REVIEW: Meier Audio Concerto headphone amp - Page 53

MacedonianHero,

 

Im using the beyer t1 with the Concerto. Im not used to loud music at all, but the only way for me to have a "full" perception, I need to set the volume quite high on the concerto.

 

The little dot mkiii I never set the volume past 10 o clock.

 

I have a MF V-dac. SOurce issue is not a problem I think.

 

Thank you for replies :)

Make sure the volume on your computer and dac is set at 100%. All depends on what headphones and source you have. If you have low impedance phones that is definitely odd since I can't go past 9 or 10oclock without blowing my ears. If you have high impedance phones, that should be normal.
 

Edit: Nvm I didn't see your above post. The Beyer is a high impedance phone so I don't think there's any problem. With the gain set on low I have to turn the volume anywhere between 1-3oclock

 

Edited by brasewel - 3/28/11 at 4:57am

That seems pretty normal. I was at a local mini meet this weekend and I saw that most T1 owners playing with my Concerto were playing between 12 o clock to 15 o clock on the high gain setting. 

 

 

Rasmus and Brasewel,

 

Thanks for your input :)

 

I just thought it was quite strange as compared to my little dot. But I must truly admit, when the volume is set between 12-13.00, its marvelous.

 

 

 

btw, Jan Meier is such a nice guy and I didnt know he was a dutchmen as well. So in broken English I asked him for some info on the concerto and to my suprise he replied in perfect dutch. haha :)

 

Thnks people

 

 

That's one thing I love about the Concerto, the fine and precise volume control with most of the pot travel being usable, which is rare. I can't stand all the amps whose volume control can't be used past 9 with most cans.

^^ I agree

With my beyer DT990/600, the Concerto's high gain is too much for me. I do generally tend to listen at low-moderate sound levels, but I seriously would not understand how someone without hearing damage or loss could stand listening past 9 'o clock on high gain. Although I guess it greatly depends on the source.

 

More on topic though, so the Stagedac is very likely to go out of stock forever, soon?! What a dilemma, I could choose to either wait for Jan to announce what his next products will be and hope there will be an upgraded dac (at hopefully the same price), or buy a Stagedac right away...

 

Weren't there rumours, quite a while ago, that he might consider making a simplified Stagedac, one that did not come with the variable outputs, and therefore no volume control (and thus most likely have the same width as the Concerto)? That would be excellent for me! (Jan, if you read this, hope you can take a hint!!! :P )

It would be rather cool if he shared some of his thoughts with us in this thread. Jan, are you there? :)

It also depends on the source that you're using and well, how loud you listen to. I usually listen between 75-82dB, so based on that, I keep my volume (on HIGH gain) between 11-1 o'clock ish depending on the recording.

So, whats the consensus on the best headphones to pair with the concerto? Got a stagedac/concerto recently, was about to pull the trigger on the LCD2, when I heard that LCD2s were not that great on the highs and the schitt lyr is a better match with the LCD2s. I heard the HD800s with the concerto and was not impressed.

I think Denon and the T1 pair really well the concerto. I was unimpressed with the LCD-2 and the HD800 when running through my amp 

I've not read all of the comments on this thread, but I thought I'd just chip in to say I like that this looks like Jan's older amps (like a big version of the HA-1 MKII that I've got).

To confirm, the highs on the Concerto with the LCD-2s are great, but they are greater with the 4 watts supplied by the Lyr.

Has anyone ever tried swapping out the AD797A for AD797B? I know it was mentioned very early in this thread but I did not see any comments on anyone trying. The A has superior power supply rejection but the B has better input offset voltage, input offset/bias current, open loop gain and slightly better noise performance. The B only comes in SOIC though so an adapter would be needed.

Is the Concerto discontinued? I don't find it on the website of Jan anymore.