Meier OPERA Owners - Page 3

I use my player's built-in DAC. I compared it with the Opera's DAC some days ago. The Opera's one sounds quite impressive, although it's clearly surpassed from the player's built-in DAC. But keep in mind that the SA-7S1 is a 7000$ source, thus a comparison is quite unfair...

In the end it's all about the music, but there is equipment that will make the same music sound "better" to my ears.

Thanks for the comparison. I really liked the DAC the came with the Opera, although I could live without the clicking sounds.

At the moment I am using it as DAC and amp. I compared it to my EMU 0404, which was no match for the Opera DAC, and also a Terratec X24 FW external soundcard as well as the Aria.
I couldn't really make out differences between those two and the Opera DAC-wise, only with a lot of goodwill and imagination, but decided to keep the Opera anyway and to use it as an 'all-in-one' package. It will also have to serve as preamp sooner or later.

Some piece of advice for those of you using the Opera as DAC with your PCs. I would recommend not using the USB input but to try a coaxial connection if possible.
With me, changing tracks in foobar or other interruptions of the data stream always resulted in annoying clicking noises from the relais when using the Opera as USB soundcard. I don't have these problems with a coaxial connection from my soundcard...probably because it is constantly 'sending' data, even if the card itself gets no input.

I hate this thread... curse you, Head-Fi.

<Orcin's wallet starts to pulse with anticipation>

These are mearly written words here, which can easily be dismissed as opinions, keeping the wallet safe by reasonable self delusion.

The real EVIL is that Todd Green and his gosh dang offer of this 2 week audition in exchange for a written review.....

I still have a second week of audition left, and Jan just now e-mailed me my Corda Opera has shipped... Evil thing to do to unsuspecting Head-Fiers, are these gosh dang so called"free" auditions....lol

The biggest negative with the Opera that I have found is that because it is really so neutral, it requires, nay demands, the very best sources.

I found that to my cost (literally!). BO (Before Opera), I was listening to -
CDP Primare 21 --> Audiolab 8000A (circa 1993) --> Beyer 990 (2005)
Good but very much too shrill for my liking and the caps were going pop all the time! Time to change then. In came the Opera, and then I realised the Primare CDP sound is warm and quite laid back (compensated in part by the 8000A's brightness). Everything came out kinda flat.

Finally couldn't stand it anymore, I went hunting again. I auditioned a Naim CD5x yesterday which really seems to makes the whole system sing! That cursed "synergy" issue hopefully has finally been sorted out. Hopefully,
Naim CD5x --> Opera --> Beyer 990
will be the end of upgraditis!

The moral of the story, the whole pathway has to be considered, from source down. If changing or introducing a new element to the chain, be prepared to spend more sorting out other parts of the system.

So far, I am using internal dac and really enjoy the sound. I am using usb from my Mac, and have not noticed any of the clicks others have talked about. It is dead quiet when I turn it on or change tracks.

I sense there is a developing consensus in terms of Headphone of choice, going on in this community as applied to this Opera. That the Beyers (in my case and many others 990s), are quite the synergistic match to what the Opera does so very well. Whereas they were a tie as to my preferance asside my k701s in my previous component chains. The Beyers simply seem to SING as I've never heard them before. Quite magical in fact

I'm wondering if any members with a larger inventory of cans or perhaps a, "just must be heard" suggestion, might chime in and share as to what works as well as these Beyers with the Opera....

(Sky?)


Oh, BTW Doug, the MHDT Labs DAC is practically a mirror image sonically to the Operas on board DAC; Although, it has a tad more bass promenance, as well as being a bit more forward leaning in its treble presentation than the Operas. The Operas DAC section, coined by one reviewer as being, more midrange centric leaning, is the impression I also get, vs the Constatine+ specifically... Only by selector A/B switching was i able to find myself slightly prefering the Operas slightly more neutral and balanced presentation. As with DAC sections within a competitive price class, I believe this is what it would come down to, a slight personal preferance only when A/B'd ...

Also, I feel one major benefit where the intergral DAC in the Opera has an advantage, is that the good doctor voiced it to work in tandem as one synergistic match as it could be, in light of its design for PC applications..

I'll venture further, IMO the good doctor also has taken into consideration the ills of the recording industry as applied to our high resolution headphone listening, by design, in this , his flagship one box solution.

I do find it on the more comfortable side vs aggressive presentation, of the DAC choices within its price range. I even found the Constatines NOS DAC to have more "edge" or "bite" or "aggression" which at least to my ear was not as pleasent with my choice of far ranging recordings of questionable quality. The utility and useability or listenability of this rig, with poorer recordings would tag it as being a forgiving yet high resolution and dynamic S.S. rig! IMO

It seems to only happen when I use the USB portion on the Opera.

It seems that an oritek zhaolu and M^3 combination costs less than the Opera .. has anyone compared?

This is not a problem of the Opera but your PC. I'm not a tech guy, so i can't tell you what causes this problem, but it certainly is not the Opera, because i had that problem with an USB-DAC as well, and started to look for solutions. So i switched from a front USB port to one on the back of the Motherboard, and it's working flawlessly for me ever since.
so if you can, try a different USB port or even a different PC.

I actually think that EVERY headphone I have tried on the Opera sounded good, which is every one in my sig. The Opera is not a one trick pony.

Question for owners of the Opera that use the "Big Z" headphone jack. I was wondering first of all if there are many headphones that would require the "Z" (maybe name a few that do). Secondly, is the SQ for headphones that require "Z" much better when using that jack, or could the "z" Jack be used instead without much loss in SQ?