[Cartma]

Hey,

I been looking all night and day trying to figure out if you can switch between headphone out and PRE out with this all-in-one. I am considering purchasing one but only if it allows me to use the PRE out for my active speakers and headphone amp for my headphones ( Individually ).

The all-in-one I have now mutes the PRE out once headphones are plugged in. This works for me because I can choose whether to listen to my headphones without my speakers playing, or speakers playing without my headphones playing.

Can anyone help me out here? Thanks.

 

[TheGingerMinger]

No you cannot switch off the preout nor does it mute if you plug in the headphones. Only work around would be to get an external pot like a Emotiva control freak or a switch that open circuits. Or what I do is have an inline power switch for my active monitors on my desk and I just switch that off when I'm not using them. I hope this helps.

 

[xevman]

I wouldn't let this small inconvenience put you off using the cma600i as a preamp. Its probably one of the best preamp implementations i've seen and believe me i've tried a lot.

Somewhat off topic my dealer ended up asking me to return my early cma600i and change it over with a new revised unit even though the USB audio playback was fixed as it still had switching noise between dsd. The volume control on my new unit is smoother to turn and has much better channel balance. Switching noise is all but eliminated and overall fit and finish seems to be better the top plate fits flawlessly where it wasn't perfect on my early example (though it was hard to notice). Nice to see Questyle has stepped up their game as it was somewhat disappointing that a lot of owners got the short end of the stick with the early 600i's.

 

[Cartma]

No you cannot switch off the preout nor does it mute if you plug in the headphones. Only work around would be to get an external pot like a Emotiva control freak or a switch that open circuits. Or what I do is have an inline power switch for my active monitors on my desk and I just switch that off when I'm not using them. I hope this helps.

So what does the external internal switch do?
I am looking at both the 400i and 600i. Over in the 400i thread they are saying you can switch between pre and HP amp.

Yes, there is a dedicated Function switch on the front that allows you to choose either the DAC or the Amp. You can only choose one or the other, not both at the same time.

xevman I once owned a DAC1 HDR back in the day. How does it compare to your 600i?

 

[xevman]

I'll blow the dust off it and do a side by side comparison in the next few days. It would be insightful comparison as a lot of people have heard the dac1 and has legendary status. As for the external and internal switch this allows you to switch between an external source or the internal dac.

 

[karmazynowy]

So what does the external internal switch do?
I am looking at both the 400i and 600i. Over in the 400i thread they are saying you can switch between pre and HP amp.

Yes, on 400i you can switch between dac/pre and dac/headphoneamp function. You can't do that on 600i.

External/internal switch means you can use other DAC with 600i so Questyle will be working as a headphone amp or preamp only.

 

[TheGingerMinger]

So what does the external internal switch do?
I am looking at both the 400i and 600i. Over in the 400i thread they are saying you can switch between pre and HP amp.

This allows you to switch between the internal DAC and RCA/XLR inputs on the back for source. Though the RCA/XLR external input will only come out through the headphone out and not the preout when using this feature. So you wont be able to use it to control volume for another source on your powered speakers for example a turntable would only play through the headphone and not your speakers. I hope I'm not confusing you too much. I'm not sure about the 400i but it would make sense if they added the ability to switch off the either the pre or HP amp depending on what you are listening to. The 400i has less power than the 600i as it is designed for IEM's and portables, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't have enough power to power decent headphones.

This unit is amazing, better than anything I have tried. I saved up just for this unit after my Aune stack faulted after 2 weeks of ownership.

 

[Robbefloff]

This allows you to switch between the internal DAC and RCA/XLR inputs on the back for source. Though the RCA/XLR external input will only come out through the headphone out and not the preout when using this feature. So you wont be able to use it to control volume for another source on your powered speakers for example a turntable would only play through the headphone and not your speakers. I hope I'm not confusing you to much.

This unit is amazing, better than anything I have tried. I saved up just for this unit after my Aune stack faulted after 2 weeks of ownership.

Source on that? My CMA 600i throughputs the RCA input to the RCA pre out just fine. I have a RIAA stage hooked up, and use the 600i for both headphones and power amplifier.

 

[Robbefloff]

Yes, on 400i you can switch between dac/pre and dac/headphoneamp function. You can't do that on 600i.

External/internal switch means you can use other DAC with 600i so Questyle will be working as a headphone amp or preamp only.

Obviously, the external input isn't limited to DACs. It's a line level input.

 

[TheGingerMinger]

Source on that? My CMA 600i throughputs the RCA input to the RCA pre out just fine. I have a RIAA stage hooked up, and use the 600i for both headphones and power amplifier.

Really? I must have misinterpreted the owners guide. Thanks for letting me know!

 

[Robbefloff]

Really? I must have misinterpreted the owners guide. Thanks for letting me know!

Well that's what I get for calling source! After a quick glance in the owners guide - no, you didn't misinterpret. The guide is wrong. I have no idea why they would put that there.

 

[TheGingerMinger]

Well that's what I get for calling source! After a quick glance in the owners guide - no, you didn't misinterpret. The guide is wrong. I have no idea why they would put that there.

Oh..... Well there goes the hope of shifting my turntable into my study hahahaha!

Edit: Oh wait the guide is wrong? woohoo!!!! I only partially read your reply.

 

[Malcolm Riverside]

CMA600i is a fantastic unit on its own but I have to say it benefits from an upgraded dac. I paired it with the dac section from my Gustard A20H (dual AKM AK4497 chips) and the sound was better all around. Anyone else had good experiences pairing the CMA’s awesome current headphone amp with a different dac?

 

[xevman]

Wouldn't you lose the benefits of the DAC being balanced though?

 

[xevman]

So I've been comparing the original DAC1 to the CMA600i with my various headphones and have found them to be more similar than different. I'll be using the coax/BNC input on the DAC1 and the USB input on the CMA600i for the basis of this comparison. First of all the single ended outputs on the DAC1 are far more powerful than the single ended outputs on the CMA600i. I only recommend running efficient stuff on these outputs as I find them to run out of puff with my HE500 rather quickly. Given that the CMA600i doesn't have adjustable gain it makes sense to have both low output single ended jacks and a higher output balanced jack for greater flexibility with various headphone with differing efficiency/impedances. As for sound both sound very transparent but the CMA600i seems to have slightly superior transient response on faster paced music (through the balanced output). It just sounds more immediate maybe this has to do with the fact that the CMA600i has technically faster slew rate being a balanced current mode amplifier. That being said the DAC1 is no slouch either. Other then that you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between the two units. The CMA600i has the advantage of having an up to the minute DAC chip which supports all the latest features such as DSD and 32bit 384khz aswell as a USB input, the DAC1 has none of that. These are both transparent units that will expose the deficiencies in your headphones. They won't try to tame or fix anything.