Thanks for your review been wanting a bit more information on this puppy. Sounds like a nice set up. 

...The bass track was deep and punchy even on my HE500.  They gave the HE500 a energy I never heard before...
 
At 145mW max in bal, is it possible for this little amp to fully control the HE500?  how is it compared to your desktop amp?

I dont listen loud. If driven directly for the DAC of CDM, its less than half turn on the high gain is comfortable for me. At those level the CDM to me produces enough to control the HE500 better then all of my other equipment.  Then again my only desktop amp is a stello hp100 so I probably am not not the best person to answer.

Thx for the reply and clarification!  I am looking for a portable for my HD800. This amp looks very promising.  

As long as you use the balanced out, you won't have issue in terms of volume and power. The single end is a much lower powered. Infact the single end amplification is maybe just slightly louder then what ever device that's line in. Though you still gain the power and the tube smoothness

How does it compare to the Hugo?

I can't advice on that but Based on the cdm thread from others, the amp section is better and smoother while the dac section is Hugo's advantage.

Mmm......just to add: for iems, I prefer the CDM. For headphones, I prefer the Chord Hugo (when I still had it and has been replaced by the Chord TT). Since I enjoy both in ears and headphones equally, which one is better? Neither, because it is both. (insert DAP) + CDM + Chord Hugo is pretty close to an end-game portable set - up. Try the triple stack to see what I mean

Mmm......just to add: for iems, I prefer the CDM. For headphones, I prefer the Chord Hugo (when I still had it and has been replaced by the Chord TT). Since I enjoy both in ears and headphones equally, which one is better? Neither, because it is both. (insert DAP) + CDM + Chord Hugo is pretty close to an end-game portable set - up. Try the triple stack to see what I mean

Mmm......just to add: for iems, I prefer the CDM. For headphones, I prefer the Chord Hugo (when I still had it and has been replaced by the Chord TT). Since I enjoy both in ears and headphones equally, which one is better? Neither, because it is both. (insert DAP) + CDM + Chord Hugo is pretty close to an end-game portable set - up. Try the triple stack to see what I mean