I purchased a Purity Audio KICAS Caliente in July 2008, and have posted before how amazed I have been with this amp, especially driving my HD650 phones. Well, here it is approaching the Summer of 2010 (during which season I listen almost exclusively with a pair of ALO-modded SR225 (hardwood cups and recabled with 18AWG Jena cryo wire) - and, in my main rig, paired with the KICAS Caliente.
I've been listening for awhile now using mainly a HiSoundAudio AMP3 (Pro.1 and Pro.2) and a HiSoundAudio Studio - paired with Sennheiser Mx990 earbuds. And, I've been enthralled with the sound (as well as the convenient portability of this rig).
Over this last week, I've found myself gravitating back to my main rig (Headroom Ultra Micro DAC, KICAS Caliente) paired with my ALO-modded SR225 phones. And, I'm posting again about just how amazed I often am with the sound I'm getting while going through my Summer seasonal favorites listening rotation (mostly Goth, Shoegaze, Darkwave, Ambient, Trip-hop, Nouvelle Vague (so far, mainly Asylum Party) and some really Classic and Progressive Rock - plus some vastly expansive (on a celestial scale) Psychedelic Rock (The Verve's "A Storm in Heaven"), with some occasional acoustic folk (I've discovered Vashti Bunyan this Summer) and classical thrown in for good measure. What amazes me is that this rig provides a sound with is both micro-detailed AND lush (the lushness does not make anything sound fuzzy or foggy), the expansiveness of the sound-space (not the distance between musical voices, but the almost wall-less vastness of the venue in which all of the voices are located. The sound is also tonally/timbrally/texturally gorgeous and accurate, with a transparency and ease that sometimes just stands my ear/brain on end, as I hear myself audibly say, "Whoaaaaaaa!!!!!" or "Yesssssssss!!!!!" in response to the sound of a musical passage to which I'm listening. I can't keep any of my feet, legs, hips, torso, neck, head, arms or hands still as I listen using this rig. I'm developing "Seated Full-Body Dance" as an art form to express what I experience as I listen to my music using this rig while seated at my desk.
Nothing really new here (I've posted this before in more sonically-descriptive detail), but, every now and then, I like to (unsolicitedly) chime in to say that I'm still as amazed, enthralled and totally drawn-in-and-involved (with only minimal opportunities afforded to come up for a gulp of air) with the sound of my rig which includes the KICAS Caliente as I ever was. In the colder/cooler months of the year, paired with HD650 and in the hotter/warmer months paired with ALO-modded SR225. I think that the seasonal phone preference has to do with the state of the wax in my ears, and how that affects the overall effective sound my ears hear - being softer/harder in the warmer/cooler months, respectively.
Anyway, I still count the KICAS Caliente to possess a worthy place in my selective collection of fine listening instruments, and to offer one of the highest values in my entire collection.
