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.
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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
Link to an inferior forum for those who wish to read more: Kinki Studio Vision THR-1 | Page 20 | Headphone Reviews and Discussion - Head-Fi.org
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How does the iha6 compare to the singxer sa-1?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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