Yes, yes, I know, it doesn’t seem worth it to listen for changes with a tiny little interconnect cable, but bear with me. I mean it is not unusual to discuss or review these in a main system, so… Towards the end of last year, I changed my home office system from a desktop based one to a portable/transportable one. Now it contains a Cayin N6ii DAP with A01, A02 and R01 motherboard modules and now most recently a Cayin C9 headphone amplifier. Currently I am pairing it with a set of Audio Technica ATH AP2000Ti closed back headphones, but I will also be...

In an effort to do the right thing I have made an attempt to recreate the ifi Audio Zen Can web page on my own desktop with my own Audio Technica ATH MSR7b headphones. You can see the proper image here https://ifi-audio.com/products/zen-can/ alongwith a whole lot of technical details regarding the Zen Can. Let me say that actually this opening photo is not as self-serving or lazy as it might appear. The ATH MSR7b is an excellent headphone for the money and even up to £500 there are few things better. In this respect it suits the Zen Can very well...

This is going to be a series of evaluations of the Pro iDSD over a longer time than normal. It won’t involve a lot of technical information as that’s already out there not least of which from ifi Audio themselves. Here there are a bumper array of specifications, tech notes and video tutorials on set up to fill your head with. https://ifi-audio.com/products/pro-idsd/ Speaking of ifi Audio my sincere thanks must go to them for entrusting such a relatively costly device to me for an extended period. I am aiming to look at setting up and running in...

A longer term look at a highly spec'd DAC, Streamer and Headphone amp in comparison to other home systems across a wide price range

There is a very good reason why I took a photo of the Nano Black is sitting atop my existing ifi Audio “Stack” which consists of Micro iDSD; Micro iCAN SE; iUSB; Gemini cable; Mercury cable and iPurifier2. The reason is that unexpectedly I spent a lot of time and effort comparing these and constituent parts thereof. Initially I had fully expected to get my trusty Meze 99s warmed up and a quick listen to the Stack and then compare the Nano Black and job done. But oh no that was not nearly sufficient………. The Meze 99 is a good headphone and for a...

There is a very good reason why I took a photo of the Nano Black is sitting atop my existing ifi Audio “Stack” which consists of Micro iDSD; Micro iCAN SE; iUSB; Gemini cable; Mercury cable and iPurifier2. The reason is that unexpectedly I spent a lot of time and effort comparing these and constituent parts thereof. Initially I had fully expected to get my trusty Meze 99s warmed up and a quick listen to the Stack and then compare the Nano Black and job done. But oh no that was not nearly sufficient………. The Meze 99 is a good headphone and for a...