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Imp

Impedance Multiplier and Balanced Output Converter

AC Adapter

$99.00

Ships 1-3 days

Description

Specs

FAQ

Downloads

Have a tube amp that can’t drive your difficult headphones? Want to use your tube amp with your balanced cans? Add Imp and you’re ready to rock!

Help When You Need It
Imp reduces the load of hard-to-drive headphones by 8x, making that crazy 20 ohm planar look like a comfortable 160 ohm load to your OTL tube amp. And, when you switch to 300 ohm headphones, you can easily bypass Imp by pressing a button.
 
Nothing in the Way of Your Tubes
Imp doesn’t stand in the way of your tubes, even when switched on. Your tube amp is still directly connected to your headphones. Imp simply helps out, in parallel. It’s not a buffer. It exactly maintains the distortion characteristics of your tube amp.
 
Based on Valhalla 3 and Folkvangr 
Our 10-tube Folkvangr debuted our impedance multiplier several years ago. We also included it in Valhalla 3. Imp is solid, proven technology that has allowed our tube amps to drive headphones you never thought possible—now available separately.
 
Balanced…For Real
Imp also includes a 4.4mm balanced output, which delivers 2x the voltage of the ¼” jack, for some serious, serious drive. Got some crazy thing with relatively high impedance but needs a ton of volts? Yeah, here you go.
 
Designed and Built in the USA
By “designed and built in the USA," we mean it. We even do our own PC board assembly on a state-of-the-art robotic assembly line in Corpus Christi. 
 
Industry-Leading 3-Year Warranty, 15-Day Easy Returns
Relax with an industry-leading 3-year warranty. Don’t like your Imp? You can send it back for a refund, minus 15% restocking fee, within 15 days of receiving it.
 

Impedance multiplication ratio: 8 

Frequency Response: 20Hz-20Khz, +/-0.1db 
 
THD: <0.001%, 20Hz-20KHz, at 2V RMS
 
IMD: <0.001%, CCIR
 
SNR: >110db, A-weighted, referenced to 2V RMS
 
Crosstalk: -80dB, 20Hz-20KHz
 
Connections: one TRS input, one 1/4" TRS output, one 4.4mm TRRRS balanced headphone output
 
Output Impedance: less than 2 ohms
 
Input Impedance: 8x the headphone load 
 
Maximum output: 10V RMS via ¼” jack, 20V RMS via the 4.4mm
 
Power Supply: 16VAC wall-wart (ahem audiophile linear power supply ahem), regulated +/-15V rails
 
Power Consumption: 6W
 
Size: 5 x 3.5 x 2.75”
 
Weight: 1 lb
 
APx555 Report for Imp
 

What is this thing for?
It’s so you can run your Dan Clark Aeons on your wimpy tube amp. Or, to be less snarky, it’s for making any OTL tube amp happy with hard-to-drive headphones, especially low impedance headphones.

That's it?
It also adds 4.4mm balanced output to your single-ended headphone amp.

Balanced? Real balanced?
Yep!

Ahem. My tube amp has an output transformer and it is very expensive. What about that?
An output transformer is also an impedance multiplier. Imp is just an electronic impedance multiplier, one that is smaller, less heavy, and probably measures better than a transformer.
 
So do I still need Imp?
Probably not. But it doesn’t hurt to try. It also gives you balanced output with 2x the voltage swing via the 4.4mm output, which may be something your fancy-pants tube amp doesn’t do.
 
What if I want to use it on a non-tube amp?
It’ll work for that as well, but its main use is to maintain the characteristics of a tube amp while driving headphones it really wasn’t designed for. Again, it doesn’t hurt to try. But connecting an Imp, capable of 2W or so output, to a Jotunheim or Lyr capable of 6 is kinda silly.
 
So it’s a buffer?
No. It’s an impedance multiplier. Your tube amp remains connected to the headphones. Imp helps along in parallel, doing most of the heavy lifting. 
 
So it makes my tube amp into a hybrid amp?
Not exactly. Most hybrids use a tube front end and a solid state output stage. This is different. As we said before, it just helps along, rather than gets in the way.
 
What about balanced input?
Imp doesn’t have balanced inputs. If your balanced amp also has a single-ended output, you can use that. If it only has balanced outputs, Imp isn’t for you.
 
I see Imp has some pretty good specs. Does it give my tube amp these specs?
Nope. Imp just allows your tube amp to drive headphones it otherwise couldn’t, while preserving the specs of your tube amp. If your tube amp is hissy and hummy, Imp won’t fix that. 
 
How do I use this?
Simple. Connect the TRS output of your tube headphone amp to the TRS input on the back of Imp, using the supplied TRS-to-TRS cable. Then plug your headphones into the front of Imp, using either the ¼” TRS or 4.4mm balanced connector. If you want to bypass Imp, press the Bypass button. That’s about it. Super easy.
 
This thing’s wayyyyy cheap. How can it be any good?
Why does something have to be expensive to be good? Imp uses very high-quality parts in a simple design, made efficiently. It shouldn’t cost a lot. 
 
I’m still skeptical.
Dude, it’s $99. Skip 5 Guys for a couple of days and try it out.
 
What is an Imp? That doesn’t sound very Norse.
Imp, like SYS and Pyst, is a name we started using early in development and then it stuck. It’s not Norse at all. But it is a bit of an imp, isn’t it?

Imp Owner's Manual