[oqvist]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrarroyo /img/forum/go_quote.gif ^ oqvist your impression of the K701 w/ the Heed CanAmp is totally different from mine and many others. The two have great synergy and the sound is punchy, warm yet detailed and very engaging. Very surprised by your post.

Everything is relative of course... I have only run the K701 with the Heed and I am compairing it with apart from live sound and other headphones of course. The K701 are still on the bright side also on the Heed. True I only have 500 hours approx on it if what is mentioned to me is true so I am working hard with my pink noise but I don´t ever expect they will be close to neutral with my setup (Keces 131 mk 2/Heed Canamp/AKG 701. The K.I.C.A.S or Solo is more for my other headphones but will try it with the 701s of course.

 

[richardh123]

Has anyone heard from Dan, I have been trying to contact him about purchasing a canamp but I haven't been able to reach him.

 

[El Cucuy]

Since this post, Richard did get his CanAmp order shipped to him. I've got them in stock now and ready to ship more.

Quote:

Originally Posted by richardh123 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Has anyone heard from Dan, I have been trying to contact him about purchasing a canamp but I haven't been able to reach him.

 

[oqvist]

Gained some more experience with dedicated headphone amps... Crushing victory for the Canamp versus the EF 1 for my 701s and PRO 900s.

The MUCH bigger soundstage and "3d sound" and better bass extension was the key. May be wrong but both my PRO 900 but especially the K701 felt much more powerful with better dynamics with the Heed.

However I wonder anyone here found some amps that offer even larger soundstage?
I have never seen some mentioned. Even when reviewers preferred other amps for the Hd 650 for example the Canamp was mentioned having the biggest soundstage.

 

[richardh123]

Got my canamp this past Saturday and it is just amazing. I am now going through and rediscovering all my old music, it is definitely way better than my amp from the zero dac w/ lt1364 opamp! Thanks so much to Dan for being so patient with me and the great service.

 

[AsTimeGoesBy]

How much for the Canamp now?

 

[El Cucuy]

Suggested list has been 450.00 for roughly the last year and a half or so.
As I won't sell into other dealer's territories, private message me with your location and I'll be happy to point you to the nearest dealer in your area. If there is none, I'll be happy to assist you in any way I can.

 

[Thundernuts]

Have you guys seen this thing..?

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[Mingo]

I have almost decided on a CanAmp, but I must say that the amp gets very mixed reviews.
In Stereo (German hifi mag) April 2009 it gets 78% out of 100, and a Swedish mag Hifi&Musik are not too happy about it. On the other hand HiFi Choice (GB) gives it a Best Buy.
I have placed my faith in the many owners of AKG K 701 who have praised it very much as I have the same headphone.
What I do not understand is how you can differ so much in opinion when it comes to the same product.
Can you rely on magazine reviews at all?

 

[Thundernuts]

Hey Mingo - did you take a look at the link from my previous post?

Here it is again:
Audio DG Compass $258
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These Audio D-G guys are packing about $2.5K worth of sonic goodness into single component going for about half the price of a CanAmp.

With the Compass, you're getting a high-end DAC, fully-discrete Headphone Amp, quality power supply, AND a pre-amplifier all in one.

I recently paid way too much for a custom dual-channel OPA627 PIMETA, which admittedly sounds great, but it will never make crappy sources sound better. The Compass will, because it will bypass all the mistakes your digital source and source outputs are making.

The difference a good source can make can be like changing from a cassette to CD, it is that obvious. I thought my $700 digital TV tuner sounded great, until i used a DAC to bypass it's crapty outputs and couldn't believe the difference. No more sibilence, no more glare, no more annoying hiss. Just sweet, sweet sound.

With an inbuilt DAC, you're already miles ahead, because you can simply use any digital source as a transport, which is all most digital sources are good for.

Unless you're source is $1k+, this unit will already be outperforming any signal you plug into a CanAmp.

Have a look at the build quality on some of their other products:

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[Thundernuts]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thundernuts /img/forum/go_quote.gif With an inbuilt DAC, you're already miles ahead, because you can simply use any digital source as a transport, which is all most digital sources are good for. Unless you're source is $1k+, this unit will already be outperforming any signal you plug into a CanAmp. [/url]

Forgot to mention - a DAC will provide even more value if you're using a cheap portable source like Discman or MP3 player, as long as it has a digital output. The Compass has multiple digital inputs unlike poorer quality USB DACS. This is something to consider. A DAC can undo most of the sins that portable sources are forced to commit due to the limitation portable sources have with their size, power supply, design and lack of quality components.

 

[oqvist]

Mingo I don´t know why it get bad reviews. With the low impedance headphones I got it does great. Don´t know about the Denons since I didn´t have the chance to try it on other amps but amazing for my Ultrasones and particularly the AKG K701... The Canamp is the only amp where I get some use of them. Just to dry, steril and unmusical otherwise.

Maybe they have amps in the 1000$ range that is better and rank it against those? Many also seem to use the sennheisers for reference. There is other amps that generally get the nod for those.

 

[Mingo]

The review in Stereo 4-2009 (78%) was compared to the other contestants:
Creek OBH-21 SE 94%
Lehmann Audio Rhinelander 95%
Pro-ject Head-Box SE II 83%
SPL 2 Control 100%
Musical Fidelity V-Can 90%

I am somewhat surprised that the Pro-Ject fared better as it is much cheaper.
Also the glowing review of the V-Can surprised me, but it fared just as well in HiFi&Musik.
On the other hand What HiFi certainly did not like it. So for a newbie like me things are complicated, as I cannot listen to headphone amps in my area.
The Compass as Thundernuts mentioned is a very interesting amp and I shall take that into consideration. The price is very attractive, but customs duties and handling by the Danish post are rather expensive, so all together it will be the same price as the CanAmp.
I realize that it is very good value all the same.
So I have some more thinking to do.
Thanks for your comments. I try to learn all the time, and this site is a great help.

 

[Thundernuts]

Hey Mingo - be careful with advice you have to pay for - magazines are notorious for favouritism and usually is the opinion of only one person. (who sometimes get to keep a product if they review it favourably, or have an advertising account with the manufacturer). If that person doesn't like a feature, look or feel, it may cloud their opinion.

Also, from the reviewer's perspective, local products like the Creek are from Britain, so the reviewers may see this as having a price and service advantage over the American CanAmp. The What Hi-Fi? Star system is mainly based on value to cost ratio, but even some of their recommendation i would have to disagree with, even when based on value.

For example, being from Denmark, you'd appreciate how great Dynaudio speakers are. What Hi-Fi? reviewed both the Dynaudio Audience 52s and Dynaudio 42s, which are similar speakers. The Dynaudio 42s had a big price advantage over the 52s, being about $500 cheaper, and also benefited from a more natural soundstage, but What Hi-Fi? rated the 52s higher simply because of the slightly deeper bass sound, despite a 30% difference in price. Since then, What Hi-Fi? have again revised their ratings for the 52s, so their opinions can be somewhat changeable, and is by no means definitive. We sometimes forget reviewers are not engineers, or blessed with supernatural hearing. Many of them are only part-time journalists and often have no more authority of opinion or relevant experience or information to offer than anyone else with eyes or ears.

 

[El Cucuy]

Whenever possible, advantage lies in listening for yourself. The problem with finding a personal audition of the CanAmp is that it does not have such deep market penetration as older, more established brands. They are a "younger" company by comparison dating back to the 1990's with their involvement in ION systems but actually had a lot of involvement in the audio industry dating back to 1987.
Heed is a Hungarian company, not American. Their pricing is positioned to be very reasonable when compared to other such products in the vast sea of home stereo components. They are not or should not be thrown in with the every day electronics of 300.00 receivers and such. Their components compete performance-wise with and compare to more closely to such brands as Rega, Naim, Cyrus and early Linn back when they offered the smaller LK series. I'd like to think they (Heed) are in good company. Are they the last word in headphone amps? I doubt that. But they do offer very musical (by this I mean enjoyable) performance at what many still perceive as reasonable pricing. The CanAmp is not their only product: their efforts with their Obelisk integrated amp are also paying off with its optional external power supply and optional DAC card or phono card. They make a wonderful sounding two piece Phono stage, the Quasar. Much of their beauty is in the simplicity of their design and no nonsense approach to delivering an enjoyable listening experience to their customer base. I can appreciate this. Go to their website once you click on your language of choice, the first page you get into will pretty much sum it up for you. I kind of like their attitude and spirit. From there, if you wish to, read their "about us" page for a more detailed history.
There is a large body of experience posted right here in this thread to draw on.
I agree with Thundernuts' view of reviewers - to a point. Just like anything you might read online here, the writer might have an axe to grind or (in my case) benefit from sales. I'd like to think I've always been up-front about what I do, being a dealer and it is documented in these pages when I've directed sales to more appropriate venues than my own. I do think though, that the bulk of experiences in this thread are valuable opinions from people just like any of us, who have laid out their own money to make that leap of faith purchase to find out what it's all about and have posted the results online here. Many have been glowing reviews... others have failed to see what's the big deal while still others would prefer something a little different. Hey, that's what makes the world go 'round.
I really don't read printed reviews with the same skepticism as our friend here. I take their writings as an opinion... And whenever I have opportunity to, I'll listen for myself.