Thanks to Abbington Music Research and Pez for facilitating this tour.
Background:
The iFi iTube 2 arrived March 31st undamaged. I allowed 1 hour of physical warm up and another 12+ hours once turned on before taking notes. In my simple system, it can only go downstream of my preamp. I also invited an audiophile friend (with a lower budget and strong DIY tendencies) to stop by to get his opinions.
Have been into hifi for 40+ years and consider myself a “speaker guy”.
My main speakers are Brines Acoustics M18-F200 (transmission line with Fostex F200A extended range driver). These single driver speakers are rated 90 dB/w/m, 8 ohm, 25-20,000 Hz, 109 dB peaks. I drive them with Channel Island Audio D-100 (original) mono-blocks via Scott Endler 7 ft long 12-gauge foil/air cables. The D-100’s are fed from Endler bonded pair RCA interconnects (Scott seems to be out of business). The F200A is a remarkable driver (massive AlNiCo magnet with a warm/full bodied sound). I also had Bud Purvine EnABL the drivers (Bud invented the concept). And thanks to Duke LeJeune I parallel them with Dayton Audio DC-28F-8 soft dome tweeters with a cap in series in a Late Ceiling Splash configuration (on the floor behind the M18-F200’s pointing straight up) to improve treble dispersion and enlarge the soundstage.
My other speakers are Dynaudio BM5 Mk III (active 2-way monitors) normally connected via MonoPrice 15 ft XLR cables, but I used RCA/XLR variants of the same cable for this audition. They are rated 42-24,000 Hz, 118 dB peaks. I use them on cheap adjustable height stands. Note that I had them set as follows: -1 dB treble, flat midrange/bass, 0 dB gain, and with no bass cutoff (intended for subwoofer use). The M18-F200’s go deeper and have a wider soundstage, are warmer and slightly more musical, but the BM5 Mk III’s offer more a cleaner, more detailed sound.
Listening was done in my well acoustically insulated 8 ft x 13 ft x 21 ft man-cave (walls/ceiling are drywall, floor is commercial carpet/pad over concrete slab on grade) from a nearfield setup similar to what Cardas prescribes. The Dynaudio’s face directly at me, about 5 feet from front wall, about 3 feet from side walls, and 6 feet from listener. The M18-F200’s are about 6 feet from front wall, 10 feet apart, and 7 feet from listener with severe toe-in (crossing 1.5 feet in front of listener).
Six GIK 244 panels sit on the floor oriented vertically, located at front and side wall first reflection points and straddling the front corners. (Note that in this “ideal” room with near-field setup the GIK panels provide minimal impact but work wonders elsewhere.) Three 6 ft tall, 2.5 ft wide randomly filled bookcases line the side walls. My laptop sits on my lap or ottoman while the rest of the electronics rest on a 43” x 12” x ¾” piece of shelving spiked through carpet to the concrete slab below 4ft from the front wall (afforded much better soundstaging than the very small rack it replaced). (Have not found footers or fancy racks to be a sonic advantage.) The back of the room has office furnishings (see images).
The audio system is fed from three isolated 20 amp/12 gauge electrical circuits (grounded together but separate from the rest of the house) via cryogenically treated 20-amp hospital grade duplex receptacles. The house has newer appliances and its own transformer, no power conditioners used.
The rest of my primary system consists of:
• Early 2014 MacBook Air with $74 Straightwire 10ft USB cable (see my comparison of USB cables in the Critic’s Circle)
• DSPeaker Anti-Mode 2.0 Dual Core DAC/preamp/DSP with Channel Island Audio power supply (no headphones), total retail cost: $1525 (see my review in Critic’s Circle)
• iTube 2 connected to DSPeaker via the short interconnects included with the iTube 2.
Music used (all ripped from CD’s) included:
• Acoustic Alchemy – Roseland, Swamp Top
• Bach Brandenburg Concertos – Violin Concerto #1 in A Minor, BWV 1041 – 3. Allegro Assai
• Buena Vista Social Club – Buena Vista Social Club, Chan Chan
• Chieftains – Tears of Stone, The Lowlands of Holland
• Dave Brubeck – Time Out, Everybody’s Jumpin
• Fourplay – Elixir, Play Lady Play
• James Taylor – Hourglass, Gaia
• John Coltrane – A Love Supreme, Resolution
• Keiko Matsui – Under Northern Lights, Under Northern Lights
• Morphine – Cure for Pain, Buena
• Norah Jones – Come Away With Me, Don’t Know Why
• Patricia Barber – Modern Cool, You & The Night & The Music
• Pink Floyd – The Dark Side of the Moon, Time
• Taliesin Orchestra – Forbidden Forest, Tamarack Pines
• Van Cliburn – Rachmaninov: Prelude in C Sharp Minor, Op 3/2, The Bells of Moscow
Impressions:
This was a tough, but short review. Being so small makes it an ergonomic disaster. But for the price and feature set it’s hard to be terribly critical of the hyper compact size.
The buffer 0 dB/9 dB modes made no discernible difference (evidently my system simply doesn’t need impedance matching improvement).
The preamp 0 dB/9 dB modes did seem to add dynamics and reveal a bit of extra detail. But with most early digital pop recordings upper midrange became sharper, thinner, even brittle.
3D+ added noticeable but not earth shattering soundstage width in my near-field setup (per my friend more than me), so did not bother to try the “+” setting.
We heard almost no difference with the iTube 2 SET/classic/push-pull settings. My friend has younger ears and heard more difference, preferring the push-pull setting. The tube palpability I seek for my current system was simply not there in any significant manner.
Clearly heard the Xbass, but did not like it. With it off, it seemed to reduce deep bass. Not needed on the M18-F200’s. On the BM5 Mk III’s the +6 dB setting provided a low rumble and mudded bass compared to keeping it turned off. At 90 dB it caused warbling, so no point in trying the +12 dB setting. IMO adding bass boost is typically a bad idea (can overload power amp and you just can’t push a proper designed speaker beyond its inherent limits).
Conclusions:
We decided at least for my system it’s not worth having it. Overall the sonic impact range from rather subtle enhancement to undesirable effects.
On day 2 of the audition I wandered into the room and found flooding from an outside spigot, with half the carpet/pad soaked. So, my review got cut short as I had to clear the room and start the restoration efforts.
