fordski
500+ Head-Fier
Sort of depends on your use case. It’s a great amp, but it’s too big for true portable use, and it runs hot. The DAC section has an extremely smooth tuning that some love and some hate. And it’s not necessarily the best choice for either super sensitive hiss-prone IEMs or hard to drive headphones.
I agree with your comments about portability although it's a great hand warmer on cold days! I bought my CDM used about 2 years ago and use it most days. I love this thing. It's performed flawlessly and is a great pairing with my Beyerdynamic T5p headphones. I have tried it with my T1's and it seems to struggle with them.
For transportable home use it's great. I use mine with a Chord Poly/mojo when I want it untethered and use the built in DAC at my desk. I actually quite like the built in DAC but it does run a bit hotter than just using the amp.Tube rolling can make a difference as well so that can be fun if you're into that.
Having said this I think the CDM is still a great buy today especially if you can find one used.