Hi Mike, "Compared to the Soul's built-in DAC, the DA-3000 measures a bit cleaner with lower mid-treble distortion. Subjectively, it sounds just a touch warmer, softer, with less glare." Seems to me that you're a fine candidate for the MkII upgrade of the SOUL. It just removes that last hint...

Dear Alex, "I am very satisfied with the mk2 upgrade!" Glad to hear so! "I am sorry but unfortunately I forgot how it sounded before the upgrade. I would need 2 Soul's to hear the difference." I would happily sell you a second unit!!! :wink: But indeed, our auditory memory is relatively...

Hello Headphone friends, " I've recently read a comment claiming the JAZZ FF would hum with lower impedance headphones " Well, if you cranck up volume to max (without a source connected, thus open inputs) and use high gain then yes, you will hear some hum with low impedance headphones. But...

Dear OM hawk, Like any DA-converter the SOUL does have a latency. Question is, how large is it! There are various stages that delay the digital input signal till an analog output signal is created. The S/PDIF receiver chip normally adds only 1 fs or 2 fs signal delay (fs is the sampling...

Dear Geoff, please be noted that the USB-port on the SOUL works asynchronous and has very stable clocks. As such it already does a fine job in preventing any jitter. Also, the USB-port is electrically isolated from the rest of the circuitry (transformer for the digital signals, DC-DC converter...

Dear Geoff, sorry, but I never compared any of the digital inputs directly. Using a different kind of input also implies using a different kind of source. And the quality of the source may well have an impact. For any specific situation one should try and simply use the kind of connection...

Dear James, unfortunately for you the crossfeed (and all other "tone-controls") is done in the digital domain. The SOUL does have balanced analog inputs but with these you only have straight-line amplification. The "tone-controls" are not active on these inputs. Sorry! But as a preamplifier...

Dear friends, has been a while ago that I checked this discussion. Has been bussy times. Just a single note. "With the Country's digital output, the only adverse effect on the sound would be resampling. If the resampling is an integer multiple (48, 96, 192) it should be transparent. If it is...

Dear friends, it seems nobody has noticed over here, so it is with much sadness that I would like to let you know that Helmut Becker has passed away on March 3. of this year. Helmut and I have known each other for many years and he will be remembered as one of the kindest people I've ever met...

Just a note that my website has been updated. It no shows pictures of the final product! :-) Jan

Dear Friends, finally some time to respond to your questions/remarks. Indeed, the review at hometheaterhifi.com is a fine one. The writer captures my own "impressions" on the SOUL very well. I hope you like the read. "Too bad not enough people knew about it and that I had to sell it for so...

Dear Rasmus, no, soundwise the DACCORD-FF still is the better choice. Soundwise the COUNTRY is pretty good, but resolution of the DACCORD-FF is still in another league. Cheers Jan

Dear Friends, over here in Europe we currently live in a continuous turmoil. First there was (and still is) COVID19 and now we also have a war close to our own borders. It makes you reconsider what is important in life and makes you wonder how little civilized humanity really is. So many wars...

Dear Toddy, "perhaps the future will bring a solution like the one I hoped for" There already is: CORDA SOUL!! :-) Jan

Dear Toddy, the DACCORD-FF / CLASSIC-FF combo is really nice and soundwise the COUNTRY will not be able to compete. The strength of the COUNTRY is with the digital controls. Of course it's possible to connect your digital sources to the COUNTRY and then have the digital output of the COUNTRY...

Dear Guido, to be honest, I have no information on what chip is used in the Maximizer so I can't really compare. The one in the COUNTRY is an updated version of the chip used in the SOUL. It works with 64-bit resolution and in the SOUL, despite it's ultra-high resolution, I have not been able...

Dear friends, just a short note that the COUNTRY project has been revived. More information can be found on my website! :-) Jan

Dear Gene, "seems to me for LCD4" With the gain-switch set to medium you should have no problems getting adequate sound levels. However, you may have to turn up volume control futher than you're used to do. Stand-alone amplifiers can be connected to sources with strongly varying output...

Dear Gene, Glad to hear you like your amp. It's always a bit of a gamble when you buy something that you haven't been able to test before. "I tried to connect lcd4 but , maybe I didn’t find out right way to connect, the same with lcd3" Were you not able to physically connect or is something...

It's true, the WM8741 is limited in its technical numbers. It only accepts data upto 24 bit and a maximum sampling frequency of 192 kHz. And in the configuration used in the SOUL it doesn't accept DSD-streams either. But within the SOUL there is no need/use for these numbers. The DSP-chip...

Dear Gene, of course the best choice depends on your personal taste. The SOUL has a very natural and fluent sound. It offers a high level of micro-detail and a very precise soundstage. It lacks the "harshness" that normally comes with transistor-amplifiers. However, the SOUL does not have a...

Dear Gene, please don't worry, there's plenty of power! :-) Jan

Dear Flognuts, just send me a mail at meier-audio@t-online.de and I will send you the user-manual. Cheers Jan

Dear friends, an aspect that often is overlooked in the discussions on the JAZZ models is, that indeed the standard version is voltage limited to around 3.6 Volts but the FF-version isn't!! The latter version goes much higher (with normal spectral sound distribution). So if you have any doubts...

Dear Friends, indeed the standard version of the JAZZ is voltage limited but is that really a problem? Over the years several hundred copies of this amp were sold and never (!) did I receive any complaints on sound level limitations. For normal use the output is more than adequate. There are...