[BarDash]

  I got this in for review. Here is my 'first look' video:
 

Thanks for that, are you gonna follow up with a full review & impressions in the near future?

 

[Mediahound]

 
Thanks for that, are you gonna follow up with a full review & impressions in the near future?

I may not do a review video, but a written review on head-fi. 

 

[BarDash]

  I may not do a review video, but a written review on head-fi. 

Perfect! I own this now going on a little over a month and am very happy with my purchase. Looking forward to your review. (video or written

 

[iFi audio]

I'm going to order the ican pro in the next couple of weeks and I'm planning on adding a power amp to drive some bookshelf/stand mount speakers,is there anything I should bare in mind to ensure a good match between the two components ?
So far the one I have in mind is the compact d-class amp from Ghent Audio.
If anyone has any thoughts on alternatives or impressions of the pro as a preamp I'd be pleased to hear them.
Thanks.

 
Preference would go to a fully balanced amplifier (with balanced inputs which remains balanced throughout - without conversion to SE anywhere inside our product) adapted to pro-audio input levels (e.g. +20dBu for full power) and a high class A bias design in class AB. 
 
Alternatively a design with true balanced inputs  but a single ended outputs without additional circuitry would be best. Some older "high end" amplifiers originally concept/designed by John Curl operate this way. 
 
Commercially this kind of amplifier is not so common. Speakers should be of suitable efficiency for the amplifier used. A high quality active studio monitor may nowadays be a better choice in terms of flexibility and performance.

 

[naimless]

Preference would go to a fully balanced amplifier (with balanced inputs which remains balanced throughout - without conversion to SE anywhere inside our product) adapted to pro-audio input levels (e.g. +20dBu for full power) and a high class A bias design in class AB. 

Alternatively a design with true balanced inputs  but a single ended outputs without additional circuitry would be best. Some older "high end" amplifiers originally concept/designed by John Curl operate this way. 

Commercially this kind of amplifier is not so common. Speakers should be of suitable efficiency for the amplifier used. A high quality active studio monitor may nowadays be a better choice in terms of flexibility and performance.

Thanks, I'll bare that in mind.
Has anyone tried the pro with the ether c ?

 

[Khragon]

Can I roll some tubes with the Pro iCan? What are some recommendations?

 

[kikouyou]

This amp is either static or hybrid.
None of the tube modes are "tube only modes" there is always a static amp after the tube pre-amp.
Only the pre-amp mode could be qualified as pure tube.
The difference between tube and tube+ is just the tube harmonics attenuation which is lower in the tube+ mode.
So you may not get the sound of a pure tube amp with our without output transformers, but it gets pretty close. That said, the concept of this amp is very attractive as you can tune the sound pretty nicely and support most if not all of the cans out there with a transportable device.

 

[BarDash]

Thanks, I'll bare that in mind.
Has anyone tried the pro with the ether c ?

I have. It drives the Ether C's nicely and has a nice SQ IMO. I prefer it on the SS setting most of the time for the C's.

 

[naimless]

I have. It drives the Ether C's nicely and has a nice SQ IMO. I prefer it on the SS setting most of the time for the C's.

Thanks, that's good to know.

 

[abvolt]

Thinking seriously about this amp what's the consensus of this board is it worth 1700.00 ? and how would it sound in compairison with my wa22 with the right tubes is mighty hard to beat thanks...enjoy

 

[iFi audio]

Only the pre-amp mode could be qualified as pure tube.

 
The circuit is the same for preamp and/or headphone amplifier. 
 
The circuit embeds a tube (or J-Fet) as the first stage (and more crucially the circuit element that acts as comparator for the input signal and the negative feedback signal). The second stage is a heavily linearized and buffered input bipolar circuit, which has modest gain and very little distortion of it's own and very high input impedance (just like a tube stage). 
 
The current buffer is executed in 'bi-mos' technology. This is a much better choice than classic emitter follower circuits or pure mosfet circuits, as the compound bi-mos stage is very fast, has very low output impedance and high current capacity with a very high input impedance and low input capacitance. It might be best compared to a "super-super" 6S33 OTL circuit.
 
None of this circuitry is common, generic or found in other designs known to us at least, though the bi-mos output stage was inspired (but is very different in circuit design) by a famous German pro audio amplifier of the 1980's.
 
Other than being fully direct coupled and using a mixture of tubes and solid state devices, the circuitry in our Pro series has most in common conceptually and how it works with classic 1960's pro audio tube gear, including the german TAB V series amplifiers and the EMI REDD.51 recording console amplifiers.

 

[iFi audio]

Can I roll some tubes with the Pro iCan? What are some recommendations?

 
Doing so will void warranty. 
 
If you have or can find some "five star" GE 5670WB, Western Electrics 396A or Bendix 6385, you can try after warranty. Otherwise the fitted NOS GE 5670W (not selected five star, just ordinary) are as good as it gets.

 

[abvolt]

Any takers on my above question, this amps been out now for what nearly a year did a google not that many reviews why..Thanks

 

[Khragon]

Thinking seriously about this amp what's the consensus of this board is it worth 1700.00 ? and how would it sound in compairison with my wa22 with the right tubes is mighty hard to beat thanks...enjoy

With WA22 you will need to invest another $800 on tubes for it to sound good. I can't say much since it's been more than 2 years since I owned a WA22, with WE422 rectifier, tungsol bgrp 6sn7, and tungsol 5998, it sounded pretty good, good clarity, maybe a tad better than the ican pro, but I don't think it beat the ican in dynamics, even when comparing to the ican tube mode.

 

[abvolt]

Thank you..