[Ichos]

Great review Ichos! I found the imaging technicalities of the DAC pretty amazing with my speaker setup using the hotter output. May be worth a try for you.

The Fifteen is capable of some pretty amazing pairings when used as an AIO for headphones. It carved through my inventory of headphones with great performance. HD650(M), 660S, Ether CX & K712 all were driven to their fullest. When gaming there is a nice bloom to the bass that is also very precise with pinpoint accuracy in staging. I've not heard an amp before that does both of these things together so well. Usually the staging gets compressed or the sound is more bloomy. Not so with the Fifteen. Really awesome stuff. When I tried external amps I always came back to the built in one. The evolution of current mode is no joke and it really is a unique and very performant sound.

Thank you very much for your kind words!
I really found the imaging very accurate both in headphone and DAC modes.
In DAC mode though it couldn't follow some other dedicated bad boys in holography and layering.
Still good and excellent as all-in-one device with headphones.
It matched well with everything I have tried.

 

[Voxata]

Thank you very much for your kind words!
I really found the imaging very accurate both in headphone and DAC modes.
In DAC mode though it couldn't follow some other dedicated bad boys in holography and layering.
Still good and excellent as all-in-one device with headphones.
It matched well with everything I have tried

I enjoyed the Fifteen quite a bit as a pre - though flipping it to fixed output and using my Freya was great too when I wanted some added flavor or more warmth. I appreciate the feature set the Fifteen has that allows for this type of integration.

 

[ra990]

I enjoyed the Fifteen quite a bit as a pre - though flipping it to fixed output and using my Freya was great too when I wanted some added flavor or more warmth. I appreciate the feature set the Fifteen has that allows for this type of integration.

It really is a well thought out design with all the options you can want in a device like this. Compare it to something like the Pro iCan Signature from ifi that I just got my hands on. I can't believe there's no way to turn off the preouts on that, regardless of headphones being plugged in or not. No switch to go between headphone out and pre, so they're just on all the time. No such compromises on the Fifteen, it does everything you would expect a device like this to do and it does it really well.

 

[Voxata]

It really is a well thought out design with all the options you can want in a device like this. Compare it to something like the Pro iCan Signature from ifi that I just got my hands on. I can't believe there's no way to turn off the preouts on that, regardless of headphones being plugged in or not. No switch to go between headphone out and pre, so they're just on all the time. No such compromises on the Fifteen, it does everything you would expect a device like this to do and it does it really well.

I've noticed this quite a bit with devices coming out that are rather inconvenient in ways that make integration difficult. I've had zero issues on getting things to work together and sound great. I'm curious about the USB C input, being priority and all. Are there any major benefits to using this?

 

[ra990]

I've noticed this quite a bit with devices coming out that are rather inconvenient in ways that make integration difficult. I've had zero issues on getting things to work together and sound great. I'm curious about the USB C input, being priority and all. Are there any major benefits to using this?

I think the priority simply means that if you have both USB B and C plugged in, it will use the C. I don't think there would be any actual sonic differences. The USB C connection is just for convenience so you don't need any adapters with mobile devices or more modern devices that have it.

 

[Voxata]

I think the priority simply means that if you have both USB B and C plugged in, it will use the C. I don't think there would be any actual sonic differences. The USB C connection is just for convenience so you don't need any adapters with mobile devices or more modern devices that have it.

Good to know thanks. It's all worked flawlessly either way.

 

[Questyle]

@ra990 You hit the nail right on the head! That's exactly what the "priority" means. Its just that the CMA Fifteen will defer to the USB-C input if there is also a USB-B connection. That's it, no other differences

And for the rest of you all, thank you for the kind words I'll certainly relay that to the engineers! They need all the encouragement they can get right now, we are simultaneously developing a number of new products, and also in the process of another round of investment (and all of the checks and audits that entails)... so yes, things are a bit busy these days. I'll do my best let the engineers know to keep up the good work!

 

[Voxata]

They've done a really great job honestly and deserve the praise. I'm excited to see what else Questyle has coming down the pipeline.

 

[kmmbd]

Questyle's CMA Fifteen is one of the, if not the best all-in-one solutions around. It can power iffy planars like HE-6/Susvara to satisfactory levels, whereas even the most efficient IEMs like Campfire Holocene are driven well without things being "over-driven".

Most of all: the mids are so breathtaking that it's hard to believe it's all coming from a single unit that's not too large or heavy. For my personal use-case (since I have limited desk space) CMA Fifteen is pretty much the perfect all-in-one, and deservedly earns my highest recommendation.

Fantastic piece of gear, and definitely one I can see myself buying. Full review: https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/questyle-cma-fifteen-dac-amp.25594/reviews#review-28965

 

[ra990]

I don't see how, based on specs alone, but the CMA Fifteen drives the HE6SEv2 way better than even the Ifi Pro iCan Signature. The Ifi amp is supposed to have 14watts on tap, so I'm not sure why that's a tough load for it - but it goes into protection mode occasionally with the HE6SEv2.

With the CMA Fifteen, I think it's the Current Mode amplification that is suiting the HE6 better than the Ifi amp. It's likely providing more current to the headphones. With both devices' volume and gain on max, the HE6 is louder on the CMA Fifteen. Even if I put the CMA Fifteen, as a fixed volume DAC, through the Ifi amp - it can't drive them well. I don't think there's anything wrong with it either, because it sounds fine with other headphones.

Goes to show that not all watts are created equally.

Edit: I need to take back what I wrote here. I discovered that the 4.4mm Pentaconn port that I was using on the Pro iCan Signature is voltage limited and meant for IEMs only. After trying the XLR balanced out port, I now hear the full power of the amp and it is indeed a lot more powerful than the CMA Fifteen, as expected and indicated by the specs of both devices.

 

[kmmbd]

With the CMA Fifteen, I think it's the Current Mode amplification that is suiting the HE6 better than the Ifi amp. It's likely providing more current to the headphones.

Yup, I think it's the Current Mode Amplification that's doing the work. Questyle's current figures are also not the same as the rest from what I've seen. I do not need to push the CMA-400i anywhere near the SMSL SP-400, for example, to get similar volume on the HE-6se, and even then the slam is missing on the SP400.

 

[ra990]

Yup, I think it's the Current Mode Amplification that's doing the work. Questyle's current figures are also not the same as the rest from what I've seen. I do not need to push the CMA-400i anywhere near the SMSL SP-400, for example, to get similar volume on the HE-6se, and even then the slam is missing on the SP400.

Thanks for confirming! I was genuinely stumped because I got the Ifi Pro iCan specifically to drive the hell out of the HE6 and here I find that my meager 2watt/channel CMA Fifteen is already doing a better job at it.

EDIT: See my note a couple posts above.

 

[Questyle]

Hey amigos, just to quickly chime in... to be very honest I still have a difficult time wrapping my head around why CMA works so differently than other products, even though I've had it explained many times to me. If it's of any help, I recently wrote a thorough response to a similar question in this thread, you can check it out and see if it helps in any way, letting you better understand what's going on here:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/int...-brand-new-questyle-shop.962999/post-17056995

 

[Voxata]

Hey amigos, just to quickly chime in... to be very honest I still have a difficult time wrapping my head around why CMA works so differently than other products, even though I've had it explained many times to me. If it's of any help, I recently wrote a thorough response to a similar question in this thread, you can check it out and see if it helps in any way, letting you better understand what's going on here:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/int...-brand-new-questyle-shop.962999/post-17056995

This is a well written translation and makes perfect sense. Thanks for taking your time. I hadn't noticed the cool status LEDs on the M15 as well - what a sweet little unit!

 

[drummerdimitri]

Does anyone know how much power this unit can push into a 16 Ohm impedance headphone?

Just want to know if it will be a good pairing with my LCD-4z's.