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The OTW #3 raised a few questions for me:
Most importantly, How will the headphone amp compare to the ican micro?
Is the headphone amp on the micro idsd discrete or does it employ oamps?
Is the amp class A or the more common class D?
Will the Ican micro be updated to keep up with the new idsd micro? (I was planning on using it with the ifi micro stack but on paper it seems to be duplicating most of the functions)
Hi,
In Turbo mode the iDSD HP Amp outdoes the iCan Micro on power. We are fast encroaching on OTW#2 - so we'll plead the fifth here, just for another few more days.
Where the iCan micro uses discreet Class A "Valve-state" circuitry, the iDSD micro uses a sweet sounding Op-Amp (carefully selected and chosen for the actual circuit in mind. It is a tad more expensive than generic "Audio Op-Amp's" such as the 5532 but worth it).
So the iCan micro may offer a bit more relaxed sound and immediacy, the iDSD micro HP Amp has more drive and oomph (in Turbo mode).
The iCan micro has more possible 3D Sound and XBass settings as well.
Latte or Mocha? Both aim please.
The amplification in the iDSD micro is pure Class A for the DAC analogue stage and the preamp stage. The final headphone driver section is current feedback class AB, with a lot of "Class A".
No Class D in sight, not our thing.
Bottomline: one thing AMR/iFi would never do is put all the effort into the DAC section and muck up it up with a poor amp section where people dont pay as much attention.
ps No plans at the moment for revising the iCAN as it is one of our top sellers.
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