ifi PHANTOM Series User Manual
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ifi PHANTOM Series User Manual

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Summary of Contents for ifi PHANTOM Series

  • Page 1 User Manual...
  • Page 3 Thank you for purchasing this Phantom series iCAN. The iCAN Phantom is both : a professional analogue headphone ampli er (II) a fully- edged, high-end stereo preampli er (III) an audiophile-grade energiser for electrostatic headphones WARNING: The iCAN Phantom is VERY POWERFUL and can o er large amounts of sub-bass boost. As a starting point, always use the...

  • Page 4: Table Of Contents

    10 13 17 18 16 19 Gain Selection Electrostatic Power LED Normal Bias ESL Headphone Output P.15 P.11 XBass Adjustment Electrostatic Headphone ON/OFF Impedance Adjustment P.16 P.11 Pro/Custom Bias ESL Headphone Output Stereo Balanced XLR Headphone Output TFT Display P.16 P.11 Analogue Volume Control Dial Power/Mute/Input/Menu...
  • Page 5 Unbalanced RCA 1-3 Signal Input P.18 P.19-23 iFi Nexis App & Cautions Bias Setting Memory Card Storage Back Cover P.18 P.24-25 Design Notes from the AMR/iFi Research Balanced XLR 3-Pin Line Output P.18 P.26-31 Speci cations Unbalanced RCA Line Output P.18...

  • Page 6: Electrostatic Power Led

    Electrostatic Power LED Lights up when the Electrostatic headphone power switch is turned on. Electrostatic Headphone ON/OFF Turns on/o the electrostatic headphone power, o by default. Tip: If the "ESL Default" is not set to "ON", you will need to turn it on manually to use an electrostatic headphone. Pro/Custom Bias Electrostatic Headphone Output 5-pin socket for Pro Bias headphones, 500V to 640V adjustable Bias Voltage.
  • Page 7 Mute Short press the dial to mute. To unmute, press it again or turn the volume dial (item 17). Noem Noem IN 1 IN 1 Normal Normal 10Hz 10Hz 30° 30° Single tap Turn Mute UnMute Input selector Turn the dial to select between the following inputs: RCA 1 RCA 2 RCA 3...
  • Page 8 (i) ESL Default Turns ESL Default on/o , o by default. When ESL Default is set to "ON", the Electrostatic headphone power (item 2) is automatically switched on every time the power is switched on (item 4) and no longer needs to be switched on manually. (ii) Brightness TFT display screen brightness setting, default setting "High".
  • Page 9 (iv) Auto o Automatic shutdown setting. The default setting is 1 hour. The unit automatically shuts down when there is no output signal, or when playback is paused or stopped within the set time. Turn o automatic Timer 30 min Timer 1 hour Timer 3 hour shutdown...
  • Page 10 (vi) About View the device name and the current rmware version number. iCAN PHANTOM 1.40 (vii) Reset Select Yes to perform a factory reset. The device reboots after a successful operation. IN 1 Reload... Reset in progress Reset complete Warning: Factory reset will clear all current settings and restore the menu settings to their default state;...

  • Page 11: Bias Memory Card Slot

    Bias Memory Card Slot Before using the Pro/Custom bias electrostatic headphone output port, select the bias voltage memory card according to the table below or according to the recommendations given by the electrostatic headphone manufacturer and the speci cations of your electrostatic headphone. Bias voltage usage: 500V Sennheiser Orpheus HE-90, Monoprice Monolith Electrostatic 540V Sennheiser HE-60, King Sound KS-H2/3/4...

  • Page 12: Operation Mode Selector

    Operation Mode Selector The iCAN Phantom has 3 operation modes: Solid State Tube Tube+ Solid-State: is a pure, solid-state circuit and uses J-FETs and is fully-discrete Class A. Tube: 2 x NOS GE5670s* are engaged with the J-FET circuitry switched out for valve Class A operation. Tube+: reduces negative feedback to a minimum.

  • Page 13: Tft Display

    Normal Bias Electrostatic Headphone Output 6-pin socket for normal bias headphones (eg. previous generation Stax units). 230V Bias Voltage. Tip: If a bias memory card is not inserted into the bias memory card slot (item 5), the PRO and FULL modes canot be adjusted. Impedance Adjustment The impedance response can be adjusted from 16 to 96 .

  • Page 14: Balanced Xlr L/R , Stereo Unbalanced 6.3Mm - And + Phase Output

    Note: The iFi SEC (Unbalanced Compatible) balanced connection uses one 6.3mm jack for L-/R- (left jack) and the other for L+/R+ (right jack) with both sleeves being Ground (GND). This makes it directly compatible with standard non-balanced headphones. With the correct headphone cable it allows a balanced connection using two 6.3mm plugs.
  • Page 15 Adjustment There are two separate Analogue Signal Processing (ASP) matrix circuits that switch automatically between headphone and loudspeaker use. 30° 60° 90° XSpace Note: Holographic for Headphones is not based on a standard cross-feed system, as found in some high-end headphone ampli ers. Many so called '3D systems' are usually DSP based.
  • Page 16 Note: When using the headphone outputs, the XSpace Holographic matrix for headphones is engaged. When using the line outputs (RCA/XLR), the XSpace Holographic matrix for loudspeakers is engaged. It's true that traditional cross-feed tends to produce an 'out of head' sound, but with much diminished spatial components and a narrower soundstage, sometimes almost approaching mono.

  • Page 17: Gain Selection

    'Stereosonic' recordings. However, the original Stereosonic circuit tended to result in a narrower soundstage than if recorded straight and often overcompensated distortion of the soundstage perspective. iFi's XSpace Holographic systems avoid this and instead, allow an expansion of the width of the sound stage.

  • Page 18: Xbass Adjustment

    XBass adjustment Di erent recordings and di erent headphones exhibit di erent frequency responses. XBass is an analogue signal XBass processing (ASP) circuitry. It is sonically superior to Digital Signal Processing (DSP) systems. is tailored to correct the bass de ciency in the headphone/loudspeaker and achieve the desired level. It is NOT a traditional tone or loudness control.

  • Page 19: Operating Status Led

    Operating status LED Warming-up Solid-State Tube Tube+ Protection Mode switching (Green) (Blue) (white) (Yellow) (Red) (Flashing) 19. Balanced 4.4mm Headphone Output Connect balanced 4.4mm headphones. Tip: If possible, always use balanced headphones to take full advantage of the true balanced nature of the iCAN Phantom circuitry. Unbalanced 3.5mm Headphone Output Connect 3.5 mm stereo headphones (compatible with unbalanced TRS and balanced TRRS con gurations).
  • Page 20 Balanced XLR 3-Pin Signal Line Input Balanced XLR line input. Unbalanced RCA 1-3 Signal Input Connect Unbalanced (S-E) input. Bias Setting Memory Card Storage Back Cover Magnetically attached cover containing 6 memory cards for voltage bias settings from 500VDC to 640VDC. This attachment can also be used to cover the front output panel when not in use or when the iCAN Phantom is used as a preampli er.
  • Page 21 Quick Set-Up TFT Display iEMatch Mode selector Gain selector ON/OFF Menu Volume control Impedance adjustment AC termination adjustment SE 3.5mm output ESL LED ESL Power switch BAL 4.4mm output BAL XLR 4-Pin output 5-Pin Custom/Pro output Bias card slot 6-Pin Normal output BAL XLR 3-Pin SE 6.3mm output...
  • Page 22 Bias cards holder DC Power (12V-15V) Front cover BAL XLR 3-Pin input RCA output BAL XLR 3-Pin output RCA 1-3 input...
  • Page 23 Power Press and wait for warm up (item 4) DC 12V/4A-15V/3A Input RCA 1-3 BAL XLR 3-Pin...
  • Page 24 Analogue output BAL XLR 3-Pin Headphones output - Standard BAL XLR 3-Pin UnBAL 3.5mm BAL 4.4mm SE 6.3mm BAL XLR 4-Pin...
  • Page 25 Headphones output - Electrostatic Normal 6-Pin Normal Custom/Pro 5-Pin Custom/Pro Match bias card to your headphones speci cation (item 5)
  • Page 26 Set up your iCAN Phantom using our iFi Nexis App Please search for "iCAN Phantom" within the iFi Nexis app. The iFi Nexis app helps you to use all the features and settings of the iCAN Phantom, such as OTA upgrades*, remote control** and more.
  • Page 27 Prolonged Heat Exposure Your iFi Product may become very warm during normal use. It is important to keep your iFi Product on a hard, stable, and well-ventilated work surface when in use or charging. Warning:...
  • Page 28 15,000mW is possible in Balanced operation. The ampli er audio circuit is a development of iFi's revolutionary 'TubeState' design. It is fully discrete, fully balanced with either tube or JFET input switchable, bipolar transistor second stage and MOSFET-bu ered bipolar class A power stage (with Class AB for low impedance headphones at very high levels).
  • Page 29 Exceeding the rated bias for a given headphone may damage it, so it is not recommended and exceeding the rated bias is done at your own risk. Warning: AMR/iFi is not responsible for any damage arising from using the iCAN Phantom with incorrect settings.
  • Page 30 Under the above conditions the volume on the iCAN Phantom should be able to be advanced to maximum (using an iFi DAC) without risk of protection circuitry engaging or damaging ANY electrostatic headphones as long as the impedance...
  • Page 31 Note on the design of the ESL section In principle, an energiser for electrostatic headphones is a trivial challenge. All we need are a pair of transformers to create the very high signal voltages for the electrostatic headphones and some form of bias supply. Of course, what seems simple usually hides unexpected complexity.
  • Page 32 Given the low frequencies of the AC used, large value capacitors tend to be needed, usually requiring rather nonlinear electrolytic capacitors, which have high leakage currents and so the cascade recti er must operate constantly to keep the Bias Voltage from dropping. At iFi we decided to completely toss out all existing solutions.
  • Page 33 First, we decided to use a battery of multiple parallel lm capacitors to provide the bias voltage. Film Capacitors hold their charge almost inde nitely. Given that isolation resistance of the electrostatic headphone is also very, very high, no current ows to discharge the capacitor bank. Therefore, if we charge the capacitor bank up to the nominal bias one time, we can simply leave the charged capacitor bank to “...
  • Page 34 DISCLAIMER This material mentions various third-party trademarks solely to indicate compatibility and for identi cation purposes. All trademarks and logos are the property of their respective holders. Use of them does not imply any a liation or endorsement by them. This information is provided "as is" with no warranties, and use of it is at the user's own risk.

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