[Bengkia369]

I love my Cypher Labs Trio portable tube amp but somehow it will make my sensitive IEM hiss. Iematch solved the issue removing the hiss and added bonus is the darker background without any coloration or change of sound signature, really awesome!
IEMs that I uses are Audio Technica CK100pro, FAD FA-BA-SS and Fitear TG334.
Thanks ifi for the awesome product!

 

[iFi audio]

So I seem to be one of the first people to receive one of these?
And I can't help but wonder if I got a demo unit - it came in some packaging that looked very tampered with and the space for a serial number is just blank...

Moving past that curiosity, I'm absolutely loving this thing. I don't know about "restored dynamic range" but in my eyes, it covers impedance matching, lowers the noise floor and more play on the volume pot means not being stuck in the <10% volume region with IEMs, where most of my less than stellar quality sources do an especially poor job (especially with low impedance loads).


I'm not going to pretend I have anything particularly high quality in terms of sources to compare performance with though - I have some distant memories of such things but it's been years since I've owned anything like that. I'm sure I could do better if I was willing to throw several times as much money at the problem, but short of that, I'm pretty happy with the purchase.


Oh and I'm using it with some KZ ZS5s at the moment - which seems to work fine to me (even with my on-board realtek, which is definitely not the case without the Ear Buddy), but admissibly I don't have any <0.5 ohm sources on hand to compare with.

Dear vector84

Many thanks for your feedback. We are aware of packaging issues.

Glad that you are loving it.

Best wishes

iFi audio Team

 

[iFi audio]

I love my Cypher Labs Trio portable tube amp but somehow it will make my sensitive IEM hiss. Iematch solved the issue removing the hiss and added bonus is the darker background without any coloration or change of sound signature, really awesome!
IEMs that I uses are Audio Technica CK100pro, FAD FA-BA-SS and Fitear TG334.
Thanks ifi for the awesome product!

Dear Bengkia369

We are glad to hear that you are loving it and we are pleased that we could help.

Best wishes

iFi audio Team

 

[iFi audio]

Got my ear buddy today. Haven't spent much time with it today, but it does take care of almost all of the random background hisses and pops I had on my Echobox Explorer, so that's a bonus.

Dear bjaardker

We are so pleased to hear that you are enjoying the Ear Buddy and that it is taking care of your noise's issues.

Best wishes

iFi audio Team

 

[Makiah S]

I'm curious, the Line out of any of my DAPS into my Car's Aux port is ALWAYS way to hot, could this possibly attenuate those super hot line outs and make DAPS viable in my vehicle again?

 

[dw1narso]

OK... I decided to order one from Stereo Singapore...
I have some good experience with Dunu 75ohm impedance adapter... I'll see how this going to affect the sound...

 

[iFi audio]

I'm curious, the Line out of any of my DAPS into my Car's Aux port is ALWAYS way to hot, could this possibly attenuate those super hot line outs and make DAPS viable in my vehicle again?

Dear Mshenay

Many thanks for your query.

This attenuator expects a headphone output, it is unlikely to work for line outputs.

Best wishes

iFi audio Team

 

[iFi audio]

Some exciting news that we at iFi audio will like to share with you!

The Ear Buddy is on a roll!

https://www.whathifi.com/news/ear-buddy-ifis-ps20-dongle-better-sound

 

[jellofund]

Wow. Very cool!

Added bonus #1: Less strain on the headphone cable connector.

Added bonus #2 (for some): For LG V10/V20/V30 owners, this should trigger a higher output mode on the phone's ESS DAC (which most report having better sound).

Just to add some hands on experience re. #2 in case any V10/20/30 owners are considering the Earbuddy or iEMatch (which I also have) for this purpose.

Using either the EarBuddy or iEMatch does NOT trigger the higher output mode on my V20. This is the case irrespective of whether I plug the adapter into my phone on its own or with headphones / IEMs connected. In fact things things are made worse as higher impedance headphones, such as my DT990 (250), also default to normal mode now.

With some experimentation it is possible to force high gain mode using a trick documented on the V20 thread but it involves daisy chaining the Earbuddy (or iEMatch) with a short 3.5mm to 3.5mm male to female extension lead and swapping between higher and lower impedance headphones. To my mind it's a far too convoluted solution to be practical for daily use but if anyone wants more info I can post up some instructions.

For their intended usage though I have no complaints with either adapter.

 

[bjaardker]

In fact things things are made worse as higher impedance headphones, such as my DT990 (250), also default to normal mode now.

I had this experience as well. I was trying to use the earbuddy with a high imp headset to trigger high imp mode. Then was going to swap the headphones for a pair of more sensitive IEMs. No dice. The earbuddy masks the impedance of the headphones from the V20.

 

[sphynxxx]

I received my earbuddy today. My Vibro Labs Maya is overly sensitive and I can only turn it up about 20% on my iphone7. With my 15 dollar bluetooth adapter there is very audible buzz. The earbuddy got rid of the buzz on the bluetooth adapter and can turn it up to 60%+ or so like they advertised when wired into my iPhone7. Living that double dongle life now.

So it works as advertised and has helped remedy both of my problems. Cool beans.

 

[iFi audio]

I received my earbuddy today. My Vibro Labs Maya is overly sensitive and I can only turn it up about 20% on my iphone7. With my 15 dollar bluetooth adapter there is very audible buzz. The earbuddy got rid of the buzz on the bluetooth adapter and can turn it up to 60%+ or so like they advertised when wired into my iPhone7. Living that double dongle life now.

So it works as advertised and has helped remedy both of my problems. Cool beans.

Many thanks for a nice feedback. It's cool that you've found our EarBuddy useful.

 

[Audio Addict]

Has anyone had this work well with a 64 Audio U4SE? I used it my Galaxy S5 and lost volume and it seemed dynamics as well.

 

[Zachik]

I'm curious, the Line out of any of my DAPS into my Car's Aux port is ALWAYS way to hot, could this possibly attenuate those super hot line outs and make DAPS viable in my vehicle again?

This attenuator expects a headphone output, it is unlikely to work for line outputs.

I have a similar problem:
I have a portable amp that won't accept the line out of my DAP (too hot for it to handle), so I use headphone out at 60-70% volume to the amp.
Would the Ear Buddy (or IEMatch) be able to attenuate the line out enough for my amp to handle it?
If so - which should I go for? My setup is SE, so I wonder if the 2 settings on the IEMatch worth it for me...
iFi team - why did you respond "it is unlikely to work for line outputs" ?! Isn't it pretty much the same as headphone out, but at 100% (max) volume?

 

[iFi audio]

iFi team - why did you respond "it is unlikely to work for line outputs" ?! Isn't it pretty much the same as headphone out, but at 100% (max) volume?

Line outputs traditionally are targeted at a '2V @ 10kOhm + 1nF' load impedance standard, while pro audio standards tend to be '8V @ 600 ohm' balanced, as "worst case" load.

They are usually not designed to drive impedance below 600 ohm and indeed in many cases not below a few kOhm.

Loading a line-output with the 16 ohm (e.g. iEMatch/Earbuddy) is likely to produce severe distortion and possibly very low levels as the line-output struggles to drive an load way beyond design intentions and design limits.

In line attenuators for RCA line outputs are available from a number of sources. We are unaware of any for 3.5mm.

In principle, iEMatch could be made into a 10k line-out matcher, but so far demand does not justify production.