"I tried to consolidate all my experience of the past seven years, mostly the feedback from several hundred audiophiles across the globe who bought an icOn or not, who told me of their burning unresolved problems or dreams of their perfect system. This spanned a huge variety of priorities, wishes, objective and subjective opinions. After seven years in this sector, I now understand all of this far better. From this feedback I culled recurring patterns and certain unresolved problems. The icOn 5 was 95% ready last October. I simply wasn't completely satisfied. I suspected that only the tech specs or numbers were better, i.e. more attenuation steps across a larger range with some smart user-reconfigurable socketry. But I wanted more; something that would be more different and in my opinion still give better sound, greater compatibility and add a brand-new feature for audiophiles who love to experiment, fine-tune their system down to the iota and constantly search for incrementally better sonics. So I redesigned the 5 instead of launching it like an iPhone 14 following 13 with nothing fundamentally new or exciting, just a few more pixels and better battery life. No longer is the new icOn 5 just a passive preamp; or passive at all. It can be purely passive but I call it an AVC line control unit. It now has an active no-gain buffer (defeatable) because my new Slagle autoformer needs to see very low source impedance due to far lower inductance, a larger air gap and higher linearity. In trade it offers livelier even more natural sound. The step numbers differ, too. Now we have 135 steps across an 83dB range from -80dB to +3dB. -80 to -48dB runs 1dB steps, -47.5dB to +3dB ½dB steps. Then there's remote-controlled Quad-reminiscent tilt, a great feature to fine-tune the sound (or for audiophiles who didn't think a passive preamp good enough). I'm convinced that the new 5 now is a real improvement across all parameters. In my opinion the 5 is my top science-based solution for the very best sound.

"Then last December I received a custom order with a pair of silver autoformers very different from my own. I knew that their owner would be happier with reed relays. I'd used reed relays across my first four years and didn't fancy them too much due to switching clicks. That noise isn't dangerous but still annoyed me. I started to think again and with my seven years of constant icOn R&D/production under my belt, now implemented clever firmware tricks. Now I can use reed relays instead of FET switches yet produce zero switching noise. For me they're not better just different. But for some users they will be better because they know so to hear it so. And I'm happy with their satisfaction. So the second 'flavour' is for my purist friends not that interested in the science involved but who hate semiconductors and want the purest, shortest, simplest signal path. Hello icOn Pure. It's a typical passive preamp again. I'd stopped using the reed relays due to their break-before-make contact nature. Now I forced them to work like dinosaur rotary switches: make before break. Now they're silent during volume changes. The Pure's Slagleformer is similar to the 5 but with higher inductance to work with a broader array of sources. And it's all 1dB steps now from -75dBto +7dB, no more 2dB steps at certain low volume positions. The +7dB is pure passive step-up gain for my vinyl friends. There also are special anti-resonance footers, 2 in 2 out high-end Furutech sockets, à la carte autoformers with silver option and an ultra-capacitor virtual-battery power supply for the display and relay coils. There I admittedly switched off my engineering mind. These are far more expensive nearly cost-no-object solutions so the price must approach the price of some high-end interconnects but still will be less than comparable competitors. [At right, Intact Audio attenuation autoformer whose taps switch by rotary Elma.]

"The 3rd flavour is even purer so no reed relays, microprocessor or DC socket, just brand-new 80% nickel or nano-crystal C-core autoformer in copper or silver and—hold on!—a dinosaur mini rotary switch. That came to the rescue because this customer will rarely ever turn the knob. Hello icOn MatchMaker, the best-quality 4-step adjustable inline attenuator aiming at two main target groups both with many members:

♦ The defendant in the Appeals Court who can listen to music only with ear plugs due to the system's overall gain poisoning.

♦The audiophile with a modern digital-only system and software/on-chip digital volume who realizes that beyond -30dB signal cut, the sound deteriorates. Some of these front ends even combine a 5-10V DAC with a tube amp of 0.3V input sensitivity and single-driver high-efficiency or hornspeakers to need massive -40 to -60dB attenuation. Now using digital volume from 0 to -20dB whilst pre-trimming the remainder with a MatchMaker set to the necessary value will give much better sound. Customers can opt for 6/12/18/24dB steps or 10/20/30/40dB. Either way it's no-loss magnetic attenuation that benefits from converting voltage cut to current gain."

Unlike pro-audio cigarillos of switchable 10-30dB inline attenuation for microphones, the MatchMaker packs equivalent functionality purist high-end style for upscale homies. Readers with their thinking caps on will already have wondered about the icOn 5's new tilt control. They may suspect the "larger air gap". In trans/autoformers, air-gap size has a direct impact on operational parameters but is always fixed. Had our man found a mad way to make it variable? If not, what does his new feature tilt?

Many years back I reviewed Eduardo de Lima's Brazilian Audiopax amplifiers then met him. His unique TimbreLock feature manipulated the series operation of two asymmetrical tube output transformers. That changed our perception of tone and texture similar to how a shift from 2nd to 3rd harmonic TDH does. Nelson Pass famously observed that between his circuits voiced for either flavor, sales are surprisingly even. It suggests that an equal number of listeners favor a denser warmer rounder sound or a quicker leaner more lit-up one. Typically any circuit is fixed to make this a one-time decision. We pick A or B. To this day the Audiopax TimbreLock remains user adjustable. It can morph to the user's tastes by rotating two controls. Now Pál seemed to have invented his own mechanism to do something similar in a passive-magnetic linestage; by remote no less? This warranted Zoom to get absolutely right. After all, messengers who screw up really should be shot. It just wasn't my time. Not yet. That's because Pál suggested that I compare his icOn Pure to the icOn 5 to the icOn MatchMaker. I'd need all my wits about me and my parsing cap on to dig into those flavor explorations.

"The voicing feature of the icOn 5 very much is like a vintage Quad tilt control to hinge at ~1kHz then offer up to ±3dB boost/cut at 20Hz/20kHz across eight small increments. This is in response to many clients asking for a predictable very easy way to improve the sound of particularly old vinyl. This tilt works like an ultra-precision very subtle tone control but can be completely bypassed. The same holds for the premium op-amp input buffer. It's more transparent than any discrete transistor or tube buffer I could design but still can be bypassed by purists. It adds no voltage just current gain to create the desirable very low fixed output impedance. The autoformers in the MatchMaker are now my own design and make. It's how I can offer Hitachi Finemet amorphous or other exotic cores, even silver coils. As to how I silenced reed relays, inserting a brief auto mute as you suspected would actually increase switching noises. So I briefly short two adjacent reed relays simultaneously. This was very tricky to execute and probably explains why it's not been done before."

For those who'd argue the wisdom of spending big on virtual battery power for relays/display, Pál has his stock wall wart. "One client has different small components on costly linear power supplies. One had the right output voltage for his icOn so he tried it. While he couldn't hear any difference, he still disliked the mere idea of a small switching supply in his high-end system to want a linear variant. As I've learnt, not all audiophile preferences are based on sonics. Rather than argue over what's audible and matters or doesn't, now I have standard and purist solutions. Buyers know which type they are. They'll pick accordingly. Now I can spend my time designing and building instead of battling subjective preferences and audiophile beliefs."

As to those who want a big heavyweight case that costs more to machine than all the parts of a current icOn, Pál is still thinking about an über icOn. But that's FutureFi far on the horizon. His inner engineer is still quite conservative. Perhaps it'll take him another seven years to befriend the audiophile belief that all truly good things must be heavy, big and very expensive? [At left, a linear power supply with super-cap smoothing bank from Dutch company Farad. Their tech-talk page has good intel on super capacitors in power supplies.]