Great review for what is definitely one of the most compelling all-in-one, no-compromise units on the market today. I have it's 'lesser' stablemate, the CMA600i, but I'd never give it up for one small, but good reason - it has analogue inputs! No vinyl with the Twelve sadly...

Makes sense. The 12M is fabulous, but I ended up getting the iFi Pro iDSD, because it has a “bit” warmer sound what with the tubes. Regardless, the 12M is a beautiful piece, and made me go back and listen to my QP2R more often. Cheers.

Any comparison between the Sony TA-ZH1ES ?

Sorry, cannot help you there. From what I read the Sony is limited with regard to outputs possibly. That said, those who have it like it I would also assume typically good Sony sound as well. There are days I wish I had the CMA12M instead of the iFi, but the iFi is more versatile for my needs. Cheers.

Thx for nice review

Thank you, much appreciated!

I own this unit and have a very newbie question. So this amp can be used with a pair of passive speakers via dual 3 pin?
I'm currently only using it as a headphone amp/dac but would love to utlize it more. Thank you and great review!

Thank you for the compliment. I still think often of the CMA12 Master. It is such a good unit. Unfortunately, you would need a speaker amp to use the CMA with passive speakers. It is only a headphone pre-amp/amp/DAC only.
If you add an amp, I would look for one, which matches the clean sound of the CMA12M, since it is so good. Good luck, and glad you are enjoying it!