[Strauss95]

The amp in the iFi iDSD is the same as the iCAN SE, the iCAN just has two bass boost settings compared to the one on the iDSD. Both offer 4000mW on high (turbo) gain. I run my SZ2K's off my iDSD everyday and let me tell you, it makes them POUND. The SZ2K's really took to the extra power as they were the only headphone I own that went to another level with the extra power from the iFi. Previously I had been running everything off my Fiio E12, which is no slouch itself in the power department. I have been wondering if the extra bass boost on the iCAN SE would make a noticeable difference, considering I EQ heavily now. My guess is that I am able to make up the difference via EQ. Also worth mentioning that the new iFi iDSD Black Label is supposed to have the bigger bass boost option from the iCAN SE, which should make it damn near perfect.
 
As for the SZ2K's hitting the low hz notes, like already mentioned they absolutely excel at them. IMO it's the SZ's best strength, as I've had no other headphone come close in the sub 30hz range. My Pro 500's came close in impact, but the SZ's destroy them in the low frequency sub bass. 

 

[227qed]

^^thanks for the inputs on the x00 vs sz2000 bass quantity, very helpful towards my decision to go more "audiophile". After a whole year of indecision, perhaps it's finally the season to make my move!

 

[SHAMuuu]

  The amp in the iFi iDSD is the same as the iCAN SE, the iCAN just has two bass boost settings compared to the one on the iDSD. Both offer 4000mW on high (turbo) gain. I run my SZ2K's off my iDSD everyday and let me tell you, it makes them POUND. The SZ2K's really took to the extra power as they were the only headphone I own that went to another level with the extra power from the iFi. Previously I had been running everything off my Fiio E12, which is no slouch itself in the power department. I have been wondering if the extra bass boost on the iCAN SE would make a noticeable difference, considering I EQ heavily now. My guess is that I am able to make up the difference via EQ. Also worth mentioning that the new iFi iDSD Black Label is supposed to have the bigger bass boost option from the iCAN SE, which should make it damn near perfect.
 
As for the SZ2K's hitting the low hz notes, like already mentioned they absolutely excel at them. IMO it's the SZ's best strength, as I've had no other headphone come close in the sub 30hz range. My Pro 500's came close in impact, but the SZ's destroy them in the low frequency sub bass. 

Much Blessings Much blessings. Perhaps of o choose to go the 2k way, this will be my powerhouse. The e17 looks tempting as well but this seems to be in another league.
I doubt it would run 4000 continuous as you state the turbo mode, but i would imagine it would run a clean watt without issue continuously with no lingering madness off voltage swings and such. Otherwise at extreme bass levels, i would imagine that wouldn't be much fun! Nothing gets the heart going like nice thumping SPL BASS, and nothing gets the heart going like those BASS FARTS. Sub stink.
 
You know now, for the first time we might be able to say sub stink hehe

... since its got the 'woofer' WOOF WOOF. I had a DB Platinum 15 once which was notorious for sub stank. Smelled like a dead goose in my ex-EXcursion truck.
 
Anyway those black label look sweet, and i think i saw them mentioned in the old posts , but the SE looks sweet too.
 
Tanks

 

[227qed]

Much Blessings Much blessings. Perhaps of o choose to go the 2k way, this will be my powerhouse. The e17 looks tempting as well but this seems to be in another league.
I doubt it would run 4000 continuous as you state the turbo mode, but i would imagine it would run a clean watt without issue continuously with no lingering madness off voltage swings and such. Otherwise at extreme bass levels, i would imagine that wouldn't be much fun! Nothing gets the heart going like nice thumping SPL BASS, and nothing gets the heart going like those BASS FARTS. Sub stink.

You know now, for the first time we might be able to say sub stink hehe ... since its got the 'woofer' WOOF WOOF. I had a DB Platinum 15 once which was notorious for sub stank. Smelled like a dead goose in my ex-EXcursion truck.

Anyway those black label look sweet, and i think i saw them mentioned in the old posts , but the SE looks sweet too.

Tanks

Good luck with whatever you decide, but I just wanted to chime in here and say that I think you'll be very happy with an ifi product. I'm a huge fan of my ican (not se), and it works great with the sz2k not only for slam, but also for bringing the sound quality to the next level. Eq does make more of a difference than the hardware bass boost, but the switch also scales with it, i.e., they really complement each other. The cayin c5 produces similar levels of bass, but IMHO, the sound quality from the ican is more than twice as good, and therefore, definitely worth the money.

I will also say that the sz2k will eat up the extra power from the ican se or idsd. Not sure exactly why, but my ican shuts itself off before going full volume on the pot. I'm pretty sure the SZ just eats more power than is going out, so it shuts itself off before getting a power surge from the cans...or something.

Edit: Deleted what could be misleading information.

 

[SHAMuuu]

Good luck with whatever you decide, but I just wanted to chime in here and say that I think you'll be very happy with an ifi product. I'm a huge fan of my ican (not se), and it works great with the sz2k not only for slam, but also for bringing the sound quality to the next level. Eq does make more of a difference than the hardware bass boost, but the switch also scales with it, i.e., they really complement each other. The cayin c5 produces similar levels of bass, but IMHO, the sound quality from the ican is more than twice as good, and therefore, definitely worth the money.

I will also say that the sz2k will eat up the extra power from the ican se or idsd. Not sure exactly why, but my ican shuts itself off before going full volume on the pot. I'm pretty sure the SZ just eats more power than is going out, so it shuts itself off before getting a power surge from the cans...or something.

Lastly, if you're in the $500 market, word on the street is that the Vorzuge Vorzamp Duo has bass boosting hardware on a whOle new level, and is a better amp overall than the cayin c5 and ifi products. It is only an amp though, so a good dac is proably required to get the most out of it and kinda takes away from the portability.

Never heard of the Vorzuge, but now that you say it might even have better potential. Then I will need to do more research. Im not in too much of a hurry to get another bass setup with the xb1k/sz1k at my disposal. But i could use a better portable amp.
 
the info is greatly appreciated. Tanks

 

[Taggerung]

The Vorzamp duo's bass boost is the best I've ever heard, but it's an iem amp at best due to output.
 

Output
Maximum Voltage RMS	1 Vrms
Maximum Voltage Swing	2.7 V
Maximum Output Current	70 mA x2
Output power RMS	19.60 mW x2  39.20 mW x2  49.00 mW x2  40.83 mW x2  30.63 mW x2  15.31 mW x2  8.17 mW x2  3.27 mW x2	Load of 8 Ω Load of 16 Ω Load of 20 Ω Load of 24 Ω Load of 32 Ω Load of 64 Ω Load of 120 Ω Load of 300 Ω

 

[Phoniac]

I am not clear with the watt rating of ifi. Their claim of 4000 mW could mean 2000 mW per channel. Most manufacturers give watts per channel, but I never saw such an exact statement with ifi. So what is the reality here?

 

[227qed]

Since there have been a lot of recent questions I've seen regarding the efficacy of the XBass switch on iFi products, I decided to quit being a yapper and post a video of the different levels of XBass on my iFi iCAN (standard edition) under the following test conditions:
 
Headphones: JVC HA-SZ2000 with Brainwavz HM5 pleather pads
DAC: Schiit Modi 2 Uber
Amp: iFi iCAN (standard edition)
Source: Gigabyte Realtek HD Audio Manager, 31 Hz EQ slider +12
Track:  30 Hz Bass Test by HzMP3 - Bass Tests
 
As you can visibly see, there is an increase in bass output with the first level of XBass, and an even larger increase from there at the second level.  It should be obvious which level is which.

 
This is my first online video ever (except for copious amounts of homemade porn...just kidding, I wish,  ).  So hopefully bassheads interested in the iCAN or iDSD will now have some useful material to "bass" their next purchase on.  Apologies for the poor narration, happy slamming!

 

[227qed]

  The Vorzamp duo's bass boost is the best I've ever heard, but it's an iem amp at best due to output.
 

Output
Maximum Voltage RMS	1 Vrms
Maximum Voltage Swing	2.7 V
Maximum Output Current	70 mA x2
Output power RMS	19.60 mW x2  39.20 mW x2  49.00 mW x2  40.83 mW x2  30.63 mW x2  15.31 mW x2  8.17 mW x2  3.27 mW x2	Load of 8 Ω Load of 16 Ω Load of 20 Ω Load of 24 Ω Load of 32 Ω Load of 64 Ω Load of 120 Ω Load of 300 Ω

Oh...good to know, thanks for chiming in!

 

[chillaxing]

  I am not clear with the watt rating of ifi. Their claim of 4000 mW could mean 2000 mW per channel. Most manufacturers give watts per channel, but I never saw such an exact statement with ifi. So what is the reality here?

 

 
 
Your guess as good as mine...  I think most of the amps out there have inflated specs anyways, where they are just posting peak power.
 
Out of all those numbers the only one I really see that matters is the 1000mw @64 ohms  continuous.   Which is still a good amount of power.
 
You can ask over at the idsd thread, but don't know if you'll get an answer.  

 

[Hawaiibadboy]

  Since there have been a lot of recent questions I've seen regarding the efficacy of the XBass switch on iFi products, I decided to quit being a yapper and post a video of the different levels of XBass on my iFi iCAN (standard edition) under the following test conditions:
 
Headphones: JVC HA-SZ2000 with Brainwavz HM5 pleather pads
DAC: Schiit Modi 2 Uber
Amp: iFi iCAN (standard edition)
Source: Gigabyte Realtek HD Audio Manager, 31 Hz EQ slider +12
Track:  30 Hz Bass Test by HzMP3 - Bass Tests
 
As you can visibly see, there is an increase in bass output with the first level of XBass, and an even larger increase from there at the second level.  It should be obvious which level is which.

 
This is my first online video ever (except for copious amounts of homemade porn...just kidding, I wish,  ).  So hopefully bassheads interested in the iCAN or iDSD will now have some useful material to "bass" their next purchase on.  Apologies for the poor narration, happy slamming!

 Oh my ADHD havin azz loves vids!!
Thanks bro!

 

[Strauss95]

Okay so take it easy on me boys, this is my first attempt at taking a video of the infamous paper test. This was my SZ2K's with 55X pads, being powered by my iFi iDSD on turbo with the bass boost on. I'm playing the track through Spotify Premium, and use Equalify Pro for EQ duties. This EQ preset uses a low shelf filter set at 85hz, boosted 3db. I have many other presets for the SZ2K, but this one seems to thump the hardest. My others have a bigger boost in the sub bass, but this preset lets the enormous power of the iDSD do it's work. Track is "808 Tune Up" by Bass Mekanik. 
 
It's a bit hard to tell in the video, but the paper was actually twisting at times from all the low end torque. Pretty impressive if I don't say so myself  
 

 

[227qed]

 Oh my ADHD havin azz loves vids!!
Thanks bro!

No, thank you! For the inspiration and guidance on the basshead journey of mine and so many others.

I can't believe it's been over a year now since I first bought some dt990s thinking they'd have bass. Hah! I was so so happy when I returned them and got my sz2k. Even without amp and eq (the horror!) they still kicked the crap out of the beats studios I was replacing while sounding better than anything I'd ever heard.

Anyways, I didn't have a good seal for the video, but I accomplished what I set out to do in visually showing the levels of xbass so I'm happy with it.

Thanks again for all the good work and support!

 

[Hawaiibadboy]

  Okay so take it easy on me boys, this is my first attempt at taking a video of the infamous paper test. This was my SZ2K's with 55X pads, being powered by my iFi iDSD on turbo with the bass boost on. I'm playing the track through Spotify Premium, and use Equalify Pro for EQ duties. This EQ preset uses a low shelf filter set at 85hz, boosted 3db. I have many other presets for the SZ2K, but this one seems to thump the hardest. My others have a bigger boost in the sub bass, but this preset lets the enormous power of the iDSD do it's work. Track is "808 Tune Up" by Bass Mekanik. 
 
It's a bit hard to tell in the video, but the paper was actually twisting at times from all the low end torque. Pretty impressive if I don't say so myself  
 

 
 
 
That is dope
 
 
I was getting sick torque angles in the first few seconds of this vid. Thought it might twist the paper up.
 
 
Great vid you made.
 
iFi did not include any bassheads on their world tour.....the horror....the shame.

 
 
 
 

No, thank you! For the inspiration and guidance on the basshead journey of mine and so many others.

I can't believe it's been over a year now since I first bought some dt990s thinking they'd have bass. Hah! I was so so happy when I returned them and got my sz2k. Even without amp and eq (the horror!) they still kicked the crap out of the beats studios I was replacing while sounding better than anything I'd ever heard.

Anyways, I didn't have a good seal for the video, but I accomplished what I set out to do in visually showing the levels of xbass so I'm happy with it.

Thanks again for all the good work and support!

 
 
I was a black sheep loon with paper and vids 2 years ago . Now folks don't claim cans hammer without knowing someone will call for a vid.
 
Good times now. Much better than before for bassheads and buyers looking to dabble or commit to basshead.
 
Good times!!

 

[vapman]

   
 
 
That is dope
 
 
I was getting sick torque angles in the first few seconds of this vid. Thought it might twist the paper up.
 
 
Great vid you made.
 
iFi did not include any bassheads on their world tour.....the horror....the shame.

 
 
 
 
 
 
I was a black sheep loon with paper and vids 2 years ago . Now folks don't claim cans hammer without knowing someone will call for a vid.
 
Good times now. Much better than before for bassheads and buyers looking to dabble or commit to basshead.
 
Good times!!

I thought you and me were on the iFi tour?!