[jmill9126]

Hi

This is my first post.

I have been using my cmoybb head phone amp for years and I am reasonably happy with it; however, I would like to possibly get something a little better. Recently I purchased an iFi iCan amp and to my surprise I did not prefer the iCan to the cmoybb. In my opinion, the Cmoy has a fuller, more present and enveloping sound. The iCan has a bit more clarity but sounds thinner, more detached and lacking in the bottom end. Are there any amps with a price tag below say $300 or $400 max that have a sound signature that is similar to the cmoyybb ( full, lush, present, nice bottom end and nice mids and detailed highs) but with more clarity and refinement to the sound? A Portable amp would be my preferred choice; however, a transportable amp would be ok as well.

Sources: sonore exd DAC / iPod touch Gen 4 line out
Head Phones: Mad Dogs with Alpha Pads

Thanks

 

[cel4145]

Cmoybb is a great amp for the price. But as you go up in price, solid state amps strive for more transparency, which means more accuracy, less coloring of the sound. I don't think you'll easily find that sound you want in solid state. You might consider a tube amp, but those are not transportable/portable.

 

[mcandmar]

I recently built a Grado RA1 clone, which is basically a CMOY amp.  It does have a fun sound, and on first impressions sounds warm and smooth vs the Objective2 amp, but the O2 is so much better overall and i suspect your iFi sounds very similar.   The better the pair of headphones you use, the more pronounced the difference between them will be.
 
Or to put it another way, i have a pair of Sennheiser 212Pro headphones which i hate with a passion, they are truly aweful. But plugged into the RA-1 clone they actually sound really nice.  But utterly hopeless in the O2 or dedicated amp.