[tassardar]

I agree on the fact that lcd4 is decent but not the best with the iha6. When I was purchasing headphones and testing it at the shop, I compared with direct from TT, amp by CDM and amp by Iha6.

The hd800s is best from direct from TT
The he1000 was best from iha6
The lcd4 sounded best from cdm (the shop owner felt it's different but not better)
The abyss is better from iha6

I don't have access to a even better amp so maybe when one day I do and have another of the flagships at home, I'll compare again (sold my hd800s since the abyss felt quite some bit better)

 

[tassardar]

I use to say the IHA6 loses transparency and some air to the TT. Today my distributor sent me a pair of power cables and conditioner to trial. Now I can safely say, with the cable and conditioner upgrade, the IHA6 had more soundstage and air. Details are also slightly better now. My conclusion now is this: TT is superior to many amp in sound due to the fact it runs on battery and super capacitor. Clean up the power and amps have a better choice. 

That said the improvement is really small. Its like moving from 98->102 edging out the TT at 100. Im using IsoTek Polaris ad Premium Cables which is relatively low cost. 

 

[Andykong]

Indeed iDAC-6 and iHA6 are responsive to power improvement, and Asian countries, where population density are in general higher then North America, is particular important because our power supply are indeed not in a good shape when compare to our Western friends.

While the effect of cable has been a controversial issue, the effective of power conditioning equipment are generally accepted, and I find HeadFi equipment are particular responsive to power improvement. I have a Regeneration type Power Conditioner at my home rig, it really helps, and I can have the peace of mind that the power supply have been taking care of. Of course I can invest in a PS Audio P5 if budget allow.

I do encourage everyone pay serious attention to their power supply issue, with or without Cayin equipment in the chain.

 

[tassardar]

Indeed iDAC-6 and iHA6 are responsive to power improvement, and Asian countries, where population density are in general higher then North America, is particular important because our power supply are indeed not in a good shape when compare to our Western friends.

While the effect of cable has been a controversial issue, the effective of power conditioning equipment are generally accepted, and I find HeadFi equipment are particular responsive to power improvement. I have a Regeneration type Power Conditioner at my home rig, it really helps, and I can have the peace of mind that the power supply have been taking care of. Of course I can invest in a PS Audio P5 if budget allow.

I do encourage everyone pay serious attention to their power supply issue, with or without Cayin equipment in the chain.

Actually why don't cayin just launch a power conditioning unit to complete the amp dac power stack. Probably at a good price too and definitely after conditioning it will be quite on par with many brands which cost more even if you factor in the conditioner cost.

 

[Andykong]

Actually why don't cayin just launch a power conditioning unit to complete the amp dac power stack. Probably at a good price too and definitely after conditioning it will be quite on par with many brands which cost more even if you factor in the conditioner cost.

AC power conditioning will need to cope with local power supply specification (220V-240V, 110V, 100V, and then 50Hz vs 60Hz) given the volume of iDAC-6 and iHA-6 at international market, we can't afford to develop a power product like that, and we believe your local market will have decent choice that is safe and authorized under local legislation.

Maybe when we have enough user base in the iDAC-6/iHA-6 community, I can persuade our R&D team to develop something along this line. That would be a very happy new project to Cayin.

 

[tassardar]

AC power conditioning will need to cope with local power supply specification (220V-240V, 110V, 100V, and then 50Hz vs 60Hz) given the volume of iDAC-6 and iHA-6 at international market, we can't afford to develop a power product like that, and we believe your local market will have decent choice that is safe and authorized under local legislation.

Maybe when we have enough user base in the iDAC-6/iHA-6 community, I can persuade our R&D team to develop something along this line. That would be a very happy new project to Cayin.

Yeah! The thing is the cayin's are more desktop friendly then rack. Most conditioner will be a large strip else a rack size item. It will be a nice item to just stack them together. A nice conditioner the same size with 3 sockets will make it a really neat and good looking stack that sounds fantastic.

 

[wadi]

I just placed an order for iHA-6. I'm planning to use iHA-6 with 4 pin XLR balanced headphone cables. The problem is my dac has only RCA outputs so i guess there will be a penalty if i use RCA inputs of iHA-6 since it is a fully balanced amp. Does using a rca to xlr cable as linked below help that or should i use a pair of standart RCA cables until i get a balanced dac?
 
https://www.amazon.com/Monoprice-104777-6-Feet-Premier-16AWG/dp/B001VLW398

 

[tassardar]

  I just placed an order for iHA-6. I'm planning to use iHA-6 with 4 pin XLR balanced headphone cables. The problem is my dac has only RCA outputs so i guess there will be a penalty if i use RCA inputs of iHA-6 since it is a fully balanced amp. Does using a rca to xlr cable as linked below help that or should i use a pair of standart RCA cables until i get a balanced dac?
 
https://www.amazon.com/Monoprice-104777-6-Feet-Premier-16AWG/dp/B001VLW398

You should just use RCA till you get a balanced DAC. Also the internal RCA to Bal convertor for IHA6 is pretty good.

 

[rigo]

  You should just use RCA till you get a balanced DAC. Also the internal RCA to Bal convertor for IHA6 is pretty good.

I agree using RCA will not be much of a dropoff, especially if you are using balanced cables on the headphone.  This amp is really impressive.  I'm so confident that it will drive any of my future headphones that I am considering transferring my Cavalli Gold purchase.  Still not sure, but at 1/4 the price the iHA 6 is a great deal.   

 

[Andykong]

I just placed an order for iHA-6. I'm planning to use iHA-6 with 4 pin XLR balanced headphone cables. The problem is my dac has only RCA outputs so i guess there will be a penalty if i use RCA inputs of iHA-6 since it is a fully balanced amp. Does using a rca to xlr cable as linked below help that or should i use a pair of standart RCA cables until i get a balanced dac?

https://www.amazon.com/Monoprice-104777-6-Feet-Premier-16AWG/dp/B001VLW398

Glad to see your question have been well-responded by other users promptly, so you can have peace of mind to use your current DAC with iHA-6 without worrying on the RCA/XLR issue.

By the way, care to share with us what DAC you are using right now? and what headphones did you plan to use with the iHA-6?

 

[Andykong]

I agree using RCA will not be much of a dropoff, especially if you are using balanced cables on the headphone.  This amp is really impressive.  I'm so confident that it will drive any of my future headphones that I am considering transferring my Cavalli Gold purchase.  Still not sure, but at 1/4 the price the iHA 6 is a great deal.   

Glad you like the iHA-6, I consider myself directly responsible for that at SoCal.

So you are upgrading with momentum, from iHA-6 to LAu is a big step, On the other hand, I do advice you spending some of your resource to build up your headphone library (yes, l mean LIBRARY ), or at least tried out more headphones seriously (at home environment). Your true love(s) probably are waiting out there for your to explore, make sure you have a strong target before your next move.

 

[grizzlybeast]

 
You should just use RCA till you get a balanced DAC. Also the internal RCA to Bal convertor for IHA6 is pretty good.

I agree using RCA will not be much of a dropoff, especially if you are using balanced cables on the headphone.  This amp is really impressive.  I'm so confident that it will drive any of my future headphones that I am considering transferring my Cavalli Gold purchase.  Still not sure, but at 1/4 the price the iHA 6 is a great deal.   

Are you liking the cayin stack more than the master 11?

 

[wadi]

Glad to see your question have been well-responded by other users promptly, so you can have peace of mind to use your current DAC with iHA-6 without worrying on the RCA/XLR issue.

By the way, care to share with us what DAC you are using right now? and what headphones did you plan to use with the iHA-6?

 
I have Bifrost Multibit and He-560 right now. I might consider upgrading Bifrost Multibit to a balanced dac in the future.

 

[rigo]

Glad you like the iHA-6, I consider myself directly responsible for that at SoCal.

So you are upgrading with momentum, from iHA-6 to LAu is a big step, On the other hand, I do advice you spending some of your resource to build up your headphone library (yes, l mean LIBRARY

), or at least tried out more headphones seriously (at home environment). Your true love(s) probably are waiting out there for your to explore, make sure you have a strong target before your next move.

At this point most likely not going that route.  I definitely want to keep my headphone inventory to about 3 - 1 portable and 2  home phones.  

 

[rigo]

Are you liking the cayin stack more than the master 11?

I found myself listening more to the Cayin stack over time.  Some of it had to do with downsizing and space.  Because they were in different locations I never did a direct comparison, although to me there was something about the bass that I enjoyed a bit more with the stack.