Big shout out to Sebastien for helping me source a remote control for this amp. I was having a tough time locating one.
Even though I did not buy the amp new from iFi, he was kind enough to help me! Thank you! 
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Of course bud! Happy to be of assistance.
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Got my remote today! For some reason my wife and cat arenât nearly as excited? Must be a female thing. 
Small and light. Even came with batteries installed. Works very well! The knob was very stiff to move manually, which makes sense since it is motorized. On this amp the volume knob is Very close to the 3D knob and so it was a little tricky to get a grip and change volume without affecting the 3D setting.
The volume knob has 100 segments and the remote will give you control of each segment. Or you can hold the button down and the volume knob will fly.
I think this remote will get a lot more use than the Violectric model. The Violectric remote is huge and the volume knob on the Vio amp is a pleasure to use manually.
Nice little pick-up.
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Awesome to hear you got it in safe buddy! Cute kitty!
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Thanks again!
Well, I have now run all my headphones through the iFi Pro iCAN. It is a very impressive amp with certain headphones. I owned an iFi amp several years ago and the most impressive features, to me, were X-Bass, 3D sound and lots of power. With this model, those things stay true, but everything gets ramped up.
The Gradoâs eat up the bass boost and the Edition XXâs donât like the 3D and actually reduce volume when you engage it. I didnât notice that on other 'phones, but I wasnât really looking for it. This amp makes the DT880 come alive in a serious way. I am taking a break right now, but I will put them back into rotation soon. If they hit me the same way, they could slide up into my top tier list, joining the Grado GH2âs, the Elexâs and the Cascades. That was a shocker to me as I was about to sell them.
I did some amp comparisons, when I was really in a groove with the music. I had hoped to maybe get rid of one or two amps when I bought this, but that really hasnât turned out to be the case.
The Violectric just has itâs own sound. Sometimes I wavered, but I just canât see moving the Violectric. However, when I turned off all the features and went to SS mode, I preferred the Violectric. But with all the iCAN gadgets engaged, with certain headphonesâŚ
This amp went head to head with the Liquid Platinum, both via XLR. My first reaction was that the Pro sounded bigger, bassier and more full. Of course I had forgotten about the gadgets I had engaged. But then as my playlist went on there were songs I enjoyed more on the LP. My hybrid tube amp sounded tubier than my new hybrid amp. Both amps did things well and I canât see either one leaving. The Pro was better, but not by a lot.
Lastly I put it in tube+ mode and compared it to my cheapie, the Little Dot MK III with Voshkod tubes. If you are trying to get into Tubey/kind of distorted territory, the LD MKIII was king. By a Lot! The cheapie was a Great pick up.
Overall, I really like this amp, in spite of the fact that it really doesnât outclass any of its cheaper competitors. I would be quite disappointed if I had paid full price though. I bought it used for about half of the full, landed price. Having said that, if it didnât have all the gadgets, I likely wouldnât be keeping it. The huge power is awesome, but I donât really need it.
I would recommend this amp on two conditions:
- Get a good price, used
- You have a collection of different headphones. This amp will make some headphones really sing (DT880âs, Gradoâs, Cascades, Elexâs) and some wonât care (HD6XXâs, HD660âs, Edition XXâs, ATH-WP900âs, LCD-2 Classicâs).
Bottom Line:
X-Bass is awesome without being overwhelming. No distortion. 3D sound is really dependant on the headphone used. Three levels of gain is great and I used all three. The different sound modes (SS, tube and tube+ have very subtle differences. It is said that a tube change can really accentuate the differences and I will be doing that. And the remote is a must have. 
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Iâve finally got my hands on a iFi Pro iCan that I bought used from a local seller, I have not really had the opportunity to A/B with my previous amp (A90) just yet but initial impressions so far are pretty good with the Arya.
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Congrats! Curious to hear your thoughts! I just scrolled up the thread and realized that I have had mine for just about three months now.
It has become my go-to amp. Last couple of days I have been using it for Cascades and T60 Argons.
It took me one to two months to get the hang of all the different functions with different headphones.
Enjoy!
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A couple initial thoughts of the Pro iCan with the Arya (in SS mode)
Comparison setup:
Tidal + Audirvana upsample to max pcm sample rate
USB â> Soncoz SGD-1
RCA to ifi, balanced to A90 (I could not not any noticeable difference in SE vs Balanced on the ifi)
ifi on low gain ~9.30, A90 on med gain ~ 9.30
All devices warmed up for a couple hours for good measure and the Arya is burned in
Detail Retrieval:
The best Iâve ever heard so far, (previous amps I have tried are: Topping A90, Cavalli Liquid Carbon, Gustard H16, Bryston BHA-1) I am sure that there are better resolving amps out there than the Pro iCan but for my setup and the Arya, the Pro iCan has the most detail Iâve ever tried. I feel that a lot of this has to do with better instrument separation. Besides that, I believe it is indeed more resolving outright with better textural nuance as well.
Tonality:
Obviously in SS mode, the Pro iCan is pretty neutral with the ever so slight warm shift. Everything is smooth without being smoothed over. In fact this is by far the biggest upgrade for me over the A90. On the A90, there are some tracks where I would avoid completely because the setup was a bit too shouty for me and I really could not listen for a very long time at all (something I did not do with the Gustard)
On the setup before the A90 (Gustard H16), I felt that the treble on the Arya was not too bad and I could handle it with almost anything I threw at it. When I had to replace the Gustard with the A90 however, I felt that the A90 was driving the Arya a little better, especially in the low end. The Arya was a little more punchy and dynamic with the A90 than the Gustard. After a little while however, the setup was getting too shouty for me and as I mentioned before, I started to avoid some tracks altogether.
Now with the ifi, it provides an even greater sense of dynamic punch, greater detail retrieval to my ears and the slight added smoothness means the Arya is no longer as peaky and shouty as before. The ifi also fuller sounding, like there is more substance behind the music. I do not know if this is just differences in volume as I cannot objectively volume match but I have matched it as close as possible with my own ears.
Imaging and Soundstage:
The ifi in SS mode provides me with a clearer image of each instrument in the stage, the A90 I found occasionally on some busier tracks to blend the instruments slightly. The soundstage is also a little more holographic and everything is just a little more spaced out. Its not a huge difference, its like taking a couple rows back in a concert hall. Imaging is also more accurate where I am able to more distinctly place vocalists on a stage. Say a vocalist is about 45 degrees to the right from the microphone, the A90 would place is much further towards 90 degrees while with the ifi, you can clearly tell that its middle right and not hard right.
Tube modes:
Overall I see a lot of consensus that the stock tubes are actually fairly neutral and donât actually make a huge difference and I find this to be true. The tubes only add a little more warmth to the sound. That said however, I would not call it a gimmick or anything like that. I find it really enjoyable to be able to switch from the clean SS mode to a slightly warm tube/tube hybrid all in one unit, being able to suit different tracks and different moods at a flick of a switch was a huge appeal to me.
Xbass & 3D modes:
I did not really play with these so much as I found that I preferred them off most of the time, the Xbass however like the first setting on some tracks and sometimes go with the 2nd setting when I want to feel the wubs (the Arya handles it like a champ).
The 3D sound I am not that convinced by, it just made everything sound hollower
TLDR: Overall a fairly substantial upgrade over my A90 by completely outclassing it in every aspect as one would expect for the price, ever so slightly warm tilted sound in SS mode, smoother while being more resolving, gobs of power, well built, potential to tube roll. Probably never going back to a chip based amp after this.
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Nice write-up. The 3D is Amazing with some headphones.
I liked the amp at first, but after three months I appreciate it a Lot more.
Glad it hear itâs a great match with your Aryaâs!
Thanks for the wonderful review. Mind if I pass this along to the team?
Sure thing!
can the tubes be swapped out for oneâs known to be warmer?
Yes, they can be but itâs a pretty extensive process that I think voids your warranty.
Let me double-check with the team tomorrow morning!
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voids warranty? what if hey burn out? silly policy being tubes are meant to be rolled!
Hey @sebastien_chiu_iFi, were you ever able to get an answer about tube rolling? Have to agree with @Marzipan here - theyâre made to be rolled! 
Yes, it voids your warranty.
If you trust yourself enough, I would not shy away from doing it - itâs a great way to get a sound you may like better (or is subjectively better depending on your taste)!
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I want to try it in the near future.
Do post your results!
