LeChuck
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jun 24, 2006
- Posts
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A friend of mine (Matt, AKA Head-Fi member mcsamms) is in the midst of building his first quality headphone setup, and today his first component - a Corda HeadFive - arrived. I felt bad about him not being able to listen to his new amp, and I also wanted to hear it for myself, so I invited him over for the evening so that the two of us could indulge ourselves in Meier Audio bliss.
The setup
Transport: M-Audio Transit
DAC: Pacific Valve Modified LITE DAC-60M
Headphones: Sennheiser HD 650 and HD 580.
To start off the amp is very well put together. Obviously wherever Dr. Meier is outsourcing construction to in Asia, is being held to very high standards. Everything is well machined, and it has the same sort of look and feel as the Gilmore Lite.
The first thing we listened to was Pink Floyd - The Wall, through the HD 650's. My first impression was the gobs of bass this little unit produces, and I mean tons of bass, in fact so much bass that it was too much. The Pacific Valve DAC-60M has very full bodied bass, and when combined with the bassy HeadFive, and HD 650's it was just overkill. Luckily I had the HD 580's on hand which are notably less bassy than the HD 650's, when I plugged them in everything was right in the world. That being said, the HeadFive still produced a lot of bass, but it wasn't overpowering or harmful to the listening experience.
The amp has power to boot, and drove the power hungry Sennheisers without breaking a sweat, which is great for a little amp because I always remember my Gilmore Lite lacking a little bit of the extra push that the HeadFive seems to have plenty off.
My thoughts throughout The Wall were on the amp's tube-like warm sounding texture. I'm novice when it comes to tube amps, but based on what I've heard the HeadFive produces the same kind of fat sound with absolutely no fatigue and easy going rolled off highs. It sounded very good, and I was easily falling into a trance with this little amp.
To be quite honest the amp did well with just about everything I threw at it: Goldbert Variations (Glenn Gould 1981), Emmerson Beethoven String Quartets, Alan Parsons Project, Led Zeppelin - How The West Was Won, Pink Floyd - Dark Side of The Moon and The Wall.
My own amp is a modified Gilmore V2-SE, with silver wiring and blackgates. It's a better amp than the HeadFive (based on my tastes, of course), it has unreal control especially in the bass, incredible tonal balance, and so much detail it makes you want to cry. BUT, it's significantly more expensive and it plays to my tastes.
For under $300 the HeadFive is an amazing little package. If you like that warm and rich sound with plenty of bass this amp is definitely one to look into. On the other hand, if you like punchy, fast, detailed, and controlled, I would lean towards the Gilmore Lite. Still though, after shipping the HeadFive is $75 cheaper than the G-Lite.
The setup
Transport: M-Audio Transit
DAC: Pacific Valve Modified LITE DAC-60M
Headphones: Sennheiser HD 650 and HD 580.
To start off the amp is very well put together. Obviously wherever Dr. Meier is outsourcing construction to in Asia, is being held to very high standards. Everything is well machined, and it has the same sort of look and feel as the Gilmore Lite.
The first thing we listened to was Pink Floyd - The Wall, through the HD 650's. My first impression was the gobs of bass this little unit produces, and I mean tons of bass, in fact so much bass that it was too much. The Pacific Valve DAC-60M has very full bodied bass, and when combined with the bassy HeadFive, and HD 650's it was just overkill. Luckily I had the HD 580's on hand which are notably less bassy than the HD 650's, when I plugged them in everything was right in the world. That being said, the HeadFive still produced a lot of bass, but it wasn't overpowering or harmful to the listening experience.
The amp has power to boot, and drove the power hungry Sennheisers without breaking a sweat, which is great for a little amp because I always remember my Gilmore Lite lacking a little bit of the extra push that the HeadFive seems to have plenty off.
My thoughts throughout The Wall were on the amp's tube-like warm sounding texture. I'm novice when it comes to tube amps, but based on what I've heard the HeadFive produces the same kind of fat sound with absolutely no fatigue and easy going rolled off highs. It sounded very good, and I was easily falling into a trance with this little amp.
To be quite honest the amp did well with just about everything I threw at it: Goldbert Variations (Glenn Gould 1981), Emmerson Beethoven String Quartets, Alan Parsons Project, Led Zeppelin - How The West Was Won, Pink Floyd - Dark Side of The Moon and The Wall.
My own amp is a modified Gilmore V2-SE, with silver wiring and blackgates. It's a better amp than the HeadFive (based on my tastes, of course), it has unreal control especially in the bass, incredible tonal balance, and so much detail it makes you want to cry. BUT, it's significantly more expensive and it plays to my tastes.
For under $300 the HeadFive is an amazing little package. If you like that warm and rich sound with plenty of bass this amp is definitely one to look into. On the other hand, if you like punchy, fast, detailed, and controlled, I would lean towards the Gilmore Lite. Still though, after shipping the HeadFive is $75 cheaper than the G-Lite.
