Ok, so now to throw one more wrenchā¦Questyle CMA400i. As a combo, how would it stack up in the natural warmth category, and quality of DAC relative to the IDAC? The original IDAC had the same AKM 4490 chipset as the 400i, but the new one has the ES9028Pro, which tends to be implemented in a way that is more harsh, but from what Iāve read has maintained more of the signature of the original in this implementation.
Essentially trying to narrow down to a single DAC with maybe two amps that will hold over for quality for a while. I have all of the stated gear now, but donāt have the time (or honestly experience) to go through a critical listening process of elimination since I need to get some stuff liquidated to get out of the dog house.
ATM, Iām slightly leaning toward keeping the Cayin stack and selling everything elseā¦except perhaps one other amp.
So I do think the iha6 + idac would be an upgrade over the questyle overall imo, but it is going to be a tad less relaxed than the questyle but overall personally I would easily prefer the cayin stack for what you have
Gotcha, well I mean the cayin stack would be very flexible and have good synergy, so in this case imo it might make the most sense with the least amount of hassle
I experienced first hand how garbage the fiio k5 pro pre out is. Currently Iām using my laptopās headphone out and am looking for a dac preferably under 500 that compliments the iha6. Any suggestions?
Iām using the IDAC-6 mkII, which Iām really enjoying and is made for the IHA-6, but that might be tough to find under 500. You can sometimes find the mkI in that vicinity. New, the Schiit Modius, SMSL SU-8, or Geshelli Enog might be good balanced options in the sub-500 range, with the Modius being the warmest leaning.
Most of the advantage is related to higher voltage output from the DAC being essentially double that of single ended. That means that as the amp increases gain, it should take a bit longer to introduce distortion. There are also some crosstalk advantages in keeping the channels separated through the chain, but more noticeable is likely the lower distortion.
In most home setups, theoretically no. However, gear that is balanced is most often designed around being balanced. The engineers put more time into getting the balanced sections right. So, if you buy gear that is balanced, you should use its balanced features.
Thanks WaveTheory, just curous while I need to save up for the iDAC6 would double amping at 50% at low gain though the k5 pro headphone out work for now?
At least this setup seems to give a cleaner signal to the iha6 than my laptop audio out or the k5 pro line out.
Double amping meaning using the headphone output of the K5 Pro to go to the Cayin? No. Donāt do that. Good chance youāll burn both units up if you do that much.
I have just found Resolveās review of this amp and it interests me. This amp introducing a greater sense of dynamics particularly. How would this IHA-6 compare to my Singxer SA-1?
Having owned the IHA-6 for a year and demoed the Singxer SA-1 I would say the dynamics are about the same. The IHA-6 is better in that it has more grip over the driver but generally that is only important for high impedence dynamics. Also the SA-1 has better electrical noise filtering. That being said the IHA-6 can go really black if you are willing to invest in power filtering gear.
All in all I would rec the Singxer SA-1 anyday over the IHA-6 because its less tempermental even though the IHA-6 if given the correct treatment is alot better in playing back brickwalled multi layered J-core and I wouldnt trade my IHA-6 for a SA-1.
That being said I feel that the IHA-6 is truely one of the best amps for cable memes as its practically a garbage in garbage out kind of amp with minimal filtering.
See, Iāve got three main headphones, HD560S, HE500 and 990 600 Ohm. I run them all balanced. Iām wishing to get the best out of them, particularly the latter two. Dynamics is something Iāve recently concerned myself with. Iām happy with how all of those cans sound on my Singxer and X7s but thereās always that nagging thought, āYou could be getting more out of theseā¦ā
Is it safe to keep balanced and single ended Hart adapters plugged in at the same time to do quick comparisons between outputs on one set of headphones?
Throwing this post in here to revive this thread a bit. Iāve had quite a bit of time with this AMP and I feel like itās slept on. I know itās been around for several years, but Iām impressed by all the capabilities of it for a SS. Perhaps Iām also biased because I love what it does to ZMF but also some Planars. Iāll be doing a review of it hopefully this week in more detailā¦but yeah Iām diggin on it a lot.
Iāve read up that some have issues with the SE of this amp and I donāt agree with that. Now, on more sensitive IEMās or even low power requirement headphones I could see that as this amp dishes out quite a bit of power. Itās a fun amp to A/B to the Liquid Platinum!
I have this paired with the ADI2DAC and I feel this is a great pairing. The pretty transparent DAC out of the 2DAC doesnāt alter what this amp brings imo.
Really interested in this amp, particularly the versatility that it promises. Currently running ZMF Atticus, LCD-XC, HD 600 and Sundara (in that order of preference)ā¦would this be a good pairing with these I wonder? On paper it sounds like it could be pretty much my end game SS if there is good synergy.
Also looking at Lake People G111 mkii, RMI ADI-2 (but not sure it would have enough power and authority) and EF 600 (wonder about power and synergy, particularly with high imedenceā¦but so few reviews!) if this not a good fit. Any insights would be super helpful as I canāt try any gear where I am located.
I loved my Cayin iHA-6. I ended up selling it recently but it was a tough decision. I pitted it against my Kinki Vision THR-1. I wrote a summary of my experience on HeadFi:
'So, this was an interesting bout! Resolution? The Kinki had it, obviously. It was most noticeable to me when listening to snare drums on tracks with which I was familiar. Sound stage, again, the Kinki won, obviously. The Kinki throws a big, realistic stage. The Cayin doesnāt do badly in terms of staging compared to other amps, but the Kinki is just in another league. Dynamics and presentation was where is got really interesting. The Cayin was so punchy that I almost made up my mind when I first started listening that that was going to be the keeper! Iām a drummer and really macro dynamic presentations of drums gets me pretty excited. The drums felt really close, which, with the dynamics, I really liked, itās like youāre sitting at the drum kit. However, realism/space of the sound stage, plus the extra resolution had me lean towards the Kinki.
This wasnāt at all an easy decision but the Kinki got me. Better for more music genres. The Cayin hit harder, but that was the only thing I favoured after a few hours of ABing them. The Kinki is more powerful (not that the Cayin is under-powered!) and has pre-amp functionality; the latter of which is desirable to me.
For testing I was running FLAC/WAVs > Douk U2 Pro (temp clocks) >optical> Gumby MultiBit >balanced> LB MC3 > Kinki & Cayin >balanced> HE-500. Cardas OFC XLR cables, blah, blah, blahā¦
It was fun to compared the two, and, although there ended being a clear winner, it was still really tough!ā
Really wish I could tell you, but I only briefly listened to one at CanJam and didnāt have the iHA6 nearby anyway to test. Iām sure someone else around here has though that can give you an impression.
I had these both at the same time. I got rid of the Singxer as all the cans I had at the time were hard to drive; SA-1 did not do a convincing job in my opinion. I didnāt A/B the iHA-6 and SA-1, but I remember the Cayin being much more engaging, way more dynamic, more revealing, and overall, a better made unit. I wished the Cayin had pre-outs, but in every other regard, it beat-out the Singxer, from what I can remember.
I believe I concur with this assessment. Donāt get me wrong, the SA-1 is a fine amp, and it has served me well in the near 2 years I have owned it. But for harder to drive headphones, or seemingly just Planars in general the experience is very disappointing. It will drive my HP-2 and Radiance to perfection but put the XS or the HE1000 V2 on and it falls flat on its face. In fact, the SA-1 is spending more time in my system as a preamp, where it absolutely shines. This has been my experience, anyway.