alexdemaet
1000+ Head-Fier
I am very satisfied with the mk2 upgrade! The upgrade only took a couple of days and the delivery return was very fast!
Can you hear a difference?I am very satisfied with the mk2 upgrade! The upgrade only took a couple of days and the delivery return was very fast!
I am sorry but unfortunately I forgot how it sounded before the upgrade. I would need 2 Soul's to hear the difference.Can you hear a difference?
Indeed! Thanks for the review @geoffalter11Nice detailed review. May I suggest you add it to the reviews in the gear section?
https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/meier-audio-corda-soul.23528/reviews
Thank you: I will clean it up, add more plus some pictures and put it in the review section.Nice detailed review. May I suggest you add it to the reviews in the gear section?
https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/meier-audio-corda-soul.23528/reviews
Thanks Jan! This is valuable information coming from you. I have recently added a very powerful Roon NUC10 in a gorgeous fanless case. It was time for me to remove the bottleneck in my system, having my roon core on my iMac. Now my entire 2TB library plus Tidal flow through my NUC into the Corda Soul. It also flows into my reference system of DAC/Streamer and a Eddie Current Aficionado, Matrix X2 Pure and a CFA3. However, the Corda Soul has seen the greatest benefit from this addition.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!!!
But indeed, our auditory memory is relatively short-living and it's therefore not so easy to compare before and after, unless you have another system that you can compare to. Recently another customer also had his amp modified. His comments (translated from German):
"The best thing is, that I indeed can hear a significant difference. It truly is an improvement, which I didn’t expected as such. The soundstage becomes wider and more 3-dimensional. The sound is more clear. Die slight graininess has completely disappeared. Now the sound is absolutely clean. A direct A-B comparison is not possible but I can verify the effect with the help of my Audio-GD headphone amplifier. All headphones profit from the upgrade. It truly was worth it."
His impressions correlate pretty well to my own. Just yesterday I listened to a Mahler symphony on a Pure-Audio-Blu-Ray and the level of detail was simply overwhelming, maybe even a little bit too much.
Another customer had the opportunity to compare at home his own standard SOUL to my MkII version. His conclusion: Some recordings benefit (sometimes considerably), some don't and some are more listenable with the standard version. He also found the level of detail sometimes overwhelming.
I have a SOUL in my television setup and for me the most noticable effect is, that voices have more "authenticity" and speech-recognition has (slightly) become more easy. For me this proves that naturallness has improved.
One should always be aware though that differences are not day and night, and the standard-version of the SOUL already is a fine amp/DAC that gives a lot of pleasure.
Cheers,
Jan
This is great info. As good as the DAC in the Corda Soul is, the amp is the shining star. Together they make the best AIO I have yet heard. I just listened to the T+A HA200 and the Corda Soul was every bit as good. It was also as good as the Bartok Apex running as AIO. It was not as good as the Bartok Apex when hooked to an external clock. Which makes the DCS really shine. I did not hear a single AIO under $20,000 at Canjam that sounded better too me than the Corda Soul. Not to say it is perfect, as nothing is, but for what it is it is awfully good.To add to the discussion & comparison, I discovered by accident how good the DA converters in my Tascam DA-3000 recorder are. It uses the Burr Brown PCM1795. This recorder has a mode called "DA-AD" where it doesn't record, but activates its AD and DA converters for real-time conversion.
As described earlier in this thread, use the Corda Soul's external DAC loop. Set the DA-3000 reference level analog output voltage to match the Soul's internal DAC levels so when you flick the switch back & forth between the Soul's internal DAC and back the volume doesn't change. Set the DA-3000 clock to "DIN" so it matches/syncs/adapts to the digital input clock. I ran some measurements and the digital side is bit perfect. Of course, the DA conversion and analog signal is different.
Note that the DA-3000 is professional gear so its analog output voltage is much higher than consumer gear. If you are using a consumer DAC then you may need to open the Soul and flick the internal switch to high analog gain.
It's easy to A/B test because the switching is instantaneous. 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. Not that the Soul has glare, to the contrary it's one of the smoothest that I have heard. But these are relative differences - the Tascam is more forgiving of bright edgy recordings. Yet it's not veiled, no loss of detail, just a bit more natural presentation. Measurements I made don't explain this because both have the same flat frequency response. There must be something more subtle going on. The slightly warmer voicing works well with my Magnepan speakers, which can be unforgiving of recordings with boosted or artificial presence.
I doubt that any other DAC based on the PCM1795 would sound the same as the DA-3000. The PCM1795 is a modern current output DAC so the implementation must do dI/dV conversion. Every device using this chip will have a different circuit for this which probably makes them all sound different.
I've tried other external DACs that made less difference or sounded worse than the Soul's internal DAC, even though they were modern DACs with super clean measurements. So the Soul's internal DAC is very good. The DA-3000 is unique in being the only one that I found to be an improvement, however slight.
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I've tried other external DACs that made less difference or sounded worse than the Soul's internal DAC, even though they were modern DACs with super clean measurements. So the Soul's internal DAC is very good. The DA-3000 is unique in being the only one that I found to be an improvement, however slight.
Coming your way in the next week or two Jan. Can't wait for Mk2. I don't hear any distortion in the treble, nor any glare/etch. But, I could see some feeling that way. I mainly use my Soul with a Final D8K Pro and a HEKv2 non stealth and both are being driven to their max. I also have a CFA3, Aficionado and a Pure BiPolar and don't find the Corda Soul to give up much. I do find that I prefer the amp to the DAC on the Soul, but I love the DAC too. I guess I am a Corda Soul fanboy as I have yet to hear any AIO that eclipses the Corda Soul for my listening preferences. My favorite way to use it is to leave the tone controls alone, but turn the Cross Feed 3 notches to the right. Opens up the soundstage and removes any sense of etch or glare. Maybe I would hear slight treble distortion without the Cross Feed turned to the right. So, thanks Jan as it has made a huge difference in my listening.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 of glare/brittleness!
Jan