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Meier Audio StageDAC - Page 9

post #121 of 630
9/15/09 at 3:19pm
To those complaining about icons at the front panel, that is Meiers classic styling that he has used since... well... as long as I have been aware of Meier Audios products. Looks a bit wierd at first, but once you realise what they are you realise how self explanatory they actually were, they just try to visualise the sound each switch alter.




Interesting looking DAC, possible candidate for upgrade from KECES. Unfortunately I am trying to get rid of opamps in the signal path so I aim for discrete or passive output DACs. I still cant get that idea out of my head that opamps = not as good as device could be...
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post #122 of 630
9/17/09 at 7:41am
Well, incredibly quick shipping from Germany, my StageDAC has arrived
Alas I won't be able to listen to it until tomorrow evening...
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post #123 of 630
9/17/09 at 11:41am
Like Onocentaur's mine arrived at work this afternoon. I have received the first one produced in silver colour (Serial SD001).
First impressions are very good indeed. Very well built, it looks better in flesh than in the pictures and it feels quite solid. The quality construction is on par with expensive HI-FI equipment.
It came double boxed, and in the box there was a mains cable, a USB cable (nice touch) and the instructions.
I will star testing it later at home and I will take some pictures for the forum.
Needless to say I will post my impressions over the weekend.
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post #124 of 630
9/17/09 at 12:58pm
Product page ist now online.



@Leonardo_BVB,

is the whole case in silver or only the front plate?
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post #125 of 630
9/17/09 at 3:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stefan... View Post
is the whole case in silver or only the front plate?
I got a silver one too, so I can answer.... just the front plate is silver.
I have to agree with Leonardo: despite Jan mentioning earlier in the thread that the case would be 'relatively simple', it feels and looks very nice indeed.
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post #126 of 630
9/17/09 at 3:32pm
Well, here they are, as promised some pictures. I feel it is quite early for impressions yet but I can say that with x8 oversampling and the filter in setting one it is incredibty linear and it is as good as any other DAC I ever listened to (and that includes very espensives ones). The wide stereo function expand the stereo image a little bit (I need more testing with my stereo). The crossfeed is very, very clever: with very well mixed CDs you notice pretty much nothing but, with hard stereo mixes of the early 60s, like the Beatles' Blue Album it is like day and night, truly remarkable.
You can see it with my main stereo system (note that the finish match the Music Fidelity thick aluminiun front). I took another with my headphone setup.
Enjoy
LL
LL
LL
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post #127 of 630
9/17/09 at 4:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by onocentaur View Post
I got a silver one too, so I can answer.... just the front plate is silver.
Thank you. Couldn't wait, just placed my order.
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post #128 of 630
9/17/09 at 4:19pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Leonardo_BVB View Post
Well, here they are, as promised some pictures. I feel it is quite early for impressions yet but I can say that with x8 oversampling and the filter in setting one it is incredibty linear and it is as good as any other DAC I ever listened to (and that includes very espensives ones). The wide stereo function expand the stereo image a little bit (I need more testing with my stereo). The crossfeed is very, very clever: with very well mixed CDs you notice pretty much nothing but, with hard stereo mixes of the early 60s, like the Beatles' Blue Album it is like day and night, truly remarkable.
You can see it with my main stereo system (note that the finish match the Music Fidelity thick aluminiun front). I took another with my headphone setup.
Enjoy
looking forward to reading your views on the dac/solo combo.
i have a solo srg and am looking to upgrade my MF v-dac!
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post #129 of 630
9/17/09 at 4:41pm
what other dacs could you compare it to?


Jans crossfeed and other enhancements make his amps fantastic, wish I could implement them in my DIY stuff.
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post #130 of 630
9/17/09 at 4:55pm
If only this had a remote control, LED display and built in headphone amp it would be a perfect all in one product! I use a Grace m902 (has all that and I really like it a lot-great headphone amp in it!); it also has Jan's crossfeed unit in it too. I would be interested if anyone can compare the sound of these two units.
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post #131 of 630
9/17/09 at 4:57pm
how do you know it has Jan's crossfeed?
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post #132 of 630
9/17/09 at 4:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DoYouRight View Post
how do you know it has Jan's crossfeed?
Page 11 of the owners manual:

"After extensive research and listening to many different crossfeed circuits, we chose to licence and implement an existing crossfeed circuit design called “The Natural Crossfeed Filter” which was designed by Jan Meier of Meier-Audio (www.meier-audio.de)."

it's online here:
http://www.gracedesign.com/support/m902_manual_revG.pdf
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post #133 of 630
9/17/09 at 5:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DoYouRight View Post
what other dacs could you compare it to?


Jans crossfeed and other enhancements make his amps fantastic, wish I could implement them in my DIY stuff.
The STAGEDAC is, in my opinion, as good as the Bryston BDA-1, or the Musical Fidelity A324 (I haven't listen to the Benchmark, Lavry or Grace so I cannot comment about those popular DACs I'm afraid).
It also sounds far more detailed than my actual computer "resident DAC", the Beresford TC-7520, which is an incredible DAC for the price (building quality of the Beresford is not great but the sound is superb for the price).
At the moment I am listening to the STAGEDAC without my valves connected to appreciate nuances and I am using Van Den Hul Hybrid from the SACD and, as connectors to the Grahan Slee, a pair of quite expensive Crystal Cable Piccolo interconnects (pure silver with gold infused -no it's not a joke they use gold to improve the structure of the cables).
I have Hank Mobley's Roll Call sounding right now and it is like being there!
Cheers
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post #134 of 630
9/17/09 at 6:42pm
Look for a DAC to improve the sound of Meier-Audio's Cantate. I rely my laptop as a main source to varity of music files and I feel ok with Cantate solution via its USB.

However, I wish to improve the DAC path of the Cantate which I feel still not that nice. Should StageDAC be a direct upgrad to Meier-Audio's headphone amps? and is it a proper step in order to get a better sound from a already fine sound amp like Cantate? Or should I sell Cantate and get the Symphony instead.

Thanks in advance for the comment.
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post #135 of 630
9/18/09 at 2:14am
Technicaly the StageDAC should sound nicier than the DAC in Symphony, because:
1) Stage DAC uses two DAC chips in dual mono mode
2) StageDAC uses a better power supply
3) It has a lot more switches to play with

But for a one box solution Symphony is great
@kenta either of the two will be a big step up for you.
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