I recently got the chance to hear CMA400i with Sony Z1R and was shocked to notice how powerful CMA400i is when driving Z1R I know they are very effiicent but I cant go beyond 10'oclock, but did notice sharpness in trouble has anyone else had any issue with Treble inconsistencies. otherwise fantastic amp. It was set to gain on standard wondering if should be on low for all.
I recently got the chance to hear CMA400i with Sony Z1R and was shocked to notice how powerful CMA400i is when driving Z1R I know they are very effiicent but I cant go beyond 10'oclock, but did notice sharpness in trouble has anyone else had any issue with Treble inconsistencies. otherwise fantastic amp. It was set to gain on standard wondering if should be on low for all.
Its very powerfull indeed. My Clears are easy to drive so volume at 9´clock was already high, I set it to low gain - I think that in reality you have 3 gain settings since you can adjust std/low for + and - paths of each channel R/L; so setting R+ to STD and R- to LOW should output an intermediate power level higher than R+ LOW and R- LOW. A great amp for sure.
I recently got the chance to hear CMA400i with Sony Z1R and was shocked to notice how powerful CMA400i is when driving Z1R I know they are very effiicent but I cant go beyond 10'oclock, but did notice sharpness in trouble has anyone else had any issue with Treble inconsistencies. otherwise fantastic amp. It was set to gain on standard wondering if should be on low for all.
I thought I was the only one with this experience, yeah the treble can be a little sharper depending on what you're used to. I came off an ifi ican SE which seemed more mids slanted. Burn-in seemed to help, but that's probably just me getting used to it. You should absolutely try the low gain setting out. Bear in mind that the setting is for the positive and negative voltage swing so they should be adjusted all at once.
Of course you can experiment with certain headphones responding in certain ways when you drive one polarity harder. YMMV, but let us know.
*EDIT*
Anyone else noticing that pretty much everyone's reporting the CMA400i to be a major power plant exceeding expectations?
Just to add to the praise of this amp/DAC and to finally venture into posting on this site here is my two-penneth
I use mainly SDR modded HD800 and liked the sound through the HDVA600 amp but was struggling to find a reasonably priced balanced DAC to compliment the pair using a dac from an audio gd combo, single ended, in the meanwhile that niggled me with a little glare when I came across this little gem, the 800's sound fine right out of either the balanced or single ended outputs of this amp and I am more than happy with the exceptional sound quality. The HD650's sound the best I have heard them from a solid state too and a balanced cable to my ears seams to squeeze a tiny bit more width from that clear but congested sound, although that is more likely me looking for that!
The jewel for me is the DAC, paired with the senn amp it is exactly the sound I want and am now looking forward to getting that Eddie Current amp from Massdrop in the summer and trying it with this DAC.
I see no mention of people using this amp with DSD files, or did I miss those posts? It is the first DAC I have tried with DSD and followed the settings for Foobar and the couple of pug-ins needed, it was super easy and fired up a file I had for a while.. Hotel California, a track I have never been a great fan of.... OH my! is DSD my next rabbit hole? I shudder to think!
I see no mention of people using this amp with DSD files, or did I miss those posts? It is the first DAC I have tried with DSD and followed the settings for Foobar and the couple of pug-ins needed, it was super easy and fired up a file I had for a while.. Hotel California, a track I have never been a great fan of.... OH my! is DSD my next rabbit hole? I shudder to think!
Yes, thanks to this amp I went and bought and tried one DSD track. I honestly wasn't impressed more than I would've been with a 44.1kHz file (see attachment for the source). Haven't A/B'd because I feel it is a bit of a waste of time. I've heard CDs run on certain DACs and amps like i was right there, so it's more of a reproduction thing if you want it to sound natural in my opinion. A handful of my collection is available at 96kHz/24bit at best and most of it is just plain 44.1, so I tend not even to bother about it. Yes the DAC on this is real good! It somehow managed to breathe life back into my old JBL speakers.
I thought I was the only one with this experience, yeah the treble can be a little sharper depending on what you're used to. I came off an ifi ican SE which seemed more mids slanted. Burn-in seemed to help, but that's probably just me getting used to it. You should absolutely try the low gain setting out. Bear in mind that the setting is for the positive and negative voltage swing so they should be adjusted all at once.
Of course you can experiment with certain headphones responding in certain ways when you drive one polarity harder. YMMV, but let us know.
*EDIT*
Anyone else noticing that pretty much everyone's reporting the CMA400i to be a major power plant exceeding expectations?
Thanks for the feedback, I have concluded that Treble spike is may be due to poor recording and after long listening experience I have no issues. This little amp has really surprised me for what it does for a reasonable price. It has exceeded my expectation, I have tried several mid-range dac in the past and it surpasses all of them, the power, details and dynamics are really great. Questyle has done a really nice job with this amp, I have not got the change to try the big brother CMA600i but judging at the CMA400i I am tempted if it will bring my music collection to another level.
Very happy with the purchase and would experiment with gain switches to see if make further difference to SQ.
Was looking to pick this up as my desktop setup, I’m use to a WA7 + WA7tp but sold that combo and have been using a Chord Mojo to hold me over (still funny how powerful the Mojo is). The headphones (LCD-2C on the way, I actually prefer 2s over 3s /shrugs). This unit seems like end game with my limited budget and I’m a sucker for good product design. If one pro, this has a balanced output to give me the extra juice for harder to drive headphones and/or source (many albums I have benefit from more power due to the recordings)
With that said, anyone have experience with the WA7 to the CMA400i, I understand tube vs SS but I never really felt the WA7 was the most tube sounding amp I’ve heard. So I’ve been debating using the Chord Mojo + Woo Audio WA6 (with Sophia rectifier) or the CMA400i. The form factor and design are very very nice but I don’t have many options to demo rigs, at least in Michigan; surprised there’s not more since Jude lives in MI IIRC.
Was looking to pick this up as my desktop setup, I’m use to a WA7 + WA7tp but sold that combo and have been using a Chord Mojo to hold me over (still funny how powerful the Mojo is). The headphones (LCD-2C on the way, I actually prefer 2s over 3s /shrugs). This unit seems like end game with my limited budget and I’m a sucker for good product design. If one pro, this has a balanced output to give me the extra juice for harder to drive headphones and/or source (many albums I have benefit from more power due to the recordings)
With that said, anyone have experience with the WA7 to the CMA400i, I understand tube vs SS but I never really felt the WA7 was the most tube sounding amp I’ve heard. So I’ve been debating using the Chord Mojo + Woo Audio WA6 (with Sophia rectifier) or the CMA400i. The form factor and design are very very nice but I don’t have many options to demo rigs, at least in Michigan; surprised there’s not more since Jude lives in MI IIRC.
Hello guys! After using IEMs for quite a while now, im considering to get myself a decent headphone to pair with the 400i. I'm looking for a headphone with extended highs, clear mids and non muddy or bloomy low ends. Going to use it for fps gaming also (PUBG, R6Siege, and cs) so excellent separation & great transparency would be nice.
Last time I tried (mid 2017), i liked the aeon closed for its clean sound and beyer t1.2 with its bright character when paired with the 400i. Is there any other headphone that I should check out in the same price range?
Hello guys! After using IEMs for quite a while now, im considering to get myself a decent headphone to pair with the 400i. I'm looking for a headphone with extended highs, clear mids and non muddy or bloomy low ends. Going to use it for fps gaming also (PUBG, R6Siege, and cs) so excellent separation & great transparency would be nice.
Last time I tried (mid 2017), i liked the aeon closed for its clean sound and beyer t1.2 with its bright character when paired with the 400i. Is there any other headphone that I should check out in the same price range?
Thanks! The MSRP in USD seems a little bit out of budget, but I hope they have it here for audition. Could you recommend other headphones that pairs great with the 400i and that are more affordable?
Hello guys! After using IEMs for quite a while now, im considering to get myself a decent headphone to pair with the 400i. I'm looking for a headphone with extended highs, clear mids and non muddy or bloomy low ends. Going to use it for fps gaming also (PUBG, R6Siege, and cs) so excellent separation & great transparency would be nice.
Last time I tried (mid 2017), i liked the aeon closed for its clean sound and beyer t1.2 with its bright character when paired with the 400i. Is there any other headphone that I should check out in the same price range?
I'm using this mainly with Senn 800 and 650's and the 800's are amazing for both music and positional audio in FPS games.. that aside while you are looking try the Monks you list in your gear (without foams) I did when it was hot and went on to dig out my Zens that have a 2.5 balanced connection and I was astounded how good they were for gaming, PUBG especially with the bonus of cool ears
Awesome! I just remembered that i have never tried the legendary 800. Seems like i'm going to spend quite some time auditioning next week.
And you're right about these Monks. Even though mine are single ended, pinpointing an enemy is very easy. But on very crowded & confined spaces (like in school on the original map), sometimes it is difficult to tell how many people are coming around the corner, or from above.
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
