Already setup a purchase for iFi iCAN and about to receive it within the next few days. Head-Fi had gives a very good rating for its Class-A amplifier and I couldn't wait to try out its 3D and X-Bass feature! Anyone already tried this baby?

I got it from one of the largest e-commerce site in Taiwan for ~ RM 830. A slightly more expensive than retail but it is really hard to find any seller here.

Oh I meant to say 'here' in Taiwan coz I'm not in Malaysia

Hey guys, I procured myself a HD 800 two weeks ago and has been using the following chain:

foobar2k WASAPI push > Fiio E17 (DAC) Line-Out > iFi iCAN version 1 > HD 800.

The soundstage had been excellent compared to HD 600 but I was wondering whether this amp is adequate the unleash the potential of it with a limited budget of 1k. I have read that using a tube amplifier such as Schiit Lyr would help to smoothen the highs. Strangely though I still can tolerate the highs.

P/S: The burn-in time is less than 10 hours until now.

Thanks a lot for the recommendation liquidgal. I myself am aware of the bottleneck and is currently 'training' or 'tuning' my ears to get used to the amp to detect any noticeable room for improvement. Guess it will again start to burn hole in my pocket.

Yea a nightmare for the ears but a blessing to my bank account FYI I went with the upgrade route of headphones instead of DAC and amplifier over these past years whenever I have spare cash to spent. Now that I settled with a flagship headphone such as HD800, guess it is time to change to another route. From what I am aware, not most people (me included) realize how much difference an amplifier can made to the headphone sonically. In fact, before venturing into audiophile world I always thought that for an amplifier to qualified driving a headphone only means able to provide adequate amount of loudness without having to crack the volume knob to max. But I know that this is not the only considering factor as there are also factors to consider as well. Not sure what terminology I should put here

Thanks E1-AKG for the thorough advice. I remembered that the shop owner in which I purchased my HD800 did mentioned that my current setup is definitely unable to reveal my HD800 well but I thought I could bear with it. After listening for almost 2 weeks now I started to realize the limitation of them, hence starting up this post. Now that you mentioned both the Oppo HA1 and Chord Hugo I do recall reading great reviews about them but later opt it out of my list considering my limited budget. Out of the two I think Oppo HA1 might been more affordable for me in the foreseeable future considering its price tag of ~USD 1200 compared to USD 2495 for Chord Hugo. May I ask have you personally try the HA1 and care to share some of your brief reviews or initial impression of it?

Say I am to purchase it somehow, may I know any seller on LYN nor Lelong.com that sells them as I can't seemed to find any. One immediate action is to browse through our local distributor but realize that they only sell Oppo smartphone.


I often read some back and forth discussion between the Schiit Vali, Asgard 2, and Lyr matching with HD 800 and can't seemed to conclude which one might suit to my listening preference. Considering where I am currently staying at (Segamat), there is not a single shop carrying audiophile grade equipments and the closest one, presumably, is Jaben Malaysia in Subang Jaya. So feeding off user reviews is my only option.

I just browse through discussion on Vali on Head-Fi and it is just as you said. It received a high praise for having a high C/P ratio while delivering good sonic performance when matching with HD800. Not sure how good would that be since I cannot audit it anywhere in my area, and going to E1 in Sungei Wang might only be possible in the coming months. To any owner that has similar setup or auditioned similar setup as I did, I am curious on how would a combination of Vali and Modi fares against my current setup of E17 and iFi iCAN. I think the price tag of both the Vali and Modi might cost almost the same as my iFi iCAN. Not sure whether the performance and price tradeoff holds true here.