Disclaimer: we received the Duet as a review sample that is free.

Mike offers Cypher Labs items in the store but he wasn’t yes yet about importing the Duet to market it. I believe he will hookupdate.net/escort/corona/ probably after he read this. This is actually the review that is first the Duet world-wide.

It’s no key we love Cypher laboratories services and products only at Headfonia and we’ve provided reviews that are positive of each and every solitary product they placed on the marketplace. Cypher Labs is not a website sponsor just in case some think that’s the reason why, the reason that is real that their products or services are really that good and I also can’t think about anyone who has paid attention to certainly one of their units telling me personally it didn’t appear good. Those of you whom read our 2013 closing article (pity on people who didn’t) would have pointed out that Cypher laboratories items were in three of your authors’ 2013 products that are top. That claims sufficient. On the reverse side which also means we now have quite high objectives of brand new CL items, and so I worry your day we’ll have actually to create a review that is negative certainly one of their devices. Will this end up being the time?

I can’t keep in mind if We chatted about that within the Theorem article, however in an extended gone past Cypher Labs and ALO sound had been lovers where CL provided the DACs and ALO made the matching amps to complement. For reasons uknown their company deal stopped and ALO is not any longer CL that is even selling in their shop. That implied that CL needed to begin to build a unique portable amplifiers while the Theorem had been the result that is first that of program included a first-class DAC. The Duet is a stand-alone amp. Even though the Theorem seems superb it but has 2 downsides that are small. To begin with whenever you link sensitive (C)IEMs you can easily really obviously hear a hiss when linked and during quiet passages. Secondly there is certainly a slight channel instability at suprisingly low volume, therefore it’s primarily a concern when it comes to IEM users. As an answer for this, Cypher laboratories – right prior to the ending of the season – interestingly released a brand new portable amplifier called the Duet. The Duet originated with IEMs at heart but is effective enough to even drive the orthodynamic headphones.

We’re accustomed a really quality that is high and a vehicle load of bonus add-ons with every CL item sufficient reason for this Duet this will be no various. You obtain the elastic bands, the leather-based pad, cables and also this time also a real EU energy plug in order to connect your USB cable that is chargingwe reported about this before). As opposed to the Theorem, the Duet will come in matte black colored rather than the shiny black colored finish. The Duet’s look fits the Solo –R and –dB but it doesn’t match with my original Solo and Theorem as you can see in the pictures. We however doubt this could be a deal breaker for anybody. Decoration are the same as the Algorhythm products.

The Duet is a completely balanced analog amplifier, this means it’s a input that is balanced production (mini-4 pin) beside the solitary ended 3.5mm in- and production. Just like the Theorem this has an incredible quick re-charge battery pack that will provide you with as much as 12 hours of play time! The Duet features 3 gain settings: minimal is -6dB, moderate is +3.5dB and tall is +15dB. “Volume gain settings are optimized for all headphone kinds” based on CL. I myself utilized low or gain that is medium my IEMs and Medium and tall gain utilizing the Orthodynamic headphones. The power that is exact in balanced and unbalanced mode can be located on CL’s web site.

The Verdict

We utilized two various setups to test the Duet. One ended up being a complete on-the-go iPod and Cypher laboratories dac/amp setup (80% of times) plus the other had been a desktop setup where we utilized Jan Meier’s detailed CORDA DACCORD DAC (review quickly) in conjunction with the Duet amplifier.

50% associated with the test ended up being finished with IEMs (Cosmic Ears customized BA4 & RHA’s MA750i powerful motorist) while the spouse contained complete sized headphones just like the Sennheiser HD650, Philips L2, Hifiman HE-500 and undoubtedly the favorite Audez’e LCD-2.

Energy wise the Duet appears somewhat stronger than the Theorem but we don’t see anybody requiring anywhere near this much energy in a setup that is portable. The Duet could drive anything I easily plugged directly into it. Using the Theorem my customized IEMs (Cosmic Ears BA4) offered lots of hiss on the new Duet so I was looking forward to trying them. We can’t really state there is absolutely no hiss however it is just a rather tiny portion associated with the hiss the Theorem produced. This means you actually need to pay attention because of it at zero volume to know it. Whenever you up the gain and maximum out of the volume(?!) without a source linked you are getting a bit more hiss however in practical listening conditions i really could maybe not hear any hiss, also during the low amount we listen to. Objective one accomplished! There aren’t any grounding hum problems whenever attached to the charger whilst in usage either. I could reassure you ab muscles faint hiss of the amplifier shall maybe not frustrate you since it’s that faint. The channel instability associated with the Theorem I talked about earlier in the day is wholly gone and also the amount is tuned fine sufficient to pay attention at really low volumes with in ear monitors without the dilemmas. Objective two: Check!