Verdict
Ignore the looks and decoct on the performance – because the feel are tongue-tied , but the sound is as coherent as it come up .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
Taking earpiece elaboration duties away from , say , a smartphone or a laptop and incur a consecrated intersection to do it decent is n’t all that novel an idea .
What is rather more novel is the idea of spend the chummy death of four G on a headphone amplifier that ’s able to plow with any and every couple of phone you could think of – but never let it be said that iFi is n’t an intrepid party . So if you take your headphone take heed very earnestly indeed , take on …
Availability
The iFi iCAN Phantom headphone amplifier / preamplifier is on sale now , and in the United Kingdom it costs a not inconsiderable £ 3749 . In the United States it ’ll adjust you back $ 3749 , while in Australia you ’re look at AU$5999 .
At the hazard of state the bleeding obvious , this is serious money for a headphone amplifier . The iFi iCAN Phantom is going to need to be middling special to free that asking price …
Design
By the standards of headphone amplifiers , the iFi iCAN Phantom is both quite large and quite heavy . Mind you , when you look at that it ’s a subtlety of iFi ’s Pro iCAN earphone amplifier , one that incorporates a lot of the technology from the party ’s Pro iESL ( a stand - alone static headphone ‘ energiser ’ ) it ’s hardly surprising .
What ’s slightly more surprising is the way the iCAN Phantom facial expression . Heaven knows my opinion on design and artistic does n’t count for much – but we can agree the coming into court is a bit ungainly ? The iCAN Phantom wait like a collision between two separate pieces of equipment , or perhaps a single product that at some point has had a loft extension service .
It does n’t assist that the bottom section ( the basis floor ) is mat black and feature quite pronounced fins to assist with heat profligacy , while the top section ( the loft propagation ) is smaller and silver .
Looking person is all well and undecomposed , but it ’s potential to be too individual sometimes . At least , that ’s how it seems to me .
Features
All the Phantom ’s stimulant and outputs are positioned in the lower portion of the chassis , and they ’re spread across the front and rearward panel .
Up front , there are a couple of 5 - thole connections for use with static headphones . One is at normal bias , while the other is customisable – the bias voltage of static headphones can vary quite a lot , so if yours are anything but the normal 230V iFi put up a selection of bias voltage datum bill .
These look a lot like SD cards , and offer bias electric potential of 500V , 540V , 580V , 620V and 640V – they ’re domiciliate in a little magnetic dialog box that attach to the posterior of the upper segment of the Phantom and are presented rather like expensive chocolates . There ’s a slot beneath the custom 5 - pivot connectedness into which your appropriate data card can slue .
The relaxation of the depressed front gore feature standard output . There are two 6.3 mm unhinged socket ( one is positive phase , the other anatropous phase ) , a 3.5 millimetre demented output ( boast iFi ’s S - Balanced engineering science in a parkway for minimal distortion ) , a pair of balanced 3 - bowling pin XLRs ( left and right channels ) , a single 4 - pin balanced XLR , and a 4.4 mm balanced output .
It seems safe to say that no matter how esoteric your electromagnetic , dynamic driver or planar magnetic headphones or IEMs , you should have no bother connecting them to the iCAN Phantom .
The rear of the lower part has a selection of analogue input ( three pairs of stereo RCAs , and a duet of balanced XLRs ) . There ’s a pair of balanced XLRs and a pair of stereoscopic picture RCA pre - outs for consumption with power amplifiers or powered speakers .
The front of the atomic number 47 - colour first level is command by two quite large knobs , one either side of a round display in the centre . One dominance is for ‘ power on / off ’ and input natural selection , the other takes upkeep of volume . There are also a couple of little electrical switch here : one is for set gain ( 0dB , 9dB or 18dB ) and the other toggle between power modes .
As regards power modes , it ’s significant to remember the Phantom has two distinct input stages – one is firm state , the other is valve - based . Switching between them is as simple as push the little control condition , and you have three option that each have very specific sonic characteristic ( or so read iFi ) .
Solid commonwealth manner , says the society , majors on “ stride and immediacy ” of sound , while the first of the valve modes ( metro ) is more about “ liquidness and a free - breathing active timbre ” and the 2nd ( tube+ ) is the more valve - y and can create “ spellbinding romantic warmth ” . Who among us does n’t fancy a bit of that ? Exactly .
The valve themselves are GE5670s , and they ought to have a working life of around 10000 hours . They ’re visible , along with some of the other computer hardware , through the Phantom ’s fume looking glass top panel . The gore is easy obliterable when the meter eventually comes to replace the valves .
Further ascendancy descend in the form of five little switch across the top lip of the lower dowery of the Phantom . They are in electric charge of bias potential drop , allow you to toggle through different impedance scene , switch IEM matching on or off , and scroll through the various intensity of the XBass and XSpace algorithms that will be conversant to owners of pretty much any objet d’art of iFi computer hardware .
You ’ve a couple of option when it comes to take bursting charge of all this – beyond the physical controls I ’ve already discussed , I stand for . The iCAN Phantom ships with a remote - control condition handset that feels a cut above the norm – it features quite bighearted buttons and rather too many colours , and so is ideal for accompanying a product as , um , soul as the Phantom .
Or there ’s iFi ’s Nexis control app – it ’s detached for iOS and Android , and for now it ’s think to function as a top-notch outside control , displaying symptomatic info and facilitating access to firmware updates and what - have - you . Further down the line the company intends to expand its functionality to the decimal point it ’s in care of a whole iFi ecosystem – but as of right now , it ’s not all that keen to even pair with the iCAN Phantom . It ’s former days in its development , though …
Sound Quality
It would be quite something , would n’t it , if we ’d follow this far only to hear this extraordinarily expensive headphone amplifier was n’t much cop to mind to ? Would n’t that be a story ?
Well , today is not that day . The iFi iCAN Phantom is an inordinately accomplished earpiece amplifier , with an absolute plenty of talents just expect to make your favourite headphone , and your favourite music , sound as unused as the very first clock time you heard them / it .
It does n’t weigh if you use electrostatic , or planar magnetic , or dynamic machine driver phone . It does n’t weigh the type of music you care to listen to , or when it was recorded . It does n’t even matter all that much which of the power modes you deploy ( there are differences between them , for sure , but nowhere near as enunciate or dramatic as the iFi literature makes it seem ) . In each and every circumstance , the Phantom is an uncomplicated joy to heed to .
A vinyl radical copy of Push the Sky off by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds induce the iFi ’s font in casually spectacular fashion – in every respect , it ’s a thrillingly complete listen . contingent retrieval is remarkable – no occurrence in the transcription is too minor or too fleeting to escape the Phantom ’s attending , and having identified it the iFi has no trouble giving it precisely the weight and emphasis it needs to be put into right context .
And where key is concerned , the Phantom is beautifully balanced – from the top of the frequency range of mountains to the bottom , it ’s poise and naturalistic , unwilling to add to or deduct from the tone of the recording itself .
Dynamic headroom is considerable in the path a jumbo jet is considerable , so the headline quiet / LOUD stuff and nonsense is in full expressed . The more underage dynamic fluctuation in harmonics are given just the right amount of emphasis too . And where the bottom of the frequency range is interest , the Phantom remove with well - see vigour , keeping momentum eminent and pass on a naturalistic rendering of rhythm and tempos .
Where soundstaging is concerned , the iFi is approaching masterful . It creates a mystifying , wide phase on which performers can do their thing with more than enough elbow - room to keep them interlock securely into an item-by-item pocket or area . But at the same time , it amalgamate every single strand of a transcription into a odd entity – this facility with timing is unvoiced to come by no matter how much money you ’ve spent on your audio equipment .
And if you heed to recording of a solo instrument or an unaccompanied voice , the immediacy and positivity of the Phantom ’s presentation is enough to contribute a swelling to the throat of even the hardest - hearted listener .
In short , then , the iFi iCAN Phantom is a stunningly accomplish headphone amplifier , one that will slip your time away every metre you move around it on .
Latest deals
Should you buy it?
They ’ll sound ripe than ever if you attach them to this particular phone amplifier .
It ’s not shallow of you to want your expensive phone adenylic acid to attend more like an amp and less like a car - crash .
Final Thoughts
I wo n’t pretend I was n’t concerned when I first withdraw the iCAN Phantom from its packaging – a combination of oddball looks and deeply involved functionality is rarely an boost . But having mind to numerous recordings , using numerous phone , I ’m confident I ’d want one even if it looked like it had been involved in a fire .
Trusted Score
How we test
We screen every DAC / headphone amplifier we review thoroughly over an extended period of time . We practice industry - received tests to equate features properly . We ’ll always tell you what we feel . We never , ever , accept money to review a product .
Find out more about how we test in ourethics insurance policy
FAQs
agree to iFi Audio , the valves in the iCAN Phantom can last for 10,000 hours .
