iBasso AMP16

The story of Amp16 begins and perhaps ends at its dual Raytheon JAN6418 triodes. Placed at the voltage gain stage where they will yield the biggest sonic impact, the small output of these pentodes makes its presence heard on its 4.4mm balanced headphone out.

iBasso count on the square law function of Amp16's tubes to push down distortion at the drawing board. The huge operating voltages of this valve section means that open-loop linearity exceeds virtually every other non-tube DAP ... at any price.

The signal that goes in, comes out amplified the same. You'll hear from Amp16 the kind of effortlessness yielded only by a huge operating voltages and the non-existent capacitance of tubes. These factors allow minimum negative feedback to be applied, as what enters iBasso's JAN6418s has little error that needs correction.

Amp16 also allowed iBasso to showcase their attention to circuit detail by incorporating a JRC electronically controlled analog volume control after its tube gain stage.

This resistor ladder volume control part is implemented only after Amp16's tubes, kept far from the input signal for maximum integrity, and the best signal-to-noise performance.

iBasso's single-ended operation of Amp16's valves emphasises even-order harmonics for natural, engaging and warm sound. And the small quantity of tube feedback means distortion remains low order, rather than complex intermodulation.

Amp16's tubes can also be bypassed for you to enjoy a purely solid-state mode and impart a more dynamic and odd-harmonic focused signature. This way, you can discover your favourite synergies and additionally conserve battery power on your mobile source device.

iBasso's highly-linear small signal is then converted to balanced and flows into the player's balanced solid-state output stage for muscle. These Texas Instrument op-amp buffers are the highly-fancied BUF634As of recent iBasso, Lotoo and Shanling Audio flagship fame – they'll do their job of supplying the grunt behind Amp16's delicate tube signal, guaranteed.

This hybrid combination of tube gain and solid-state power is a well-tried combination. And the BUF634As are ideal voltage sources and stable into capacitive loads, with their gain bandwidth product ensuring frequency response extends well beyond the human hearing range for excellent phase response and taut, impactful and life-like dynamics.

They promise high damping factor while maintaining its low distortion into low impedances typical of IEMs, Focals, Fostexs and Rosson Audio Designs, supplying 4 watts of power when connected to its DC power supply!

Still the closed-loop internal gain remaining after the mandatory application of negative feedback around iBasso's analog circuit remains high, so Amp16 can open up the sound of any high-impedance Audio-Technica, Sennheiser and ZMF Headphones.

Where Amp16 exceeds all others who use the BUF634A is its ability to accept a 12 volt DC input, bypassing nominal battery and internal 8 volt rails to increase headroom and linearity, thus directly boosting the amount of swing DX340 is capable of.

In fact, give this triple wonder of 1-bit, tubes and BUF634A sound a go into any of your favourite transducers at the desk. Never has a portable device at this price or size mixed immersion, natural transparency and power as convincingly in all use cases – all thanks to Amp16!

Also browse DX340 here, the rest of iBasso's releases here, or view all our other music players here.