Audio-Omega
Headphoneus Supremus
It's a good looking amp but I must resist the urge to spend for now ! Is it better than MF x-can v3 ?
Originally Posted by Dzjudz /img/forum/go_quote.gif While I had my Cantate opened up, I also decided to finally try lerio's advice and change the gain setting to low by placing the three provided shunts in the appropriate positions. That was half an hour ago. I've been listening to USB audio that first half hour, I changed to my Arcam just now. My headphones are still the HD650. I can tell you that even on low gain, the Cantate delivers more than enough volume to drive the HD650. I have it on 12 o'clock now. The Cantate volume knob goes from about 7 o'clock to 5 o'clock. More than 2 o'clock on low gain with the HD650 is really too loud for my ears. So no problems in the volume department. I think the Cantate does improve if the gain is changed from high to low gain. However, my impressions might be clouded by expected results based on the impressions of others, i.e. placebo. I will listen to it a lot more on low gain though, I have decided to keep it on low gain for now. |
Originally Posted by udeupa /img/forum/go_quote.gif Can this item drive IEMs? Would high gain too much for IEM? |
Originally Posted by IPodPJ /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yes, it can certainly drive IEMs and if you try it on high gain you're going to most likely blow them. Low gain is always the higher quality setting. High gain should be used as a last resort as it results in lesser sound quality. You would only need to use it if you have high impedance headphones, which 98% of IEMs do not. An amp like the Cantate for IEM use is pretty pointless though, imo, even with good IEMs like the UE-11. Having formerly been an IEM guy myself and having the Triple.Fi, I can confidently say now that armature drivers are extremely unnatural sounding. |
Originally Posted by Rob T /img/forum/go_quote.gif So I am interested in this amp, but it seems that there are very few reviews/comments on it after doing a search. Why is that? Not many owners? The last post in this thread was a year ago. Is this still considered a good amp? More reviews/comments? |
Originally Posted by Nightmare /img/forum/go_quote.gif Meier-Audio crossfeed Opinions differ, but I think it's a very good thing. |
Originally Posted by Oliver_N /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have just upgraded from the Arietta to the Cantate. At the moment it is still burning in - and it already blows the fantastic sounding Arietta out of the water! It drives both my K701 and DT880 '05 perfectly well with an exceptional transparent and detailed sound - with a slightly warm sound signature. Especially the DT880 improves a lot with that amp as it takes away the harshness of the cans. Now they sound smooth and well balanced. The build in DAC does a very good job, but I have to admitt that I prefere to use the amp with my Cambridge DacMagic hooked up. These are just a few impressions, but I didn't have the chance to listen to it for that long, as it arived last Saturday. But I will continue to listen to it this evening |
Originally Posted by djevoultion /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hey, I have a black dragon recabled K701 on its way and am looking for a good amp. I was planning on driving it from my ibasso D3 portable amp, but I gather the sound quality will improve dramatically with a desktop amp. I was wondering how is the Cantate + K701 combo? Is the Cantate better than the Arietta? |