I've owned my Corda Opera for 6 months now. I use it with my Sony SA5000 headphones. My previous amp was an M3 with the AD843 opamp. I still own the M3.
The Opera sound is a little smoother and more laid back than that of the M3. It feels like some of the details are not accentuated as much on the Opera, but the sound somehow "holds together" or flows better - I don't tend to deconstruct the sound into details as much with the Opera as I do with the M3. The Opera also sounds a tiny bit more distant than the M3 - this is particularly evident with vocals which don't sound as "in your face" as with the M3. All these differences are quite subtle - nothing huge.
I was wondering if the differences are a result of the Opera DAC or amp, so I connected both the Opera and the M3 to the same DAC - an M-audio Super DAC 2496 based on the AK4393. The same differences between the Opera and the M3 hold even when they share the same DAC, so it's the amp that makes the difference.
Overall, I can see why some people would prefer the Opera and some people would prefer the M3. I guess that it's an example of a general problem with this hobby - different high-end amps and headphones sound different from one another, but not necessarily better. When you listen to one setup, you always miss something about another setup...
The Opera sound is a little smoother and more laid back than that of the M3. It feels like some of the details are not accentuated as much on the Opera, but the sound somehow "holds together" or flows better - I don't tend to deconstruct the sound into details as much with the Opera as I do with the M3. The Opera also sounds a tiny bit more distant than the M3 - this is particularly evident with vocals which don't sound as "in your face" as with the M3. All these differences are quite subtle - nothing huge.
I was wondering if the differences are a result of the Opera DAC or amp, so I connected both the Opera and the M3 to the same DAC - an M-audio Super DAC 2496 based on the AK4393. The same differences between the Opera and the M3 hold even when they share the same DAC, so it's the amp that makes the difference.
Overall, I can see why some people would prefer the Opera and some people would prefer the M3. I guess that it's an example of a general problem with this hobby - different high-end amps and headphones sound different from one another, but not necessarily better. When you listen to one setup, you always miss something about another setup...
