[jagu]

Travelling to US in a couple of weeks and thinking of bying the ican while I am there. We have 230V in Sweden and I see from pictures that I only need to change the power cord to use it in Sweden, right? Can someone confirm?

 

[technobear]

What is ESL-Link?

This is the socket for the electrostatic headphone adaptor.

Also, can someone post a picture of the remote?

Finally, is the manual on-line anywhere?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_JxnM2KPwG4UFg0RXFraDlnM1k/view?pref=2&pli=1

 

[technobear]

Travelling to US in a couple of weeks and thinking of bying the ican while I am there. We have 230V in Sweden and I see from pictures that I only need to change the power cord to use it in Sweden, right? Can someone confirm?

If you click on this picture to expand it, your question will be answered...

 

[Allanmarcus]

Wow, just read the manual. This amp has an incredible feature set. I'm so tempted, but I generally not an early adopter. I usually like to wait until there are more reviews and any bugs discovered in general use are ironed out. Also, I prefer for for the price to drop a bit, either with discounting or used

Has anyone tried powering speakers from the TRS jack?

Also, any news or details on the ESL module?

 

[Allanmarcus]

The more I think about it, the more more dubious I get. According to the specs page:
 
Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR, Balanced/Single-Ended):    >147dB(A) / > 137dB(A)
 
That's pretty darned high. Also, what does the (A) mean? A-wt? At what wattage was this measurement taken? 
 
Also $1700 is what a Ragnarok sells for and almost as much as a WA22. Sure, you get tube and SS, but as a friend pointed out, jack of all, master of none. Sounds like the Pro competes with the Mjolnir 2, which is $929 to get both tubes and SS LISST "tubes". Sure, there something to be said for the convenience of an all in one, but that's over $700 for that feature. XBass, 3D, and a volume remote ain't worth $700.
 
Also, some more info on the ESL module (pricing, specs, anything, would be really useful.
 
Anyone know if iFi Audio will be sending out sample units to the usual set of reviewers? Possible even a loaner tour to us common folk for testing and impressions?

 

[Trogdor]

The more I think about it, the more more dubious I get. According to the specs page:

Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR, Balanced/Single-Ended):    >147dB(A) / > 137dB(A)

That's pretty darned high. Also, what does the (A) mean? A-wt? At what wattage was this measurement taken? 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-weighting

Also $1700 is what a Ragnarok sells for and almost as much as a WA22. Sure, you get tube and SS, but as a friend pointed out, jack of all, master of none.

Your friend of course heard the iCan PRO to make that assessment? Right?

Sounds like the Pro competes with the Mjolnir 2, which is $929 to get both tubes and SS LISST "tubes". Sure, there something to be said for the convenience of an all in one, but that's over $700 for that feature. XBass, 3D, and a volume remote ain't worth $700.

I think you are trying to convince yourself of something.

Also, some more info on the ESL module (pricing, specs, anything, would be really useful.

Anyone know if iFi Audio will be sending out sample units to the usual set of reviewers? Possible even a loaner tour to us common folk for testing and impressions?

Yes!

 

[Allanmarcus]

The more I think about it, the more more dubious I get. According to the specs page:

Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR, Balanced/Single-Ended):    >147dB(A) / > 137dB(A)

That's pretty darned high. Also, what does the (A) mean? A-wt? At what wattage was this measurement taken? 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-weighting

Also $1700 is what a Ragnarok sells for and almost as much as a WA22. Sure, you get tube and SS, but as a friend pointed out, jack of all, master of none.

Your friend of course heard the iCan PRO to make that assessment? Right?

Sounds like the Pro competes with the Mjolnir 2, which is $929 to get both tubes and SS LISST "tubes". Sure, there something to be said for the convenience of an all in one, but that's over $700 for that feature. XBass, 3D, and a volume remote ain't worth $700.

I think you are trying to convince yourself of something.

Also, some more info on the ESL module (pricing, specs, anything, would be really useful.

Anyone know if iFi Audio will be sending out sample units to the usual set of reviewers? Possible even a loaner tour to us common folk for testing and impressions?

Yes!

Thanks for the Wikipedia link. I'll be reading that.

As for the jack of all trades comment, that is just general wisdom, and a potential concern here. Only the general consensus of reviews will confirm or deny if this amp can buck that convention wisdom. I hope the amp lives up to its marketing; it has all the features I want (except VU meters

I'm trying convince myself that this amp is worth $1700. I would sell my LC, crack, and oppo HA-1 to get the pro (at full retail). That's a big leap. For now, I'll just wait for reviews, a loaner (if I'm lucky), or check it out at RMAF.

Thanks for the comments.

 

[Trogdor]

Thanks for the Wikipedia link. I'll be reading that.

As for the jake of all trades comment, that is just general wisdom, and a potential concern here. Only the general consensus of reviews will confirm or deny if this amp can buck that convention wisdom. I hope the amp lives up to its marketing; it has all the features I want (except VU meters

I'm trying convince myself that this amp is worth $1700. I would sell my LC, crack, and oppo HA-1 to get the pro (at full retail). That's a big leap. For now, I'll just wait for reviews, a loaner (if I'm lucky), or check it out at RMAF.

Thanks for the comments.

What I'm trying to say to you (gently) is chill and wait for reviews. You are trying to convince yourself of various things without having all the facts. Listening to a friend's gross oversimplification of a design based on a few specs is kinda silly to me (even if he turns out to be right).

I've heard the iCAN PRO with the HE-1K and I can tell you it sounded stellar. I mean absolutely stellar (and note: I'm a HUGE Schiit fan as well so if you said to me you are saving up for a Raggy/Yggy combo instead you would get absolutely no back talk out of me!).

I also think (actually know) the iDSD PRO is also right around the corner. Good things are happening. Patience!

 

[EVOLVIST]

Thanks for the Wikipedia link. I'll be reading that.

As for the jake of all trades comment, that is just general wisdom, and a potential concern here. Only the general consensus of reviews will confirm or deny if this amp can buck that convention wisdom. I hope the amp lives up to its marketing; it has all the features I want (except VU meters

I'm trying convince myself that this amp is worth $1700. I would sell my LC, crack, and oppo HA-1 to get the pro (at full retail). That's a big leap. For now, I'll just wait for reviews, a loaner (if I'm lucky), or check it out at RMAF.

Thanks for the comments.

 
I wish I could give you more of a review, but I've only had my iCAN Pro since Friday, and it's been burning in every since (two more weeks to go). It has some stiff completion going up against my SPL Auditor.
 
What I can tell you, though, and maybe this is a little bit of my own self discovery; in the past when I have heard my HD800s, plugged in balanced via two 3-pin XLRs, I had never heard a difference in soundstage with other amps. The Auditor is balanced via digital means (I don't know how) to give the aura of a truly balanced amp. Finally, however, once I plugged my dual 3-pin XLRs into the iCAN Pro I can certainly tell the difference between single-ended in the iCAN Pro vs. Balanced. In other words, the iCAN Pro has just a large of a soundstage as my SPL Auditor. This is a good thing!
 
The only question I have from here, then, is if that's enough for me to keep the iCAN Pro. Now, I don't buy to return items. That's never been my method. But since I'm just burning in, I won't truly know until I've put enough hours in it. I can tell that just like any other piece of gear I've bought new, It still has that slight edge to music that always goes away with sufficient burn in. Let's see if that's the case here.
 
All said, it's the iDSD Pro I'm looking forward to the most.
 
Also, I'm curious as to why I would need the gain up 18db to really drive my HD800s without burying the volume far to the right.

 

[grdlow]

  Also, I'm curious as to why I would need the gain up 18db to really drive my HD800s without burying the volume far to the right.

 
I reckon it has to do with the output level of your source. Balanced outputs will sound louder than single ended outputs.  

 

[EVOLVIST]

I reckon it has to do with the output level of your source. Balanced outputs will sound louder than single ended outputs.  

Yeah, I'm sure, as I'm still going RCA to XLR out of my iDSD micro. It makes me sure wish the iDSD Pro would hurry up and get here.

 

[Allanmarcus]

I reckon it has to do with the output level of your source. Balanced outputs will sound louder than single ended outputs.  

Yeah, I'm sure, as I'm still going RCA to XLR out of my iDSD micro. It makes me sure wish the iDSD Pro would hurry up and get here.

I don't think a balanced output of a DAC will sound louder. The balanced output to headphones will have more power than to the SE output for headphones, but you will be hard pressed to hear any difference between balanced or RCA output of a DAC.

 

[lukeap69]

I don't think a balanced output of a DAC will sound louder. The balanced output to headphones will have more power than to the SE output for headphones, but you will be hard pressed to hear any difference between balanced or RCA output of a DAC.

The balanced output of my Audio-gd NFB-1DAC is 'louder' than its SE output. This is my experience both using Gustard H10 and Schiit Ragnarok.

 

[EVOLVIST]

The balanced output of my Audio-gd NFB-1DAC is 'louder' than its SE output. This is my experience both using Gustard H10 and Schiit Ragnarok.

That's my experience with all XLR outputs from DAC to Amp.

 

[Allanmarcus]

My apologies. I just looked at the specs on the audio-Gd, and the output is double on the XLR over the RCA. My experience is too limited, but I learned something today. Thanks.