IK Multimedia ARC On-Ear Headphone Amplifier and DAC

Professional Monitoring, Unbound

The IK Multimedia ARC ON-EAR is a revolutionary standalone headphone DAC and amplifier designed to eliminate the guesswork of mixing on headphones. By instantly correcting your headphones' frequency response and emulating the soundstage of professional studio monitors, it allows mixing engineers, producers, and touring musicians to work with total confidence in any environment. Whether you are in a coffee shop, a hotel room, or an untreated home studio, the ARC ON-EAR delivers the precision, depth, and trust of a real control room directly to your ears.

Precision Calibration for True Transparency
Even high-end "reference" headphones often feature exaggerated frequency responses that lead to translation issues and ear fatigue. The ARC ON-EAR solves this using a database of over 250 hand-measured calibration profiles to flatten your headphones' response. This ensures a neutral, transparent sound, allowing you to make critical EQ and balance decisions that will hold up perfectly across car stereos, club systems, and mobile devices.

Natural Spatial Imaging Without the Plugins
Standard headphone listening often creates an unnaturally wide stereo image that makes spatial judgment difficult. Unlike standard convolution-based systems, the ARC ON-EAR uses proprietary physical modelling and custom crossfeed to recreate the natural depth and width of real studio monitors in a treated room. This allows for pinpoint accuracy in panning and reverb placement without introducing artificial colouration or phase issues.

Audiophile Power and Standalone Freedom
Housed in a rugged, compact aluminium chassis, this device features a high-end 32-bit ESS SABRE DAC and a powerful 200 mW amplifier capable of driving the most demanding high-impedance studio headphones. Because the correction is handled by onboard DSP, you get zero-latency standalone performance that works with any hardware or software, unmoored from your DAW. With a 4-hour rechargeable battery, your mobile setup finally has the headroom and clarity of a professional desk.

Main features:

• Robust headphone amplifier with onboard sound correction and room simulation algorithms
• Studio-quality A/D converters supply authentic, accurate sound across a range of acoustic profiles
• 200mW low-distortion operation keeps your sound clean and consistent across all frequencies
• Easily calibrates your headphones' frequency response to produce reliable and transparent sound
• Revolutionary room simulation tech processes your signal to emulate the response and acoustics of dedicated studio monitor environments
• User-assignable button supplies seamless and efficient control over your sound
• Save up to 5 presets via internal memory for immediate recall of your most important sound profiles
• Integrated lithium-ion battery provides up to 4 hrs. of continuous use
• Extensive onboard database offers enhanced support for a range of popular headphone models
• IK Multimedia app allows easy management of presets and performance settings
• Includes a carrying case for safe storage and transport

Tech Specs:

• Type: Headphone Calibration w/Room Simulation
  
• Input Channels: 1
  
• Output Channels: 1
  
• Digital Input: USB-C (Audio, Control, and Charging)
  
• Analogue Input: 3.5 mm Stereo Jack
  
• Headphone Output: 6.3 mm (1/4") TRS Jack
• Sample Rates Supported: 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, 192 kHz
  
• Chassis Material: Rugged Aluminium
  
• Onboard Controls: Volume Dial, Preset Select, Virtual Monitoring Toggle, Function Button
  
• Battery Life: Up to 4 hours (Lithium Rechargeable)
  
• Software: ARC ON-EAR
  
• OS Requirements - Mac: macOS 10.15 or later | PC: Windows 10 or later
  
• Includes: Carrying case
  
• Dimensions: 79 x 77 x 35 mm
  
• Weight: 170 grams
• View the full list of Supported Headphones [ARC On-Ear]: https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/arconear/index.php?p=headphones