power a little and improve the amp topology. amplifiers have made some incredible progress over last few years, more so than dacs

 

[emilsoft]

I'll just add here that anyone testing portable sources with Campfire Audio IEMs needs to add a disclaimer, and @Voxata has clearly done so. I don't consider an amp too powerful or too hissy if the IEM in question is from CA. If it hisses with less sensitive IEMs, that's a problem.

Gryphon outputs 1000mW into 32ohms balanced. I think that's the perfect level for both headphones/IEMs and gives decent headroom, which is also important. More than this becomes too powerful, or strictly for harder to drive headphones.

I've found out how loud an amp can go does not necessarily equal headroom - ifi micro ican se being a prime example. I can't really explain it but it's something to do with ramping up and down to handle different current swings in order to be more power efficient, where class a and some others have reserves ready to go in an instant when the music demands it so they don't really go up and down - i want to see this in portable devices, at least for lower volume listening

 

[Tachikoma]

Not possible with opamp-based designs, I suspect. Go discrete however, and battery life will be nonexistent.

 

[531412]

iDSD Diablo is juts perfect in that regard - no IEMatch, no xBass, no 3D feature - just a pure sound as it is!
Hope to see the similar approach in some future portable products too.

And the portal Diablo is a device which does not work with IEM - great

Would it work with IEM, it would be such a great device, because the sound was insane with my HE1000V2. But I was not really able to listen with my EE Valkyrie (just very loud, which you usually do not want all the time). And the Valkyrie is not a sensitive IEM.

 

[qsk78]

And the portal Diablo is a device which does not work with IEM - great

Works perfectly with Etymotic Evo https://www.head-fi.org/threads/ety...ns-and-discussion-thread.954294/post-16651432
Eco mode with 4.4 mm output (10-11 h max)
Normal mode with SE 6.3 mm output (10-11 h max)

 

[531412]

Works perfectly with Etymotic Evo https://www.head-fi.org/threads/ety...ns-and-discussion-thread.954294/post-16651432
Eco mode with 4.4 mm output
Normal mode with SE 6.3 mm output

I know your experience, because time to time I take part of the Diablo thread as well. But I can not share your experience with non of my IEM. Non of my IEM works with the Diablo as they should (normal listen level).

I can just say it again, I liked the Diablo a lot with my HE1000v2. I am not against the device itself. But a portable device which does not work work with 95% of the IEM out there is not ideal.
But nevermind. This is not the Diablo thread.

Back to topic:
I think I will purchase a Gryphon as well. I want a device which replaces just everything and I think 1W will be even enough for my HE1000V2 since even the Qudelix drives the headphone more than loud enough, but lacks bass and controlled texture due to missing power.
Do we have anyone here with (almost) Totl full size headphones and can share his/her experience?