iFiAudio xCAN Portable Amplifier with Bluetooth

For those wondering to get the xCan and/or the iFiio BTR5, I'll state what each do well and lack. Let's get one thing straight: the xCan cannot be used as a USB-C DAC. So BTR5 already has an advantage of being hooked up to my phone (S21 ultra).Looks: The BTR5 is much smaller (photos). It's a little bigger than my thumb and has a clip. The xCan is about the size of a wallet. The B5 is made mostly of plastic with glass front and back. It also has a plastic clip which is great for hanging off your shirt neck or pocket (it's super light). The xCan is made of aluminum with plastic rear and knob. It has no clip or 3rd party case with clip. It does come with a velvet drawstring bag to keep fingerprints and scratches off of it in your pocket. If you want super portability, BTR5 wins.Features: Both have Bluetooth capability but I question why the xCan touts "Hi-Res" when BT 4.2 can't do more than 44.1k streaming. Again, since it lacks USB-C, it can't tap into the 192/32+ samples. BTR5 is BT5.0 which does have ADPX HD and LDAC and up DSD512, MQA 16x, 384/32 via USB-C. Some have said the BT on the xCan is terrible. It's made of metal. Of course it's going to mess with the distance compared to the plastic B5. I got less than 10ft from my phone and it was dropping signals. This isn't really a problem for me since I have my phone in my pocket, but if you had it paired with your HDTV or tablet, moving from room to room could be a deal breaker. The BTR5 has buttons on the side for "pause/play" and certain times you can control your device with the volume up/dn with FF/RW. I say certain times because via BT, the BTR5 can do this, but using it USB-C stops this ability for some reason. Volume still works. Not a dealbreaker but I'd like dedicated FF/RW instead of holding down the up/dn. The xCan can only mute (not pause) the volume if you push on the analog dial. It has no ability to pause/FF/RW songs. That really annoys me since I hate touchscreen phones for music playing. I'll get a proper DAP later. Both also have 3.5mm and 2.5 "balanced" headphone jacks. The BTR5 only has USB-C input on the back while the xCan has 3.5mm and 2.5mm inputs. That's because the xCan is actually a "dual mono" amp with BT capability. This is where you need to have a DAC of some sort to pump the 96/24 - 384/32 to the xCan. It does come with both male 3.5mm and 2.5mm cords to hook up a DAC (my BTR5 via 2.5mm out) to the rear input and the xCan amplifies the sound. You can use "bit-perfect" out from the DAC so the xCan can amplify the sound analog (later on that).Sound: So here's the part everyone wants to know. Does the xCan sound better than the BTR5? Yes. Not by a lot though. Since the price of the xCan has dropped from $299 to $199 and the BTR5 is currently $129, if you were only going to use it for BT listening, I'd recommend the xCan (unless the range is a dealbreaker for you). I thought the BTR5 sounded really good when I first got it. Bass was abundant and treble was very clear. I had tested it with 3 HP's (Senn 650HD's, Beyer 770, and TRN V80 which is a two driver IEM) with their cables upgraded to 2.5mm. Then I got the xCan. What I noticed pushing both at same volumes and no EQ, at first the xCan sounds slightly anemic than the BTR5. That's when I noticed that the xCan actually has smoother sound. It's not "edgy" with shrill highs and too much bass like the BTR5 does. The B5 definitely sounds more "digital" soundwaves than the analog parts in the xCan. The volume is analog and so is the EQ (bass 2+ and presence). My biggest gripe with the BTR5 is, while it is very clear, it's just too much of everything. If you turn up the volume, some drum taps or bass hits get overbearing after hours of listening. Turn the volume to down to compensate and it just feels like it's too quiet. The xCan suppresses (controls) the bass and highs to where hours of listening at a comfortable level doesn't hurt your ears. I think that alone is worth the $70 difference. Let's talk about the EQ's built in. The BTR5 has a fairly balanced sound without using the digital EQ's. I already mentioned the bass is sometimes too much. Like music apps on your phone, when you turn it on, it does something weird where it lowers the volume and does some strange muffling of frequencies. You know what I'm talking about. While the BTR5 doesn't do it like a music app, it does it to a much smaller degree. The xCan has analog parts that when you flip that switch on the back, it alters the sound without lowering the volume. It's like having bass/treb knobs on a receiver, but you flip it on or off on the xCan. At first I didn't because I had also used the 3D+ (it's supposed to make it sound like the speakers in front of you). the 3D+ makes you lose some stereo separation and I don't personally like it. Maybe you will. However, turning Bass 2+ and Presence adds a bit more bass and slight midrange bump. I pretty much keep it on how since does liven up the sound for most of my songs.So there you go. I'm going to keep both because I'll use the BTR5 for my computer to pump better DACs to my 2.0 analog 70's Pioneer amp or feed a bit-perfect feed from my phone to the analog xCan. For $330, it's still cheaper than the xDSD Gryphon ($600) that has a real DAC, and I can double the BTR5 for desk use. If you want to try Hi-res audio on the cheap, then get the BTR5 and see if you can tell the difference with your headphones or IEMs. You may find out how bad some of your MP3s sound because the BTR5 is so clear. Get the xCan if you value your ears for long listening sessions and already have a DAP or inline DAC (like Dragonfly black).

I'd ordered the HIpDac 2 two weeks ago but sent it back, since it only has USB input, no BT, and it wasn't suiting my needs since I mainly wanted it as an upgrade and to use with my Fiio player, not really that much for USB or PC sources. Found the XCan after a lot of research on IFI, wasn't up for an $800 desktop amp, don't need it, so this came up refurb'd on here and I grabbed it at a bargain price. I'm sitting here previewing it now, connected wired to my Fiio X1 player, with XBass and Presence 3D on. I had to set my DAP to "headphone" analog out instead of line out, turn BT off, and then I got sound. At first I got zip,for some reason. My Fiio player has BT also of course, so I can either do wireless with the XCan or wired! Fantastic. The only thing you cannot do is use wireless IEMS or headphones with this amp.Using my new Hifiman HE400SE planars thus far. Well, this amp sounds darned good, very "warm but neutral" and the bass and 3D features add a lot. Has plenty of power, even on the planars I tested the upper power shelf and it has plenty of power to spare, I would never turn it up nearly that loud!For dynamic phones you could probably keep it down in the silver or green range and never have to turnit up any louder. Or basic IEMs. The amp is built solid, has a metal chassis, is compact but has some weight to it, All the indicator lights etc. are useful and work as promised. It charged in about three hours.I don't have any balanced cables here, and have never used them, and I'm a bit baffled as towhat cables I would need for the 2.5" balanced input or headphone out on here. I'll researchthat later on. I will also test the Bluetooth later as well, with my iPhone14. I just used thebasic longer 3.5" provided to connect the DAP to the amp.I believe, for under $200, this is a phenomenal headphone amp. It's a big upgradefrom the older Fiio A5 amp I was using for several years, as the XCan has tons more power,and sounds overall, a good deal sharper and clearer as well. You have both BT optionsand old school wired, and both balanced inputs/outputs, which is amazing. The amp has powerto burn to drive almost any headphones, I would say, except maybe super high impedancepower eating studio phones. Even those, it should drive anyway. I played Wish You Were Hereside 1 (Pink Floyd from Discovery box set) and now playing Blondie Disc 1 of the new box setAgainst The Odds, and all of it sounds warm, tight, and detailed so far, no distortion at all.The XBass really helps for planars, etc. 3D is less exciting but it does add some soundstageor presence. With XBass on, it adds a good deal of low end punch, but, it still doesn't go toexaggerated, muddy, BEATS type extremes.If you only need a USB connex. portable amp without Bluetooth, get the HipDac 2,but if you want a lot more power and either type of connection option, the XCan is theamp for you, no question. And it's totally portable, or could function as a portable laptopor PC/Mac tablet desk amp if necessary, though you'd have to use BT or a wired connection.I see now why IFI is held in such high esteem, they put out a quality product, but you betterresearch it all first to see which of their amps is right for your needs, and also consideringtheir price levels, which can go from $100 up to $5000 or whatever!

The xbass setting definitely makes a difference, the ATH-R70x which from my own experience and that of more qualified audiophile reviewers doesn’t have much of a bass as their flatter and are open back, however with the feature enabled definitely provides a heavy enjoyable amount of bass. The only thing to criticize is that the amplifier is a little to simple in buttons, like it doesn’t have a reset or any button to erase previous linked devices or have to where you can quickly switch between stored devices

I wanted to try an portable amplifier for my Astell and Kern DAP and this came recommended to me. I bought on Amazon so i could return if needed but this is going nowhere!!! I'd suggest following the instructions in the manual to set-up rather then trying usually male type guess work BUT once you've sussed it out, it's amazing. It just has so much power. I paired it with my HD650s and my HE400s and no problem. I must admit to being surprised by the BT as well, so surprised that I had a play and set it up with my TV. I've had a couple of late nights watchng films while the other half was asleep. The Mission (an old favourite with a power score) and Bohemian Raphsody - xCAN and Queen - a killer combo for sure. Both blew me away.

With so many phones removing the headphone jack, the xCan really hits the mark perfectly. No messy wires, just connect any phone via bluetooth, plug your favourite headphones in to the xCan and be blown away by the wonderful audio experience. The xCan is driving my headphones like nothing else has before. Very impressed.

Without comparison to other competitive devices and in terms of features, flexibility and musicality the Xcan is a good amp that will dramatically improve the sound quality from a mobile phone. However it is an expensive solution and there are potentially cheaper and better options available (see below). With phones and expensive digital players I found the Xcan's musical presentation lacks a bit of emotion, sweetness and rhythmic drive leading to a pleasant, but slightly sterile performance. It is, 'very hi-fi' with a neutral and open presentation, but untypically iFi seem to have focused on the 'high, fidelity' but lost the fun and engagement of the music. For these reasons I really cannot recommend the Xcan.If you grew up in, or are enjoying the resurgence of that, 'analogue sound' then the Xcan is probably not the way to go. I have been using the older iFi ican for three years and personally I think for sheer musicality and entertainment in trounces the Xcan and at half the price!Pros and Cons of the XcanProsQuality look and feel. The Xcan is well built and feels solid.Nice style to the design.Comes with all connecting cables.Connects via balanced or single ended cable or Bluetooth.outputs to single ended or balanced headphones.Serious output power allowing it to drive any higher end headphone.Sound quality. A very detailed, clean and spacious sound that tends toward the analytical side. It may be the bees knees for some, but compared to the old ican, some may find it wanting.New Xbass, Xbass+ and 3D filters are better than the originals (on Ican).Always feels in control with a confident grip on the music.Greatly improves the sound from a mobile phone.Has balanced inputs and outputs (balanced input is useless for most if not all phones)ConsNot convinced it is a cost effective way of improving the sound of a dedicated digital audio player (DAP) or Phone.Power connector is very tight.expensive.No rubber bands supplied for strapping the amp to a phone or DAP.Needs experimenting with to find best combo of input/output and filters for a player and headphones.Case smudges very easilyNot sure I would fully trust the supplied adhesive Velcro fixings.There are cheaper and better ways to improve musical satisfaction.Xcan other OptionsIf you are using a phone as your source then I consider the old Ican sounds better than the Xcan and its half the price. There are other cheaper options like the ifi hip-dac or audioquest dragonfly red and dragonfly Cobolt. These dac/amp combos will improve musicality far more that just the Xcan or Ican. For an extra £100 you can move into real hi-fi quality sound from your phone by considering the Chord Mojo portable dac/amp or ifi XDSD. These devices will blow everything mentioned above out of the water. Even so I know that both of these amp/dacs actually sound better with the old Ican. Some of these devices also offer Bluetooth but they are all at their best when connected by the supplied cable.If you are already using a dedicated digital audio player (DAP) then your source is far superior to any phone that is ever likely to be made and this is where a dedicated portable amp really makes sense. In this case you may find the much cheaper Ican more musically satisfying than the Xcan. I have an £800 DAP and I prefer the older Ican (I have returned the Xcan). In my experience every DAP including £2000 plus Astell&Kern devices can be improved by a top quality portable headphone amplifier.Listening Notes XCan Versus IcanSources - Galaxy S7, Moto G7 Play, Onkyo DX-P1 (single ended and balanced), Cambridge Azure 851 Network player, Chord Blu CD player and DAC64.Headphones - AKG K451, sennheiser 25HD (single ended and balanced), Grado SR 325e, Meze 99 Classic (single ended and balanced), Grado RS1e Reference, Sennhieser Momentum in ear.Comparison to - iFi ican, Little Dot Mk2 Valve desktop amp, Arcam Rhead desktop amp.Music from the XCAN is sharper etched but never harsh and the leading and falling edges of each instrument are sharper than with the ican. This has great effect upon the realism and impact of struck and plucked instruments, but it can also emphasis fricatives and sibilance in voices and generally voices sound slightly harsher and less realistic. This also gives the impression of greater instrument separation, but this causes the Xcan presentation to lack a seamless, sweet and natural quality compared to the Ican. This effect is increased when using a balanced input.In general balanced input combined with balanced output gave the most analytical and distracting presentation. I imagine that the Xcan could sound a bit harsh with older digital equipment.Xcan has a more spacious sound-stage and has a bit more micro detail than the Ican. I was aware of listening to a music system, whereas the Ican sounds like you are sitting at the mixer watching the band playing their hearts out. The Ican is a more realistic and emotional ride. The ican is also faster and just bangs out a beat in a way the Xcan just cannot match. Both Xcan and Ican have a consistent and authoritative grip on the music but the ican has s slightly forward and warmer presentation that makes it sound more substantial (and hence real).Xcan is more digital in its presentation and more analytical. The ican is slightly warmer in character and a little less spacious but this makes music sound more integrated and seamless and hence real. With the Xcan I feel that all the separate strands of the music are so distinct that they are vying for my attention and this is distracting and unnatural. With the ican the music just washes over you in one wonderful seamless wave and this is the way we naturally hear music. For me the old ican is much more engaging.I think the Xcan is using a Class D switching amplifier circuit whereas the ican has a pure class A old style amplifier and like most audio enthusiasts I think it is the most natural and sweetest sounding amp circuit.The ican has an open ended circuit meaning that it can have some background noise but who cares. It still sounds better.The ican is a bit smaller in area but a bit deeper. Its build quality is ok, but it is less sophisticated design and build than the xcan. The xcan looks better.The ican has seemingly more power than the xcan but its battery can last up to 70 hours! Bit strange considering the Xcan has a very efficient class D amplifier and only lasts 18 hours.The Xbass and 3D filters on the ican work well with poor quality streaming services but the new implementations on the Xcan are subtly better.ican has a much better sound when using the phono inputs. This requires the purchase of a special cable.

I normally buy my hifi equipment from Peter Tyson as the guys are extremely knowledgable and helpful. They also have a super efficient customer returns policy so one can feel very comfortable and confident when purchasing product from them.After much research I decided on purchasing the ifi XCan and as I wanted it the next day and I had missed the “next day” cut off time for P.T. I decided to purchase it from Amazon. Next morning a thought crossed my mind regarding faulty product returns with Amazon hmmm..... It arrived within the pre informed delivery widow which was excellent as always. Great anticipation on its arrival ( I had downloaded the instructions/operating guide from ifi ) so I was ready to rock and roll on its arrival.Wonderfully packed by Amazon and great presentation box from ifi, re- read the instructions checked the battery level 75% charged so “good to go” had my new iPhone 11 Pro Max fully charged pressed the centre button on the XCan it turned “blue” finding previously paired devised which of course none at the moment then after 20 seconds blue and red flashing to pair devises pressed find new devise on my phone and waited and waited and waited “nothing happed” they could not find each other.Early morning thoughts of faulty product washed over me. Now if this happens you can press the settings button whilst in Bluetooth mode for three seconds to the force pairing sadly no connection could be made so 25 times later and feeling very disappointed I tried pairing my iPad and another iPhone again no connection made. After questioning my own ability of understanding I searched the internet other instances of this with iOS devices and there have been a number of instances. I tried to contact ifi but you have to raise a ticket with you concerns not good if you are getting a little stressed. I just wanted to talk to someone about it to ascertain if it was indeed faulty. I also turned off my WiFi disconnected my other Bluetooth devises rebooted and tried again nothing. I then turned on my previously connected devises and they all connected within seconds.I called Amazon and spoke to a very helpful lady “Sophie” who could not help me technically but advised me that she could not replace it and that I would have to send it back then on their receipt of the product they will refund me my money “ok” let’s do that she did however arrange for it to be picked up in two days time.Next morning I called the guys at Peter Tyson and explained my plight. They have them in stock but it is a new product for them and none had been sold to check for the same fault returns they did however go away and check the one in the showroom and would try connecting to their iPhones. Theirs connected to three phones in seconds the difference with their XCan to mine was when pressing the force connection it flashed manically, mine did not it remained on slow flash. I bought one from them it arrived next day and “hey presto” all three devices where connected within a minute.What about the XCan well it is “absolutely amazing” the build quality, design and sound are everything I was hoping for. I normally listen to my music through Tidal MQA streamed through my Arcam streamer connected to an Arcam headphone balanced amp and I have both HD650s and HD700s headphones and this little XCan drives them equally as good as the Arcam set up and the big plus I can now listen with the freedom of movement. Now it is an amp but if you play it through Bluetooth it uses its built in Sabre dac which interestingly Arcam now use but played through a wired setup it uses the phone or other devises dac. It is only supposed to convert up to 16 bit rate but I have tried playing the same album through Tidal Hifi and Masters and I can detect an upgrade level of sound quality, detail and clarity from the Master album hmmm interesting as I know the ifi dsd plays MQA but only when wired connected.Out of interest after the faulty XCan was returned and the replacement XCan was well into being enjoyed with a tremendous smile on my face I received an email from ifi telling me how to make the Bluetooth connection pairing which was word for word as the instructions, my concern was that it would not make a connection not how to make a connection. We live in a most wonderful era with technology but one can’t better talking to another human being with technical knowledge about issues like this.I also bought a pair of IEMs they are the inexpensive KZ ZS pro 10 I am listening through them through Tidal Bluetooth into the XCan into the IEMs I would strongly endorse Trying this setup the sound is truly mind blowing clarity, detail balanced sonics no background interference just a real musical experience.I hope this may be helpful to someone in the future as this is a really impressive piece of kit “once paired”.

Astonishing little all metal head amp. Neutral, powerful and with finesse. I run this out of my A&K SR25 and V Moda M 100. This is with single ended output as unfortunately, the unit I received was faulty on the balanced 2.5mm input and I had to return it.