Got the IFi iCan Pro home for testing and comparison to my reference amp; Moon 600i by SimAudio.
Some thoughts after 1,5 week of burn in and listening test: ( 200 hours burn in with signal passing through on medium volume)
The Ican Pro ( on Tube setting ) wIth the XBass and 3D Holographic set to off, connected with balanced XLR Nordost Valhalla 2 fed buy dCS Puccini SACD/DAC + dCS Puccini Master Clock ( -0,1 ppm jitter value) i
find the the Ifi to be a extreme transient fast amp, with great control / separation. The sound is very precise and handles all sorts of complex music with a glance. It projects eveything like an big Krell FBI amp.
On these parameters the iCan Pro is one of the best headphone amps on the market, or if not the best. ( i have tested about 25 high end headphone / speaker amps the last 3 years time)
Cons:
What i miss out is the musicallity in terms of dynamics , vividness, depth, nuances , air around notes , some micro detail, and it need alot more weight on voices, drums , strings and brass instruments.
It sounds like the tonal setting is raised / elevated, so a gitarr does not sound real, more like a synthetic version for example. Frank Sinatra sounds thin and not genuine , but it is not vail either, It needs more musicallity / warmth in my taste to move your soul just.
It is probably the best headphone amp for a Pro or a amatur studio because of its up right monitor sound.
So the things it does great the Ican Pro does really good, but it needs more refinement and tuning of the musicality from iFi, is my final conclution for my taste.
The Ifi micro BL sounds more vivid, and musical with nuaces and got great warmth. The BL cannot compare with the Ican Pro’s greater aspects i have mention, but it is better in overall musicality, but not as transparent.
The Moon 600i is not that transient fast as the Ican Pro , but it is silky smooth , and calm , airy and musical, with a huge power current reserve on tap so the music sounds more dynamic and overall lifelike. A string or voice sounds very impressive lifelike and got a visceral feel to the sound, but is not that overal consequent and stable as the Ican Pro is, the 600i performance can vary slightly.
( SS , Tube , Tube+ was tested, but i find the tube mode to sound more robust than the other two modes.)
So iFi got some recomendation to try out any tweak, i am glad to test it out to make it sound more musical.
Test equipment:
Headphones: Jps Labs Abyss Phi
Source Material: SACD and DSD , DXD , Tidal 16/44.1 - 24/48 tracks.
Streamer: dCS Network Bridge
Dac’s:
dCS Puccini SACD / DSD DAC and Transport.
Master Word.clock: dCS Puccini U-Clock PUC Ver.2
Chord Hugo 2
Chord Mojo
Chord DAVE/BluII
Ifi iDSD micro Black Lable
( Amps in comparision Ifi Micro iDSD Black Label , Moon 600i V1, Wells Audio Headtrip ,
Power: Isotek Sirius Black Ed.
CAD GC1 Ground control
AudioQuest NRG1000 cables
Other equipment used:
MIT Oracle MA-X Digital Word.Clocking BNC-BNC cables with passive articulation system.
Nordost Valhalla 2 1 meter XLR
Artisan Silver Cabels XLR
Wire World Platinum Eclipse XLR
Harmonix XLR