Nice review Peter! I have to agree with you about not using an EQ.  I too never use an EQ.  Heck I can't even spell it!
 
Cheers/Charlie   

LOL! Thanks Charlie, thanks for the EQ support as well.
 
How to EQ close to 100 hedphones/IEM's across at least five different set ups? Beats me

Erm, is this a rebranded Astrapi? Would love to know.

@avitron142  Cozoy and SHOZY are the same company AFAIK but the products are not the same

Nice Reaview Peter!  impressive testing procedure you developed that paid
off with ability to make comparisons with other mini usb dac amps at matched levels
of sound.  sounds like a winning device for maximum portability.  Im blown away
by the quality of my Denon DA10 but its HUGE. the new Apogee Groove is a fantastic 
design with 8 sabre dacs in it, but doesn't work with phones, only computer output
(unless you are crazy like me and create a Y cable power/signal workaround that
is clumsy at best...)  so the SHOZY device seems like a new niche product...BRAVO.\

Thank you for your kind words drblue. Yes given its tiny sice the Lancea is indeed impressive. THB I prefer it's sound over the GO720 but the connection problems and inconsistent compatibility with Android players made me drop a star on the total judgement. The developement on these kind of devices is very interesting. 

Peter, congrats my friend for your nice review! I have yet to compare the Lancea to Astrapi (still auditioning Lancea), but I have seen that Shozy/Cozoy came along way from the predecessor when it comes to build quality...

Thank you Baybars! I'm really looking forward to hear how the Lancea holds up compared to the Astrapi.

isn't this also the same as the following, but $50 more expensive? http://www.amazon.com/COZOY-Astrapi-Amplifier-Android-iPhone6/dp/B00UV8PBRI/

Eh no, that's the Cozoy Astrapi it's a different produt.

Nice review Btw what iems are in the pictures.  Anyways great job on this man

Thank you @cylpol1 ! 
 
The IEM's are the Venture Electronics Duke, amazing things ;

GREAT job Peter!!! I'm a fan of Charles stuff - love my Shozy Alien (was in the II?  - I got the 2nd one) and the Astrapi.
I was psyched to read this - very informative and direct and it was a fantastic review - kept me readin' and drew a total picture.
BIG thumbs up! I wonder how this would do against HRT's iDSP! I'm getting the Aegis from COZOY / Shozy for review, and your piece got me even more pumped!!

Thanks a lot for the kind words @mikemercer  . Then Lancea is indeed a great product.
 
I'm certainly looking forward to your Aegis review as it seem to be a very nice product and the one to beat in this segment at the moment.

Hi Peter, since today, I've got a Lancea as well. Just having taken down some paper notes about my first impressions of sound with dynamic driver IEMs, I was browsing the internet to find some more technical specs about that little DAC, wherefore I stumbled across your review. I have to say that what you have perceived about sound (especially versus the GO) is also what I perceive - imho the GO has got a nice soundstage with impressive depth, but a bit less than average width in comparison to other Sabre implementations. The Lancea has got a just as impressive depth, but with audibly more width and sounds overall more spacious. Gotta listen take some more time to get a clearer impression (haven't tested with multi-BAs yet), but what I hear now (digital-ish clear yet smooth sound) is extremely good.

After some more critical listening and measurements, I am a little disappointed by now - as now I know where the Lancea gets its smooth yet digitally-precise sound from: the guys at Shozy have added a gentle EQ-curve to the frequency response, smoothening out strenuousness. Imho, this wouldn't have been necessary, as the Lancea is dry, fast and high resolving with a good soundstage and it really makes me sad that the FR is not neutral but tweaked to get some more smoothness.