Nice review. Great amp. Tons of settings to explore!
Headphone Reviews and Discussion - Head-Fi.org
adydula
adydula
As "you" know I have the D8000 Pros and the signature amp as well for a few months now. I am curious at the lowest unity gain what the volume pot position was with SE and Balanced outputs.
One thing I find is with a FIXED output from the matching iFi IDSD dac the position is low on the unit...it gets very loud with the D8000's even the 420 ohm ADX 5000's and HD 650's...like way to much power....or a linear pot vs a log pot.
I have alleviated this somewhat by selecting the variable output from the iFi IDSD dac and my Soekris 2541...which allows me to have the pot in the middle or "sweet" spot on the dial.
???
Alex
One thing I find is with a FIXED output from the matching iFi IDSD dac the position is low on the unit...it gets very loud with the D8000's even the 420 ohm ADX 5000's and HD 650's...like way to much power....or a linear pot vs a log pot.
I have alleviated this somewhat by selecting the variable output from the iFi IDSD dac and my Soekris 2541...which allows me to have the pot in the middle or "sweet" spot on the dial.
???
Alex
betula
My volume setting on the iCan was around 10 o'clock most of the time. I could have changed the output levels on my ADI-2 easily to have the iFi volume knob at 12 o'clock, but to be honest I did not really care.
A
alekc
@betula thank you for detailed and great review. I have ifi Pro iCan with iPower Elite - kind of half Pro iCan Signature but without any golden ornaments included 
- and Burson Soloist 3XP.
From my findings: iCan in SS mode even with 3D and Xbass disabled can be less dynamic than Burson. You can clearly hear it with Pearl Jam - Getaway track. The biggest drawback of Burson is volume control knob that constantly is loosing correct position when changing volume. This does not happen when using remote. In that area Pro iCan is a winner. If Burson would implement a proper volume control I would say - especially considering stock price differences between it and Pro iCan/Signature - it would be a winner for me. Unfortunately it is not, but at the same time I see very little reason to upgrade from Pro iCan to Signature edition. You are right pointing out price as one of cons. I also agree on you assessment of lacking a bit of air in case of Pro iCan.
- and Burson Soloist 3XP.From my findings: iCan in SS mode even with 3D and Xbass disabled can be less dynamic than Burson. You can clearly hear it with Pearl Jam - Getaway track. The biggest drawback of Burson is volume control knob that constantly is loosing correct position when changing volume. This does not happen when using remote. In that area Pro iCan is a winner. If Burson would implement a proper volume control I would say - especially considering stock price differences between it and Pro iCan/Signature - it would be a winner for me. Unfortunately it is not, but at the same time I see very little reason to upgrade from Pro iCan to Signature edition. You are right pointing out price as one of cons. I also agree on you assessment of lacking a bit of air in case of Pro iCan.
betula
Yes, it would be interesting to see a pure SS Signature amp from iFi to see how much closer they can bring the price to the 3XP without the tube section.
