How hot under the collar might the 23RM get in trot then full gallop? On the Final, a full-length CD elicited just handwarm. To load up, I jacked in Susvara. In high gain, 12'00" meant ideal SPL. Shattering expectations, I once again had headroom for broke; ears that is. Now might the 23RM break a sweat? With its crisply starched coat, unresasonable doubt set it. Gentlemen don't perspire? Adolescent headbangers might change my verdict. At what I consider stout levels into my beastliest load, I couldn't get unreasonably hot. This is no carry-on heater though it does get a bit warmer in pure battery mode; and Susvara obviously stresses it the most. Time to board sonics. Take-off…

Included Rasberry Pi USB C wall charger.

… here still with the fuelling hose attached for full-power mode but just as easily disconnected to go walkabout. My trusty hifi closet coughed up the right micro bungee to have the 23RM chest-hug a Shanling M3 Ultra like a baby kangoroo. A smartphone stand held both aloft. A pair of Meze 109 Pro played transducers, a micro 3.5/3.5mm stereo link analog bridge between DAP and amp. This photo is another sizing op and up. Where the Shanling represents the classic breast-pocket dweller, the 23RM is an outer-coat pocketeer. It works but means extra chunk and weight. To get the headfi outputs up, the input cabling from a smartphone must go at the bottom. Taking such a stack on the road requires sonic commitment; unless it's just enroute to a B&B or hotel where it goes stationary again. On sheer sound quality however, it's lift-off all the way. To test the flavors of current vs voltage output, bipolar vs Mosfet, I recabled the Meze with its original 3.5mm leash then used an adapter to go 6.3mm.

Viewing this amp as really a homie with only occasional wanderlust, I leashed it to my legacy Auralic Vega DAC and the included charger. It meant worry-free high-power mode and a superior source than the analog out of Shanling's DAP. Even on a load priced quite cheerful vs Enleum's ask, resolution was sufficient to hear a diff. Despite the designers having done a very good job of 'equalizing' their functionally disparate outputs for surprising similarity, current gain's focus and articulation held a small edge. With its higher amplification, one must compensate the volume control to not disadvantage the voltage port by playing at somewhat lower SPL. Even on the Meze's warmer comfort voicing with some presence-region freshness thrown in for good measure, one then already hears that Enleum's current concept lives up to its billing as the technically superior way of serving up ultra-resolution xover-less headfi. Of course any such statement admits that bipolar vs Mosfet outputs throw a second variable into this mix. It makes definitive claims that current mode is better impossible. And by including a voltage port in the first place, Enleum seem to acknowlede that it might work better on certain loads? Or could its only rationale really be to give longer mobile playtime? It's quite immaterial when we can simply decide for ourselves and our headphones of choice.

Upping transducer res to Final Sonorous X level—a design which sins heavily on bling and weight but perfects Sennheiser's HD800 voicing—inserted further distance. With headroom to spare either way, my preference for current mode was down to being even snappier and more transient gifted without defaulting into leanness to make it so. To overegg the offset, think of the voltage output as slightly more 2nd-harmonic dominant, the current mode as more 3rd harmonic. Or call it triode vs pentode. Either points in the right direction. Depending on the magnification powers of your 'phones, now narrow back the gap to not exaggerate expectations. Et voilà. On the USB leash there's no reason to be a green power miser and pick the 3.5mm voltage port for draining two batteries more slowly. With this choice ticked off, let's discuss current-mode sonics by contrast to the AMP-23R while using HifiMan's Susvara as tour guide. Best-case scenario and all that Jazz.