[sampson_smith]

Thanks for all the supportive, informative and tantalizing reports of this all-'round amp's prowess, all. It has, for me, inspired huge confidence in this desert island giant slayer. Hmmmmmm... I like the ring of that. Desert Island Giant Slayer. You heard it here first. If you are ever stranded on an island and happen to be having a one-man meet with your record collection, this rig and, er... giants, I guess you'll be safe. Only time will tell if my ears agree. I will shortly be placing an order with Jan and cannot wait to see how the Concerto 'plays nice' with my DT990's and HD600's. Next up: hopefully LCD-2's.

 

[sampson_smith]

Yes! I just pulled the trigger on this 'DIGS'. I literally cannot wait until this amp is in my needy hands. Now, I have to decide what I should upgrade my V-DAC to, if that is even necessary. I am confident that the StageDAC is the way to go, but wonder if there is another entry as competitive in the $500-$600 (cost of the SDAC, with discount) price range. What about this StageDAC 'Slim' that keeps popping up in these threads? Any advice as to what to do would be very much appreciated.

 

[sokolov91]

 
Quote:

Thanks for all the supportive, informative and tantalizing reports of this all-'round amp's prowess, all. It has, for me, inspired huge confidence in this desert island giant slayer. Hmmmmmm... I like the ring of that. Desert Island Giant Slayer. You heard it here first. If you are ever stranded on an island and happen to be having a one-man meet with your record collection, this rig and, er... giants, I guess you'll be safe. Only time will tell if my ears agree. I will shortly be placing an order with Jan and cannot wait to see how the Concerto 'plays nice' with my DT990's and HD600's. Next up: hopefully LCD-2's.

Congrats! I am very confident you will adore the amp.
 
The concerto is great with the LCD-2... but just wait until you hear what it can get the HD 600 to muster. Not that the HD 600 will sound better than the LCD-2, just comparatively the HD 600 skyrockets in performance. IMO of course... I was quite pleasantly surprised.

 

[sampson_smith]

Yes, your comments on this Sokolov are one of the several very good reasons why I am looking forward to this amp. I am very glad for the relatively unanimous praise that this amp is a very good all-rounder for almost every top of the line (and thus middle of the line, too) set of cans. I am especially intrigued by what it will do for my HD600's, however. I like them a lot with my GLite + DPS, but I have the distinct impression that they have sooooo much more to offer. I look forward to reporting my findings. Go Team Meier! Go Team Senn!

 

[audio.tech]

will this amp pair well with ath-w1000x?

 

[sokolov91]

Quote:

will this amp pair well with ath-w1000x?

yes, very much so! Although I do not find the W1000X a very amp sensitive headphone.

 

[vlach]

 
Quote:

Quote:

Rayk, What is your source? is it outputting the standard 2.2Vrms or is it hotter( I am using a Stagedac). Not being able to go beyond 9 o'clock, even with  Grado or Denon doesn't sound right. Could anybody else can confirm this? or is there something wrong with my ears?
I would contact Jan if I was you.

with my denons I don't go past 9 just for comfort. I could go higher if I wanted but it gets real loud real quick. With my LCD-2 I can go up to 12 o'clock if the songs aren't that busy, but usually I have them around 10.
 
I don't have my concerto though anymore to test any further.

 
Sokolov91,
 
I just finished reading through the 43 pages of this forum, and i have to say the temptation to place an order for the Concerto is compelling, especially after considering all your views (as well as Skylab's, Macedonianhero's and many others) on how well it performs with so many high end headphones. Also, there appears to be a consensus for this amp to be the best in SS category under $1k. This makes me wonder why you no longer own it...was it purely an SE vs. balanced decision? Or was it because you opted for the synergy of the Phoenix with the Reference 5 DAC?
 
Note: As an Audio-GD C2 owner, overall i feel it is lacking in refinement & precision and not exploiting the full potential of my DAC19 + D2000 set up (my iPod Touch has more resolution and better clarity driving the D2000s believe it or not!), hence the Concerto is extremely appealing to me at this point. Now the question is how much better is the Concerto vs the C2?
As much as i have read fascinating things about the Concerto, my only reservation towards a purchase is that i have seen very few comparisons with other SS amps...
 

 

 

[sokolov91]

Quote:

 
Quote:

Quote:

Rayk, What is your source? is it outputting the standard 2.2Vrms or is it hotter( I am using a Stagedac). Not being able to go beyond 9 o'clock, even with  Grado or Denon doesn't sound right. Could anybody else can confirm this? or is there something wrong with my ears?
I would contact Jan if I was you.

with my denons I don't go past 9 just for comfort. I could go higher if I wanted but it gets real loud real quick. With my LCD-2 I can go up to 12 o'clock if the songs aren't that busy, but usually I have them around 10.
 
I don't have my concerto though anymore to test any further.

 
Sokolov91,
 
I just finished reading through the 43 pages of this forum, and i have to say the temptation to place an order for the Concerto is compelling, especially after considering all your views (as well as Skylab's, Macedonianhero's and many others) on how well it performs with so many high end headphones. Also, there appears to be a consensus for this amp to be the best in SS category under $1k. This makes me wonder why you no longer own it...was it purely an SE vs. balanced decision? Or was it because you opted for the synergy of the Phoenix with the Reference 5 DAC?
 
Note: As an Audio-GD C2 owner, overall i feel it is lacking in refinement & precision and not exploiting the full potential of my DAC19 + D2000 set up (my iPod Touch has more resolution and better clarity driving the D2000s believe it or not!), hence the Concerto is extremely appealing to me at this point. Now the question is how much better is the Concerto vs the C2?
As much as i have read fascinating things about the Concerto, my only reservation towards a purchase is that i have seen very few comparisons with other SS amps...
 

 

good question.
 
Selling my concerto was a tough move. Had I been able to afford it - I would have kept it. It did everything superbly and drove all my headphones.
 
I wanted a phoenix because I had had my eye on it for a while and wanted to pair it with a Ref - 7. This was only supposed to be in the distant future... until I got wind of the production of the Ref - 7 series stopping (which was not entirely true because it is going to be going for another while... 2 years I hear) so I rushed out to get one. Turns out Kingwa offered a deal on getting a phoenix and a Ref - 7 and all the headphones I currently owned were very easy to balance.. (LCD-2 just swapped the cable, D7000 simply re-terminated it).
 
I still have yet to receive my Ref - 7 but I am very happy with the phoenix. is it work almost 2X the concerto? definitely not, but I would maintain it is better... then again I am not comparing SE to SE.
 
bottom line is the concerto is a killer amp that I would have loved to be able to afford, but upgradeitis got the best of me and I wanted to go balls out and not miss out on the Ref - 7 . Selling it was not motivated by lack of performance... if anything it showed be what a great amp could actually do for headphones.
 
If you are not going balanced and want SS: get the concerto
 

 

[vlach]

Thank you for clarifying that, now i have a better understanding of the rationale behind your decision.
 
With all the knowledge from members of this forum, i can't resist asking; what are the top 3 SS headphone amps considered to be the best under $1k? Not that i don't believe the Concerto to be #1, but i am very curious to know which 2 other amps would represent the closest competition?
 
Thanks.

 

[sampson_smith]

Good question, vlach. I have a Concerto on the way and am a believer that the Meier amp is in the top three. Extensive research on the amp and a rather nice $700'ish asking price seem to indicate that it is the best amp for $800 or less that money can buy. That said, what say you who champion another cost-effective SS amp? I bet that there are more than a few that would say the sub-$500 Gilmore Lite is worthy, at least for low impedance-rated cans.

 

[vlach]

Quote:

Good question, vlach. I have a Concerto on the way and am a believer that the Meier amp is in the top three. Extensive research on the amp and a rather nice $700'ish asking price seem to indicate that it is the best amp for $800 or less that money can buy. That said, what say you who champion another cost-effective SS amp? I bet that there are more than a few that would say the sub-$500 Gilmore Lite is worthy, at least for low impedance-rated cans.

I notice your Gilmore Lite is for sale. Hopefully your Concerto will arrive in time for a direct comparison?

 

[sampson_smith]

Quote:

Quote:

Good question, vlach. I have a Concerto on the way and am a believer that the Meier amp is in the top three. Extensive research on the amp and a rather nice $700'ish asking price seem to indicate that it is the best amp for $800 or less that money can buy. That said, what say you who champion another cost-effective SS amp? I bet that there are more than a few that would say the sub-$500 Gilmore Lite is worthy, at least for low impedance-rated cans.

I notice your Gilmore Lite is for sale. Hopefully your Concerto will arrive in time for a direct comparison?

I certainly hope so. Jan has said that shipping from Germany to Canada should take approximately business 10 days, situating it to arrive sometime next week. I would love to do the comparison, but will likely only want to compare the two using my brother's Grados and the relatively easy-to-drive HD600's that I have enjoyed immensely on the GLite + DPS. (My Beyerdynamic DT990 600's are not driven well by the GLite, for obvious reasons.) Regardless, I cannot wait to get my needy ears on this amp, so to speak. Now I just have to decide on a cost-effective upgrade to my trusty V-DAC + DPS. I am thinking 'StageDAC', but need to seriously look into any other options that are available.

 

[MacedonianHero]

Congrats Vince...I'm sure you'll be very impressed! I have yet to hear a SS amp for under $1K that beats it (and a few more than $1K

for that matter).
 

 

[Frank I]

 
Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

Good question, vlach. I have a Concerto on the way and am a believer that the Meier amp is in the top three. Extensive research on the amp and a rather nice $700'ish asking price seem to indicate that it is the best amp for $800 or less that money can buy. That said, what say you who champion another cost-effective SS amp? I bet that there are more than a few that would say the sub-$500 Gilmore Lite is worthy, at least for low impedance-rated cans.

I notice your Gilmore Lite is for sale. Hopefully your Concerto will arrive in time for a direct comparison?

I certainly hope so. Jan has said that shipping from Germany to Canada should take approximately business 10 days, situating it to arrive sometime next week. I would love to do the comparison, but will likely only want to compare the two using my brother's Grados and the relatively easy-to-drive HD600's that I have enjoyed immensely on the GLite + DPS. (My Beyerdynamic DT990 600's are not driven well by the GLite, for obvious reasons.) Regardless, I cannot wait to get my needy ears on this amp, so to speak. Now I just have to decide on a cost-effective upgrade to my trusty V-DAC + DPS. I am thinking 'StageDAC', but need to seriously look into any other options that are available.

I bought Alex Meir and i can honestly say out of all the solid state amps I heard including the GLite this amp is by a wide margin the best especially with all my headphones. It really is good if you decide to get the LCD2 and has a balanced neutral sound signature with detail and very good bass and power.

 

[sampson_smith]

Alex Meir? Do you mean the footballer?! I'm confused.