[mrarroyo]

I received the D4 "Mamba" and a T3 on Sunday 11/08 and I have been listening to it since. I have not had a desire to listen to any of my big rig amps/dacs and to me this says a lot! The D4 " Mamba" has about 55 hours of burn-in of which about 13 hours have been of actual listening. Normally I would wait at least a couple hundred hours before declaring an unit a dud or a great one! Well, the D4 "Mamba" is IMO a GREAT ONE! It sounded good from the get go.

If I had three words to describe the sound they would be: involving, smooth, and detailed. The sound from the start was smooth w/ no shrillness or harshness, usually it takes at least a couple of hundred hours for an unit to settle and to have this level of clarity. Believe it or not the Grado RS-1 sound extremely cohesive, even, and relaxed. Yet it retains the level of detail, pinpoint accuracy, and extension it is known for.

Normally an SS amp that is properly designed and built can rival tube amps in their presentation and involvement. Sadly there are not many SS amps which IMO achieve such a high level, the D4 "Mamba" is one of them. Coming from a portable is just amazing.

I shall continue to burn the unit in and should have additional comments by this coming weekend. Cheers and congratulations to iBasso for another great product! Do not know how they keep raising the bar but they do.

Note: So far I have been feeding the D4 "Mamba" via the USB cable and not using a 9 volt battery.

 

[tigon_ridge]

^ Cheers!

 

[paulybatz]

Not to hijack the thread...I started one contrasting the D4 and the T3

...I noticed a slight difference with the battery, give it a try...just a little bump in punch with the 9V (I used an alkaline), curious what you find (that was right out of the box, I would anticipate it levels out once broken in).

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrarroyo /img/forum/go_quote.gif Note: So far I have been feeding the D4 "Mamba" via the USB cable and not using a 9 volt battery.

 

[HiFlight]

Quote:

Originally Posted by paulybatz /img/forum/go_quote.gif Not to hijack the thread...I started one contrasting the D4 and the T3 ...I noticed a slight difference with the battery, give it a try...just a little bump in punch with the 9V (I used an alkaline), curious what you find (that was right out of the box, I would anticipate it levels out once broken in).

At our recent mini-meet, with the Topkit equipped D4, no one was able to discern any differences between the USB and Battery positions when using the same source and phones. Perhaps other opamps would perform differently.

 

[jamato8]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HiFlight /img/forum/go_quote.gif At our recent mini-meet, with the Topkit equipped D4, no one was able to discern any differences between the USB and Battery positions when using the same source and phones. Perhaps other opamps would perform differently.

What headphones where used? I don't hear much of any difference either but it would "seem" that more voltage swing with some headphones would be noticeable. I don't get it. Maybe like in some speaker amps you have to do more than double the power from say 100 to 200 watts as it is in the first few watts that sound really matters but more like a 100 to 400 watts or 300 watts to give that headroom on difficult passages and hungry current demands before it is noticeable.

 

[HiFlight]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamato8 /img/forum/go_quote.gif What headphones where used? I don't hear much of any difference either but it would "seem" that more voltage swing with some headphones would be noticeable. I don't get it. Maybe like in some speaker amps you have to do more than double the power from say 100 to 200 watts as it is in the first few watts that sound really matters but more like a 100 to 400 watts or 300 watts to give that headroom on difficult passages and hungry current demands before it is noticeable.

We were using for this comparison recabled Koss KSC-35s.
I think using the higher voltage would show up as an advantage when swinging a higher input voltage. We were using mostly line-in sources which certainly do not overtax the 5v supply of the D4.

 

[jamato8]

Yeah, and the 35 don't need much. I would think the difference would be heard with more demanding phones.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HiFlight /img/forum/go_quote.gif At our recent mini-meet, with the Topkit equipped D4, no one was able to discern any differences between the USB and Battery positions when using the same source and phones. Perhaps other opamps would perform differently.

With the 300 ohm HD600 there is a huge difference in power between the 5v and 9v option. The high impedance phones need voltage swing more than they need current. At 5v it plays about as loud as a Predator or D10 which is moderately loud but not really loud like the 3MOVE or V1, and the HD600 lack punch in the bass with 5v at high volumes (similar to Predator and D10 when pushed too loud with HD600). But at 9v the D4 really kicks it into gear and the HD600 seem 3-5 dB louder with better bass impact. I'll have more power comparisons in my upcoming review, but for now the D4 at 9v is useable with HD600 for bass-heads, and only slightly behind the 3MOVE and V1 in power.

Also, the peeps asking about Livewires with D4, it's a great match. Same with ESW10JPN.

 

[Zai]

I'm really looking forward for a direct comparison with the Pico DAC.

 

[K3cT]

I initially planned to get the D4 but after much deliberation, I ended up with a Gamma1 which would eventually be converted into a Gamma2. Someone in the local circle is bound to have it sooner or later though.

 

[mrarroyo]

I have continued using the D3 "Mamba" as a USB DAC w/o a battery, it now has about 120 hours of burn-in. In my opinion the D4 "Mamba" was getting consistently better over the first 80-90 hours of burn-in with hardly any major swings in its presentation. However in the last 30-40 hours of burn-in the unit's sound although better has gone through a swing for the worst at about 100 or so hours which has rectified itself since.

Basically at 100 hours of burn-in when I briefly used the amp out the sound via my K701 had too much treble energy and was a bit shrill. I also felt the clarity had deteriorated. Thankfully both have reverted back and the sound is once more smooth and detailed.

I will be sending the unit to a few headfiers on Monday. So except for tomorrow I will not be able to post more impressions until its return at the end of December. We will see what the sound will be tomorrow with about 150 hours of burn-in.

 

[skydro]

It would be great if somone could confirm that D4 Mamba sounds good with Yuin PK1-s, then I could place the order.

 

[HiFlight]

Quote:

Originally Posted by skydro /img/forum/go_quote.gif It would be great if somone could confirm that D4 Mamba sounds good with Yuin PK1-s, then I could place the order.

I no longer have my PK1s, but the D4 sounds superb with my OK2s and G1As. As the Yuin G1As require about the same driving power as the PK1s, I would expect them to also work as well with the D4.

 

[Wingsabr]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrarroyo /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have continued using the D3 "Mamba" as a USB DAC w/o a battery, it now has about 120 hours of burn-in. In my opinion the D4 "Mamba" was getting consistently better over the first 80-90 hours of burn-in with hardly any major swings in its presentation. However in the last 30-40 hours of burn-in the unit's sound although better has gone through a swing for the worst at about 100 or so hours which has rectified itself since. Basically at 100 hours of burn-in when I briefly used the amp out the sound via my K701 had too much treble energy and was a bit shrill. I also felt the clarity had deteriorated. Thankfully both have reverted back and the sound is once more smooth and detailed. I will be sending the unit to a few headfiers on Monday. So except for tomorrow I will not be able to post more impressions until its return at the end of December. We will see what the sound will be tomorrow with about 150 hours of burn-in.

interesting, I found the same thing happen with my D2+ boa. I'm at 110 and things seem to be rounding back out. Looking forward to the "magical" 200 hr mark.

 

[pjaires]

Now i have an d4 that rocks...
Some months ago I sell an D3 and bought am meier 3move... I think 3 move is an excelent amp... it have power, it's warm, with great bass, and a smooth treble... it works very well with my inears...
But I miss the soundstage, the feeling of the ibasso... is sound quality is something sweet, like an candy

With my sr60, and porta pro the D3 was just nice.

Now I have the 3move and the MAMBA!!!!

AND LET ME TELL YOU, AS WE SAY HERE IT'S JUST FROM ANOTHER LEAGUE!!!!

SQ is fantastic... just right from the box...no burn, no re-burn, nothing... it sounds so good with all my phones... I'm just waiting for my news seenheiser 380 pro.

THE sound is: highs great, midi great, lows great...

I love my D4.

Now I think it's a little better then the 3move...but i have to compare the two with some time and after I'll pass my conclusions.

If you need an amp just buy the D4