I've got the iDAC-6 + iHA-6 stack along with the Kennerton Vali headphones right now. I'm mainly doing this out of curiosity, as I'm much more of a portable audio listener (DAP + IEM). My personal headphone setup consists of DAP COAX OUT -> Aune X1S DAC/AMP -> modded HE400. Unfortunately, my HE400 are out for a headband mod right now. Hoping to get them back before I move the Cayin + Kennerton kit up to Seattle.
So with that preamble out of the way, here's my experience with the tour setup...
I first listened to Cayin N5 DAP via LO ->iHA-6 -> Vali. It was too bright / edgy for me with noticeable sibilance hiss after each S and soundstage was pretty closed in. I didn't last long before pulling the plug on this experiment.
Moving right along, I switched to N5 via COAX OUT -> iDAC-6 -> iHA-6 -> Vali. Playing around with the settings a bit, I settled on Vacuum Tube + Slow Filter on iDAC-6 and Low Current and Low Gain out of the High SE 1/4" HO. Whew, there's
A LOT to play with!!! Be prepared to get your audiophile geek on
Before I started playing around, I was getting a brighter / edgier sound than I liked. After finding my preferred (at least for now
) settings, the sound is now smooth and enjoyable. Soundstage isn't anything to write home about with this setup, though. I have the feeling Vali is the limiting factor as far as soundstage goes, though.
Not much else to say about the setup right now. I might go back and try out N5 LO -> iHA-6 with High SE, though. I'd tried it via Balanced Out before. Maybe High SE will make a difference.