Gadgetory

hey guys Brian from Audio head here today we have a review in partnership with the part-time audio file that's part-time audio file comm this is the AMR ëifí I can and the idec we actually have in the forefront here you can see this is the I can the I can is a headphone amplifier exclusive for 250 behind it is the I'd AK and that is a headphone amplifier and a DAC combined into one and that runs around three hundred dollars so the headphone amplifier see before you the icon is actually a class-a headphone amplifier it has two external switches on the front the X base in the 3d switch these have three different levels of operation I found the X base to be pretty substantial it is a really good job of kind of amplifying the low end without touching the mids and the highs too much there's very little change to the mids and highs and the bass kind of comes up and doesn't really crowd the mids all too much which is a really great thing a lot of bass switches out there are not to my preference that I think they do way too much too hard this one does a great job of analyzing both both the slam and the frequency response without messing with too much other stuff which is really cool the 3d switch is also three different levels off medium and high the main things I noticed regarding the switch is it pans some of the instruments pretty hard to the left and the right it does give you an envelope in 3d experience it's it's but it's you know it's a little bit of audio trickery I think that it's a really fun switch and both of these things you know blast it all the way up are are quite something to listen to everything both switches make things a lot more exciting but as far as resolution it's not a substitute for a really good resolution I think it feels more natural when you have you know just really high articulate natural sound but for a good time call the 3d switch because it is pretty fun and you can get more of a surround sound kind of like Dolby feel to it which is a you know quite enjoyable in certain situations the output from this but this baby is pretty good and by pretty good I mean it is loud for its size of all the DAX I've really reviewed out there this one has probably one of the most highest outputs for the size in this price range that being the $300 price range so it definitely has more output for those hungry hard to drive headphones that you know with really high impedances compared to like the dragonfly or even the HRT you micro streamer that's out on the market right now so the shining point for this amp really is the power output compared to a lot of other amps out there for this price range so it was this this particular one that I can has more of a kind of class a feel to it it's a little more organic sounding than perhaps some of the other amps out there so it's if you if you were something with power and you're looking for just a headphone amp for full-size headphones this one may definitely one that you want to check out I did notice that it wasn't ideal pairings with in-ear monitors the jump on the volume dial is quite hefty from nothing to something because it is amped up so big for so it's more of a match for full size but you could still use it for in ear monitors in a pinch this fine piece of machinery that you see here is the ID AK this has a single USB input in the back that also powers a unit which is a big plus in my book I like to see that kind of self powered stuff there's also a camp companion a USB power supply if you want to kind of change up and refine the power itself kind like a little bit of a line conditioner for that thing they offer that separately on the website you can check that out but for the most part I was really impressed with this in the three hundred dollar range similar to the I can amazing headphone output on the on the bigger side of things this also shares an analogue out and obviously the headphone here as well as far as the DAC is concerned it was right up there on par with a lot of the other decks in this range in terms of clarity and overall sound staging but once again the headphone amplifier was above par in the sense that it drove much more power than your typical headphone combo DAX in this range so the deck on this is actually quite impressive I found the clarity and the sound staging the detail and the impact really clean with this particular headphone and deck combination it's maybe not as it's a little more analytical I'd say than the just the headphone amplifier alone but in a good way really articulate really really kind of a nice combination for $300 if you're once again driving full sides headphones is really where this thing sparkles so those are the two decks really nice I'm really impressed with how things are shaping up in this category as of late a lot of great options a lot of improvement I really think that things have improved vastly over the past couple of you know not just in the past year if you want to get into hi-fi you can definitely do it in for two to three hundred dollars you'll start to give you a taste of some really good stuff so that's exciting thanks again forever everybody for watching and subscribe to the channel if you can if you have any comments feel free to leave them in the comments section and on YouTube thanks much have a going