Review on 🎧 iFi Ear Buddy: Enhance Your Audio Experience with the Ultimate Travel Kit for Headphones and IEMs - Including Accessories and Audio Attenuator Cable by Abdullah Huan

This is my first analog filter for analysis. I was initially skeptical because iFi made so many false claims about some of their products. For example I have their iPurifier 2 and iSilencer 3.0. It tweaks the performance and data a bit, but instead of removing the noise, it changes the sound. iPurifier 3.0 boosts low and mid frequencies and dampens high frequencies. iSilencer 3.0 is a slightly more neutral version of iPurifier 2, but less fun. Basically, it makes everything sound tight and direct. I still keep both because they're fun to use to color my Dac's sound from time to time, but I certainly don't edit music with them. And what about Earbuddy? Does iFi claim to reduce noise by 15dB? Is it snake oil? My portable rig, Ipad Pro > Dragonfly Black > TTpod T1, has an audible hiss in the left earcup with a digital volume of 2/16 or more. Earbuddy completely removed the hiss from the left side and I was so surprised it actually worked. Earbuddy also claims to turn down the volume on your AMP. Why is that good you ask? It is common practice to set the digital volume and player volume to maximum and then adjust the volume with the gain on the amplifier to get the best sound. However, portable devices such as phones and USB DAC/AMP have no gain control and are always set to 100% power. The only volume control you're left with is a digital volume control, so low-impedance headphones can easily get noisy. Earbuddy keeps its promise to turn down the AMP volume for more digital volume. On my iPad Pro without Earbuddy, I listened to my music at 2/16 digital volume, but with Earbuddy I use 6/16 digital volume. What about sound? does it change Now this is where it gets really interesting. My test was done with Dragonfly Black 1.5 and Modi 2/Magni uber 2 with Meze 99 and AD900x. Bass is less muddy and separates bass and drums better. Bass notes are very clear in songs. However, you get less bass without losing detail. Instruments and vocals in the mid-range are insanely open and resonate. Most notable is the change in the sound of the electric guitar from near to far. Usually musicians do a bad job mixing music and as a result the electric guitar sounds very close to the ear and that is very annoying. So my guess is that the sound is shifted by about 2-3 kHz. The high frequencies are ridiculously smooth. Cymbals reduce the sound of the first hit but don't kill detail and retain the high frequency extension. Jazz cymbal brush cleans sounds open and wide. Basically it reduces the loud parts of your music and you can hear more of the quiet parts of your music. Turning down the volume also makes everything sound further away due to the psychoacoustics. The sound upgrade is absurd at just $20 and comes with airline travel accessories. The only problem is that their warranty # isn't included due to a manufacturing defect, but it costs $20. I really don't care. Update 2/6/2018: Earbuddy can remove line noise from AC wall sockets. For example, I charged my iPad Pro with Dragonfly Black and used the treadmill on the same outlet. The treadmill motor was making noise on my Dragonfly Black. I tested iSilencer 3.0, iPurifier 2 and Earbuddy. Turns out I was right: iSilencer 3.0 and iPurifier 2 don't remove noise. The headphones completely remove all line noise.