Ever since its debut, I’ve been a big fan of the AKM 4490 chip in almost every device I’ve heard it in.  The Bifrost 4490 was a great midlevel DAC, I love the m9XX and the Modi 2 Uber with 4490 is an incredible value.  So, when I saw the Cayin iDAC6, I was extremely intrigued.  First, it was the only implementation I had seen that used dual AKM 4490 chips.  Secondly, it had the option of going fully balanced, and also having the ability to choose between tube and solid state analog output stages.     I bought my unit from another Head-Fier used...

    Intro - Context for the purchase (Read this if you want to understand where I am coming from when relating to this headphone.  I like to create a narrative to my reviews, but strictly speaking this portion isn't actually about the headphone, but rather helping to understand my frame of reference).   Unboxing/Accessories: Aesthetics/Pads/Cable: Amp Pairings: Burn-in/Isolation:   So… Finally… The Sound:   Starting with the various parts of the frequency response:   Bass (9.5/10 overall) - quantity 9.5/10, impact 9.5/10...

In the last year, I changed my approach to headphone setups.  At one point I had a desktop setup for the HD650 (Bifrost + Lyr), a mobile amp with various portable cans I've owned (various FiiO products), and a small, work setup (Modi+Magni stack) for my Shure SRH840.  What I realized is that a large portion of the time I was not using any of that stuff and i was often simply using my Grados or KSC75s through my iPhone because it's convenient and I could do chores around the house or walk the dog.  I was spending a majority of my time with my least...

I was looking for a work solution to drive my relatively low impedance headphones I use at work (Shure SRH840 and Grado SR225e), while also being able to feed my powered desktop speakers (BOSE companion II).  As I don't do critical listening at work, I didn't need the highest level of audio quality, but I needed something small and portable so that I could easily put it in my briefcase when leaving for the weekends, etc.  I also wanted it to look okay, but have a fairly small footprint.  I looked at a lot of products and ended up trying this and the...