Ok, here the situation.

I've got : sony D25s and AKG K401 (still on the road )

I need : an amp in a reasonnable price (about 200$, less is nice)

Problem : I must go definitively back in June in Europe.

My possible choices :

Meta42 : for 200$ I can get a good one with an international switching power supply, good sound, enclosure just ok, customization possible.

OR

Creek OBH11 : should be about 130$ used here, I can get get a PS OBH1 back in Belgium : total +/- 150$. Good synergy with the akg's according to the reviews, perhaps not as good as the meta for other cans, nice enclosure, upgrade with a OBH2 possible.

An idea ?

1st edit : I'm not interested by crossfeed, it's not an issue.
2nd edit : the 50$ I could probably save on the creek could go to a correct mini to RCA cable ...

i will refrain from commmenting on the Creek, which i have not tried. however, as a Meta-owner, i will agree that the consensus around here will lean towards the META.

quality builders like KurtW and JMT can seemingly do whatever you want to it, and $200 should be enough since they do come cheaper (bare-bones)

it seems like every META owner is ecstatic over theres. im still letting mine burn in, but do your research, save your money, then contact one of the DIYSE

gluck

Why not look into something tubed like the Musical Fidelity X-Cans V2?? You should be able to pick up one used for around that price, and with the ability to tuberoll it should make owning it more fun, not to mention a little more costly!! At least this way you cna always make changed to the sound of the amp to suit your taste.

The META would be my second choice since you can order it here with whatever level of parts and expenses you want to make it sound REALLY good!! Another amp with options!!

Creek: I own one, and while it sounds pretty good, you can do much better for the money.

That's my .02 worth. Hope it helps!!

Thanks for the response :

- For the X-cans : I cannot get one for less than 200$ + tubes to change + shipping more difficult to Belgium due to shape + a new adapter if bought here, I'm probably gone for 300$.

- In fact, I was gone for the meta till I saw these post by gopher :

"Since switching from the Little to the Creek for the 501s, I've felt the bass has improved significantly. While I didn't find it inaccurate with the little, I feel it may be a bit deeper now. The soundstage is very good to my ears. One track that comes to mind is track 10 of Blue Notes Blends: On the Court 3 (Can't stand the rain). The soundstage, airiness and just feel of the accoustic "twang" were just awesome to my ears.

To my ears it feels as if this combination might be a touch on the bright side (atleast when compared with my HA-1/HD600s). But I guess brightness is something I like. When listening to some of my favorite older Jazz recordings like Sketches of Spain, I sort of like that almost fatiguing push at the top and then relief as frequency comes back down. The highs don't come appart at the extreeme as I've noticed with other phones on the AKGs (not comparing to HD600s). With the HD's the highs have a different feel, they are more detailed and accurate, though I'm undecided if I like that. One thing I did notice with my HDs is with Rebecca Pidgeons Grandmother when she gets really high what I thought was the phones distorting is really the frequency being represented by some instrument, probably a guitar or something. I couldn't really find this with the AKGs but maybe my ears aren't the most sensitive.

As far as mids, though I'm not precise where upper lows and lower highs are determined, I feel as if it may perhaps be a bit thin. I don't know if it's the fact that they are more open headphones then my HD600s or what, but at comparable volumes the HDs have a thickness to them. I prefer the thinness of the AKGs for accoustic pieces and 'less throaty' female vocalists. I'm not really certain the quality I'm describing here is in actuality the mid region though.

I typically listen to my AKGs with the volume knob ~ 1:00, but upon your request to hear about earsplitting volumes I cranked it up a bit. It distorted horribly beyond 3:00. This was not what I would call a comforable listening volume, but still I was a little suprised at how ugly it got. "


I made some researchs on the forum and found similar opinions, such as this one by Albau :

"I have both K501 (and had HD600) and OBH-11 and I fully agree with blr - K501 and OBH-11 have an amazing synergy with crystal, ballanced and smooth sound.

And it's true, OBH-11 helps to make AKG's bass more pronounced without rolling-off highs and darkening the sound like TA and MG Head DT do.

It's a differnet story with HD600, to me Senns sounded congested with OBH-11. That's strange since K501 with their huge soundstage and 3D instrument separation were only aided by Creek."

There are other posts

This one compare x-cans vs creek for the 501s : http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showt...reek+obh11+501

There are plenty of small msg saying the 501+Creek is a perfect combo but most of them are one year old and I wanted to know if someone had the occasion to try the meta42/501 vs creek/501.

I read enough here to learn the meta is a better value but I'm mostly interested in a comparaison of the combo, not a comparaison of the amp.