[RockaRolla]

  Dear Piet,
 
"will this future device have active balanced ground too?"
 
Yes, it will. The upcoming amp will be truly high-end!
 


Jan
 
 
 

 
can't wait to see it!
 
still using my first generation stepdance, not only is it very versatile (able to play both my customs and hd600 with totally black background and no hiss), its sound quality is truly sublime
have not found another portable amp that gives me the same experience

 

[zilch0md]

Heads up...
 
Thanks to the recent drop in the Euro vs. Dollar exchange rate, and a sale that's on at Meier Audio through the end of January, you can get a Corda Quickstep for only USD $255, currently, including free shipping:
 
http://www.meier-audio.homepage.t-online.de/amplifiers.htm
 
Mike

 

[tepet08]

   
Here are two quick cell-phone shots of the Quickstep on top of the Just Audio AHA-120 winged by the ODAC and original CLAS. As you can see the Just Audio is a BRICK compared to the Quickstep. Battery time for the Quickstep and AHA-120 is about the same. I get somewhere between 15-20 hours on a charge. But for portable purposes I always bring the Quickstep with me in my bag. It drives my portable IEMs, Tzar350 and ER-4S equally well. I only bring the AHA-120 with me at very special occasions but mostly use it at home. Both amplifiers sound great with the T5p but the AHA-120 adds some warmth and punch to the bass in T5p where the Quickstep stays completely neutral and just plays the music as it sounds on the recording. The highs on the Quickstep are more transparent and airy with higher resolution. In the midrange the AHA-120 is more liquid and velvety but the quickstep does not sound grainy just clean and crisp. If you enjoy the Quickstep already I would say just stay with it and enjoy it. It is not night and day difference between the two but a little different flavor. 
 

 

this..thank you...i been looking for this comparison for a while.i have AHA 120 on the way,bought off ebay to drive Alpha Prime.the convenience  of usb charging combined with long-ish play time made me purchase it over several amp i was considering,quickstep being one of them (other amps was Cayin C5,micro iDSD).I hope it can power the Prime adequately so i dont have to go balanced route.I think only AlgoRhythm duet offer usb-charging for balanced amp.any of you guys familiar with that amp and how it perform (driving-power wise??)compared to Aha 120/Stepdance.

 

[rasmushorn]

  this..thank you...i been looking for this comparison for a while.i have AHA 120 on the way,bought off ebay to drive Alpha Prime.the convenience  of usb charging combined with long-ish play time made me purchase it over several amp i was considering,quickstep being one of them (other amps was Cayin C5,micro iDSD).I hope it can power the Prime adequately so i dont have to go balanced route.I think only AlgoRhythm duet offer usb-charging for balanced amp.any of you guys familiar with that amp and how it perform (driving-power wise??)compared to Aha 120/Stepdance.

I am glad you could use it. I know you will like the AHA-120 it is a much overlooked amplifier and deserves some more attention. It will have more than enough power to drive most headphones. I am not familiar with the Alpha Prime though. 
 
To finish my story I have now sold off the AHA-120(and iQube V1) and kept the Quickstep as my only portable amplifier for now (at least until a new Meier amp is ready). It simply does everything well and the size is perfect for being in my bag always and the convenience of being able to buy cheap 9V batteries everywhere I travel is a big plus. The Quickstep got most listening time and then I sold the other portable amplifiers and the Quickstep was the one I decided to keep. 

 

[tepet08]

now that only raise my curiosity even more.temptation...temptation...however I don't really need portability,more of trans-portability with DC usb charging and good play time.but then again,I can always bring several low self discharge 9V.Wont hurt my 30kg luggage allowance that much.when will the new amp will be made available again..

 

[pietcux]

  I am glad you could use it. I know you will like the AHA-120 it is a much overlooked amplifier and deserves some more attention. It will have more than enough power to drive most headphones. I am not familiar with the Alpha Prime though. 
 
To finish my story I have now sold off the AHA-120(and iQube V1) and kept the Quickstep as my only portable amplifier for now (at least until a new Meier amp is ready). It simply does everything well and the size is perfect for being in my bag always and the convenience of being able to buy cheap 9V batteries everywhere I travel is a big plus. The Quickstep got most listening time and then I sold the other portable amplifiers and the Quickstep was the one I decided to keep. 

I own the Stepdance. It sounds fantastic, but it does not like rechargeables. 8.4 Volt is simply not enough. The blue led fades away after less than a minute.... So I always need to take 9 Volt non rechargeables. I am too much concerned about the planet to do this too often. So I am really looking forward to Jan's high end portable with internal recheargeable battery.

 

[Savant]

I own the Stepdance. It sounds fantastic, but it does not like rechargeables. 8.4 Volt is simply not enough. The blue led fades away after less than a minute.... So I always need to take 9 Volt non rechargeables. I am too much concerned about the planet to do this too often. So I am really looking forward to Jan's high end portable with internal recheargeable battery.

Thank you for that info. That's is quite disappointing to know. I also dislike the idea of disposing off batteries ad infinitum, not to mention the waste of money... I am also looking forward to Jan's forthcoming Rechargeable Dac/Amp!

 

[zilch0md]

I own the Stepdance. It sounds fantastic, but it does not like rechargeables. 8.4 Volt is simply not enough. The blue led fades away after less than a minute.... So I always need to take 9 Volt non rechargeables. I am too much concerned about the planet to do this too often. So I am really looking forward to Jan's high end portable with internal recheargeable battery.

That's odd. There are many discussions in this thread of various rechargeable batteries that people have used inside the Stepdance and, like me, they've had no problems.

This is what I use with efficient IEMs - where I don't need 15V external power:




It must be the difference between 8.4V and 9.0V.

Mike

 

[pietcux]

Hi Mike,
if I want portability, I hate to lug the XP8000 / willy cable stuff. I only use it at home.  Let me try to get some of those 9 Volt LI-Polymer rechargeables. But they seem to be rara over here in Germany.
 
Peter

 

[Avi]

Yup, I used those too when I was using the Quickstep portably. I really don't listen portably anymore though, so I use a Jazz at work and a Classic at home for dynamic and orthos. I recently got my first pair of stats, though, and Jan doesn't make electrostatic amp/energizers
 
 
 
Quote:

 

I own the Stepdance. It sounds fantastic, but it does not like rechargeables. 8.4 Volt is simply not enough. The blue led fades away after less than a minute.... So I always need to take 9 Volt non rechargeables. I am too much concerned about the planet to do this too often. So I am really looking forward to Jan's high end portable with internal recheargeable battery.

That's odd. There are many discussions in this thread of various rechargeable batteries that people have used inside the Stepdance and, like me, they've had no problems.

This is what I use with efficient IEMs - where I don't need 15V external power:




It must be the difference between 8.4V and 9.0V.

Mike

 

[pietcux]

Those are not sold in the EU because here you need 2 years warranty.......

 

[Savant]

Hi Mike,
if I want portability, I hate to lug the XP8000 / willy cable stuff. I only use it at home.  Let me try to get some of those 9 Volt LI-Polymer rechargeables. But they seem to be rara over here in Germany.

Peter

Yes, they're quite rare in Europe in general, but they can be found on Ebay and Amazon for very reasonable prices. As long as they perform as expected...

 

[RockaRolla]

 
I own the Stepdance. It sounds fantastic, but it does not like rechargeables. 8.4 Volt is simply not enough. The blue led fades away after less than a minute.... So I always need to take 9 Volt non rechargeables. I am too much concerned about the planet to do this too often. So I am really looking forward to Jan's high end portable with internal recheargeable battery.

 
I have used both 8.4v and 9v batts, rechargeable or non-rechargeable, both gives the same amount of playing time...Got around 5hrs for a 250mah batt and 9hrs for a 500mah batt

 

[zilch0md]

^ Thanks for this.  I was pretty sure I had read of other people successfully using the 8.4V rechargeable batteries in the Stepdance and QuickStep.

 

[ClieOS]

This is the one I used:
 

 
They are true 9V nominal NiMH (a bit over 10V fully charged). Most of the NiMH only runs up to 8.4V as they use seven 1.2V cells stacked together. Li-ion version is even lower, at only 7.4V nominal as they are two 3.7V stacked. These however use 6 x 1.5V cells, so it has a higher nominal voltage than the other.