Skylab
Reviewerus Prolificus
iBasso Audio Toucan PB1
Miguel (Mrarroyo) was kind enough to lend me his iBasso Toucan portable amp. While the Toucan is capable of being a balnced amp, I was only able to test it unbalanced, and so my comments refer only to its single-ended performance with an unbalanced source and SE headphones.
Info: http://www.ibasso.com/en/products/show.asp?ID=60
Build Quality: A: Very attractive and sturdy chassis. I have always thought iBasso’s casework was excellent, and this one is no exception. There was no audible turn-on transient to speak of. There was onl;y a very little hiss using the Beyer t50p at the very top of the rotation of the volume control.
Treble: A: The treble is quite smooth, and extended, and is generally transparent. Compared to the other top SE amps, it had just a very slight grain to it, but this was only noticeable on direct comparison. I also thought that the treble was perhaps just a tiny bit on the hot side. But overall the performance was very good.
Midrange: A: Nicely open and transparent, with just a slight touch of lushness and warmth that was highly enjoyable and never took away from the sense of overall neutrality. The performance here was just short of the very best, but still very, very good.
Bass: A+: Absolutely nothing to complain about here, even by the highest standards - Deep, tight, powerful – on par with the other top-class amps in this regard.
Neutrality: A: The Toucan definitely comes across as essentially neutral, although with all the headphones I tried I felt that there was a tiny bit of extra sizzle to the treble on occasion, coupled with just a tiny bit of fatness in the mids, although these were very subtle shadings .
Soundstaging: A: Here again the performance was very, very good, but not at the same level as the iQube or Meier Stepdance (both of which I have in house and was able to compare to the Toucan directly). The soundstage was a little less 3D than the better amps here.
Transparency: A-: At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the Toucan used single ended struck me as being short of the top-tier performance in terms of transparency. Very good, but not outstanding. There was some slight grain in the treble, and a very slight opaqueness to the midrange that was noticeable, and that bothered me even a little in absolute terms, but that was pretty noticeable when being compare to the Stepdance or iQube.
In a way I felt bad about using the Toucan only single ended, given its balanced capabilities, but that is the only way I had to test it, and also the only amps I have to compare it to were all single ended. The iBasso, at $229, is not that far off of the better amps, and has the ability to be used balanced, which may be a useful/desirable feature for some. For those folks, it’s a bargain.
Miguel (Mrarroyo) was kind enough to lend me his iBasso Toucan portable amp. While the Toucan is capable of being a balnced amp, I was only able to test it unbalanced, and so my comments refer only to its single-ended performance with an unbalanced source and SE headphones.
Info: http://www.ibasso.com/en/products/show.asp?ID=60
Build Quality: A: Very attractive and sturdy chassis. I have always thought iBasso’s casework was excellent, and this one is no exception. There was no audible turn-on transient to speak of. There was onl;y a very little hiss using the Beyer t50p at the very top of the rotation of the volume control.
Treble: A: The treble is quite smooth, and extended, and is generally transparent. Compared to the other top SE amps, it had just a very slight grain to it, but this was only noticeable on direct comparison. I also thought that the treble was perhaps just a tiny bit on the hot side. But overall the performance was very good.
Midrange: A: Nicely open and transparent, with just a slight touch of lushness and warmth that was highly enjoyable and never took away from the sense of overall neutrality. The performance here was just short of the very best, but still very, very good.
Bass: A+: Absolutely nothing to complain about here, even by the highest standards - Deep, tight, powerful – on par with the other top-class amps in this regard.
Neutrality: A: The Toucan definitely comes across as essentially neutral, although with all the headphones I tried I felt that there was a tiny bit of extra sizzle to the treble on occasion, coupled with just a tiny bit of fatness in the mids, although these were very subtle shadings .
Soundstaging: A: Here again the performance was very, very good, but not at the same level as the iQube or Meier Stepdance (both of which I have in house and was able to compare to the Toucan directly). The soundstage was a little less 3D than the better amps here.
Transparency: A-: At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the Toucan used single ended struck me as being short of the top-tier performance in terms of transparency. Very good, but not outstanding. There was some slight grain in the treble, and a very slight opaqueness to the midrange that was noticeable, and that bothered me even a little in absolute terms, but that was pretty noticeable when being compare to the Stepdance or iQube.
In a way I felt bad about using the Toucan only single ended, given its balanced capabilities, but that is the only way I had to test it, and also the only amps I have to compare it to were all single ended. The iBasso, at $229, is not that far off of the better amps, and has the ability to be used balanced, which may be a useful/desirable feature for some. For those folks, it’s a bargain.
