Okay, here are initial impressions... obviously the amp is not burned in yet but from what I've heard so far it's going to end up amazing as it's already sounding excellent to me at the moment.
Initial thought as I removed the box was that this thing is INDEED tiny. If I hadn't gone for E3 before this then I would have been really floored, but these are still extremely small, size of a pocket lighter. I'm liking the looks and the finish (I got the "silver" version which leaves me with chromish-seethrough material on one side), though it obviously looks scratch prone... time to invest in some bestskinsever DIY skins! Their "manual" is honestly pathetic and is an obvious print out from some cheapo inkjet printer, but who cares about the manual, right?
I also like how they included the plether case, not so much because I'm going to use it for the amp, but I'm probably gonna use it for my S639 as the size is about perfect for it.
Here are initial rundowns with all my headphones, all on low gain and no bass boost, on my first gen Ipod Touch HP out (I know, I know, I'll get an LOD soon
)... gonna have to try it with S639 later as it has to be charged.
KSC75: The first one I tried, and this amp made the sound VERY natural to my ears. KSC75's are typically known to be fun, but this amp added some more transparency and smoothed things out, making these sound very very balanced. Different from how E3 made them more fun but more artificial sounding. Thumbs up here.
D1001: One positive was that T4 seemed to make the D1001's infamous bass less "flabby" and made it a bit more tight and refined. It also brought out the midrange a tad more. However, it also sounded like it cut out the highs a bit. Kinda on the fence on this combination as of now.
PK2: I initially thought these would probably benefit the most, but to my dismay, it actually showed the least. It adds bit of refinement and bass, but sounds practically unchanged to me otherwise, with maybe some loss in top highs. E3 I felt went better with it. Meh.
Marshmallows (Kramer modded): Not bad. Smoothed out the harsh highs and again made the bass less flabby and brought out bit more mid-highs. Better than E3 combo at least, which is a bass-fest.
KTX1pro: Did similar things as it did to KSC75, but with more loss on highs I felt, with bit of muddiness in bass. Seriously need to quarter mod these to bring out some more highs.
Grado SR60: Pretty good. Made it less bright and more warm which is good because I haven't been using them lately because of their over-brightness. Definitely adds much needed bass.
PX100: Brought out the mids a bit, other than that I didn't notice a whole lot. I also happen to not like these too much, so I may be biased.
SQ5: If anyone's heard the SQ5 you'll know that it has next to no bass. Well, the T4 does help immensely in this regard. The already-good mids improves further and so does the soundstage. Highs, which I found sometimes harsh as stock, smoothed out also.
Super fi 4: I got these recently as my "hold over" IEM's while my 530's are getting custom sleeved and SF5pros being lent out.... and I was almost 100% sure that I was going to return these when I get the 530's back due to their "averge-ness". Well, I'm not so sure anymore, because to my ears these benefitted the most from T4. The soundstage benefits greatly, and beats even the 530 soundstage which are supposed to be ok for IEM standards. I know SF5 version 2 is known for its soundstage and I'm sure this is how it is like. Also focused and brought out the mids, which was slightly veiled and all over the place before. Highs are still somewhat rolled off, but pleasant in a Shure kinda way. Only negative is that these hiss the most out of all the ones I tried, but its not noticeable once the music is on. And since this is Itouch 1st gen HP out we're talking about here, it's bound to be better with a LOD.
NC732: What, what's an Active NC can doing here, get out, you're saying? xD Well, I really wanted to try this as without the NC module on, these are VERY VERY hard to drive, I reckon probably almost as hard as higher tier stuff like K701 or HD650. And one of the positives for these cans SQ wise is supposed to be it having next to no distortion even at high levels. Well, so for this one I put the High gain on, boosted the volume dial up to 6, and it drove it to acceptable levels... and the sound is excellent. Excellent bass, more mids than ever before and very good soundstage. These definitely sounded better amped by T4 than the D1001, go figure. I would actually say this amped sounds better than D1001 stock (yes, it's true).
EX082: Helped with mids, may have added bit too much to the bass. Highs still rolled off. Meh.
Well, that's all for now. I'll add more as I get my 530's and SF5Pros back. Overall, I'm very pleased with the purchase and give thumbs up to ibasso, except for their choice of DHL as courier.
