The Ear Buddy is a simple adapter that fits between any headphone and audio device with a 3.5mm output, and filters out background hiss and bursts of noise that damage your ears.
The Ear Buddy makes music clearer and allows you to crank up the volume to the max without painful consequences.
The Ear Buddy is adaptable to any device, including:
And with special earplugs, aeroplane adapter and travel pouch, you can travel the globe with crisp, clean, uninterrupted audio.
Hiss is very annoying when listening with headphones. This is caused by the mismatch between too much power from the smartphone/DAP when used with headphones which are high sensitivity.
Our solution is to ‘attenuate’ or adjust the signal that cuts out the hiss and puts the enjoyment back into listening.
Turn up the digital volume to restore lost resolution and improve sound quality.
Normal listening levels usually result in a loss of 2Bits of resolution but increasing the digital volume and using the Ear Buddy to attenuate the volume level, brings these Bits back.
What iFi Ear Buddy does:
The Ear-Buddy is well built and solved all my issues. I get much better volume control with IEM’s. It works, plain and simple. It is a well thought-out little adaptor and one that you cannot go wrong for the price.
The Ear-Buddy is a nifty device which you can plug your headphones in and its aim is to remove background noise and to make it possible to recover the ‘lost bits’ when using digital volume adjustment. I found the Ear-Buddy to be extremely useful….it deserves every praise and my full recommendation.
Ear-Buddy is a useful tool if you experience hiss when using a DAP, phone or DAC/AMP. It simply performs as advertised. Reducing hiss and hence allowing for enjoyable listening sessions. It works!
Transparent attenuation in a compact form factor with nice build quality.
I finally gave up on my Shure in-line volume control for it’s I love my fancy earphones and their exceptional sound performance, but I struggle with the sensitivity in “normal” use environments. Plugged into phones and iPods the background hiss emerges. Plugged into airplanes entertainment systems the leveling blows your head off during announcements.
For years I’ve been carrying around a Shure in-line volume contro (from their travel kit) with mixed results. They have mediocre build quality, unpredictable operation, and noisy pass-through when paired with top-end in-ears. I wanted a fixed level of attentuation with more attention to sound quality. (Bonus: this thing comes with a two-prong airplane adapter with the best build quality I’ve ever seen!)
Well here it is, this is my new go-to. The iFi Ear-Buddy has been great in initial testing. It feels great, it looks nice, it’s compact, it’s got no controls to screw up. Perfect. Perfect level of attenuation too, I drive my phone at full volume and it’s just barely too loud for casual listening.
The advertised intention is to allow your DACs to drive at higher output, pulling more bits from the data stream and improving sound quality. This has been evident on lower quality systems in testing, though I don’t honestly notice the purported jump from 14 to 16 bit sound in most of my setups.
Mostly I notice that the SPL is now way above the DAC noise floor, so there’s less background hiss in quiet sections.
Overall a very reasonable buy for improved experience over any comparable competition for in-line attenuation.
| iEMatch | EarBuddy | iEMatch2.5 | |
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| Primary use | Sensitive headphones ($150>) | Sensitive headphones (<$150) | Digital Audio Players |
| 3.5mm Balanced | Yes | - | - |
| 3.5mm Single-Ended | Yes | Yes | |
| 2.5mm Balanced | - | - | Yes |
| Ultra (-24dB) / High (-12dB) Sensitivity | Yes | - | Yes |
| High(-16dB) Sensitivity | - | Yes | - |
| 6N silver / copper matrix wiring | Yes | - | Yes |
| 6N copper matrix wiring | - | Yes | - |
| FINAL 6063-T5 aluminium-magnesium alloy shell |
Yes | - | Yes |
| Input impedance | >16 Ohm | >16 Ohm | >16 Ohm |
| Output impedance | < 2.5 Ohms (High-Sensitivity)
< 1 Ohms (Ultra-Sensitivity) |
< 2.7 Ohms (High-Sensitivity) | < 2.5 Ohms (High-Sensitivity)
< 1 Ohms (Ultra-Sensitivity) |
| Compatibity | 16 Ohm to 600 Ohm rated impedance 12.5 Ohm minimum impedance |
16 Ohm to 600 Ohm rated impedance 12.5 Ohm minimum impedance |
16 Ohm to 600 Ohm rated impedance 12.5 Ohm minimum impedance |
| Weight | 12.2g | 6.0g | 12.2g |
| Total length | 116mm | 116mm | 116mm |
