IFi's new reference-class analog headphone amplifier, the iCAN Phantom, takes the Pro iCAN, refines and improves every element of its circuitry to further elevate its performance, incorporating technology from the Pro iESL, previously a separate component, for headphones electrostatics, and adds a new advanced user interface and network-connected control system. The result? A headphone amplifier truly worthy of its flagship status.
Exemplary build quality, sophisticated technology, unrivaled specification and remarkable versatility, expertly designed to push each type of headphone to its maximum sonic potential. From ultra-sensitive in-ear monitor IEMs to best-in-class dynamic and planar magnetic earphones and more power-hungry electrostatic designs, the iCAN Phantom offers a truly exceptional headphone experience, exquisitely tailored to the listener's requirements.
The iCAN Phantom also functions as a high-end preamplifier, to power a power amplifier and speakers (or active speakers), allowing headphone and speaker listening to be combined into a single high-performance audio system.
The iCAN Phantom's design gives the appearance of two units, but is actually a single two-level device, the entire depth of which is fully utilized by its multi-layer circuit design. Its casing is solidly constructed of aluminum, with the bottom layer sporting cable connections on the front and back, and the top layer offering touch controls and a colorful OLED display.
The top of the iCAN Phantom incorporates a recessed smoked glass panel that allows you to view the amplifier circuitry and its bright audio tubes. Circular aluminum vents ensure that the inner circuit does not overheat.
When not in use, the connectors on the front or back can be hidden with a clean aluminum panel that attaches magnetically. This panel also contains the data cards for setting the electrostatic bias voltage. The iCAN Phantom also comes with an attractive, easy-to-use, high-quality aluminum remote control.
The iCAN Phantom has two input stages, one tube-based and the other solid-state, allowing the user to switch between the two in real time. In fact, it's like having three amplifiers in one, each with a sonic presentation. different.
Solid state offers rhythm and immediacy. Valve mode adds fluidity and a free-breathing dynamic quality. Tube+ accentuates the sonic influence of the tubes, providing a fascinating romantic warmth that can adapt, for example, to acoustic and vocal musical styles.
The GE5670 valves have an expected life of around 10,000 hours of use. When it's finally time to replace them, the iCAN Phantom's smoked glass panel easily removes to provide access, meaning the job can be completed in minutes. The amplifier is also compatible with 6922 tubes.
Most headphones create sound by using dynamic (or voice coil) drivers to move air. A smaller number use planamagnetic diaphragms, which are different in shape and operation, but also use magnetic fields to generate motion. At the high end of the headphone scene, there is another rare but fabulous type of sound transducer: electrostatic headphones.
Electrostatic conductors need a separate energizer. The iCAN Phantom incorporates our original independent iESL energizer technology with regular amplifier technology to make a single amplifier that can drive any type of headphone with aplomb.
And all users benefit, as the quality components and intelligent circuit design required to deliver such a high level of performance with electrostatic headphones elevate the amplifier's performance with other types of headphones as well.
Electrostatic headphones have varying requirements when it comes to bias voltage. The iCAN Phantom has two outputs for electrostatics: one set at the "normal" bias voltage of 230V, the other offering a variable bias voltage between 500V and 640V, selected by the user. If the wrong voltage is selected, the headphones may be damaged.
To make this much less likely, the iCAN Phantom has a series of data cards that specify different bias voltages (these are supplied with the amplifier). Simply select the card that matches the headset's specifications and insert it into the card slot - there are cards for 500V, 540V, 580V, 600V, 620V and 640V, each with a handy guide on the back. back that shows which brand of headphones is compatible with that voltage.
The iCAN Phantom is the first product to feature iFi Nexus, a module that combines with an app to provide a comprehensive and scalable network-connected control system.
The features Nexus offers will grow over time. At launch, the Nexus app allows your Android or iOS device to act as a "super remote" for the iCAN Phantom, providing access to additional functions that cannot be accessed through the amplifier board or control. standard remote.
The application can display diagnostic information and allow the user to monitor the operational condition of the iCAN Phantom in real time, for example, voltages, the condition and projected life of vacuum valves, etc. It can also be used to apply over-the-air updates to the iCAN Phantom firmware, downloading and installing update files over your home Wi-Fi network.
As the number of Nexus-compatible iFi devices grows and the app's functionality expands, a network-connected iFi "ecosystem" will develop: one app for all your requirements, like a concierge service for iFi customers . It will allow additional software-driven functionality to be delivered and shared between existing iFi devices, as well as providing a direct technical support service and potentially even an in-app online store.
The iCAN Phantom's capacitive battery power supply, originally developed for the Pro iESL, is intrinsic to its high level of performance. Instead of relying on a mains-powered switched-mode boost circuit, a large bank of film capacitors rated at 1000 Vdc is charged and occasionally recharged with AC mains power. This "virtual battery pack" provides pure DC direct current power, completely free of AC alternating current and switching noise - the perfect high voltage supply for electrostatic headphones.
Balanced circuit design has long been considered the right path to audio excellence in high-end amplifier design, but the term "balanced" is used in different ways and does not always mean the same thing. The iCAN Phantom takes balanced circuit design to the extreme: fully differential from input to output, minimizing noise and crosstalk in the signal path for maximum sound purity.
Essentially, "fully differential" circuit design, or True Differential Balanced as we call it, means that each channel (left and right) is completely separate in the circuit design, and each of these channels has two separate signals of the same level but opposite in their polarity (positive and negative). This requires four separate amplification circuits, two for the left channel and two for the right channel, much more expensive and complex to implement than single-ended circuit designs, but the sonic dividends are worth it.
The iCAN Phantom's True Differential Balanced circuit is coupled to a volume control with six decks: two decks for each channel (positive and negative) and the final two decks are used to monitor the operation of the volume control. The motorized volume control potentiometer is custom made by ALPS in Japan and is of exceptional quality.
The iCAN Phantom has several unique features that set it apart from other headphone amplifiers. One such facility is the incorporation of two input stages, one valve-based and the other solid-state, allowing the user to switch between the two in real time. These input stages are completely separate, meaning they can be kept short and direct for optimal purity rather than complicating the signal path (for example, by switching tubes in and out of a single circuit).
The all-discrete Class A solid-state input stage uses J-FETs, while the all-tube Class A circuit features a pair of hand-selected and computer-matched General Electric 5670 tubes, a premium variant of the valve 6922. This stage has two user-selectable modes: Tube and Tube+. The latter minimizes overall loop gain and therefore negative feedback, providing a different trade-off between tube natural harmonics and transient performance.
The iCAN Phantom includes two independent Space analog matrices, one for headphones and one for speakers, with automatic switching between the two.
XSpace for Headphones is designed to compensate for the "head tracking" effect that can occur when using headphones to listen to music that has been mixed with a pair of speakers, effectively widening the soundstage of the headphones to provide a more spacious and comfortable experience. similar to that of a speaker. XSpace for Speakers increases the width of the apparent soundstage beyond the width dictated by speaker placement.
Both forms of XSpace feature multiple levels that can be selected according to preference or disconnected from the signal path entirely.
XBass is a proprietary analog circuit and can be activated to enhance low frequencies, its sophistication allows it to do so while maintaining bass definition and without muddying the midrange. This is useful, for example, with some open-back headphones that sound lightly bassy; "corrects" the bass so that the listener hears the low frequencies that the artist intended. The iCAN Phantom offers three XBass steps: 10Hz, 20Hz and 40Hz, or it can be disconnected from the signal path entirely.
Transformer quality is critical to sound quality, which is why the iCAN Phantom features a custom-made PPCT (Permalloy Pinstripe Core Transformer). These incorporate a GOSS/Mu-Metal hybrid core and complicated multi-section winding with both vertical and horizontal cuts, using an extremely thin conductor that is hand-wound with great precision. This transformer is capable of exceptionally wide bandwidth, ultra-low distortion and perfect linearity.
Three gain settings (0 dB, 9 dB, and 18 dB) allow the amplifier to precisely match connected headphones. Unity gain (0 dB) is useful for ensuring low noise with over-ear headphones and the most sensitive IEM in-ear headphones, while higher gain settings make the most of harsher headphone loads, which Provides excellent dynamic headroom.
This proprietary iFi circuit attenuates the output to better suit high-sensitivity IEMs (in-ear monitors), eliminating potential background noise and increasing the usable volume range. This can optionally be applied to the 3.5mm and balanced 4.4mm outputs.
The iCAN Phantom is an extraordinarily powerful headphone amplifier, capable of delivering over 15,000 mW from its balanced outputs and over 5,760 mW from its single-ended outputs into a 16 ohm load. In terms of voltage, it can supply more than 27V to a 600 ohm load; when it comes to electrostatic headphones it offers up to 640V.
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