Meier Corda Cantate synergic with HD650?

[Tom77]

Hi guys, have anyone here any thoughts of how these two pair up?
My sources will be both a computer and a stationary CDplayer and I figure the DAC in Cantate will be way better then my Audigy 2 card.
On the other hand the Cantate is described as being warmsounding and paired up with a warmsounding headphone, will it end up sounding too, well, warm?

As an alternative I was thinking of getting the Gilmore lite, which a lot of people here seems to like paired up with the HD650's, and getting a DAC at a later point, would I be better off doing that?

Sorry if my english is bad by the way

Best regards Tom

 

[IPodPJ]

Meier's amps have crossfeed. I could never go back to listening without it.

 

[Tom77]

Ok, that's one plus for the Cantate, but what about soundquality? Is it better than the Gilmore lite, or is the higher pricetag just because of the DAC?

 

[jh4db536]

the gilmore lite is simply an amp with a headphone output, a volume control knob, and LED to tell you it's on. so it doesnt have bells and whistles like dual gain (looks like cantante has negative for IEMs and standard for headphones), crossfeed, or any DAC.

for me personally, i preferred to get something that was meant to drive my phones and another unit meant to convert digital to analog. it's nice to get two in one though. i never heard the meier before, but im sure it's awesome. I've had gilmore lite + 650, and i liked it so much i upgraded to a higher end headamp product.

Crossfeed is definitely nice for some types of music and IEMs (reduces fatigue by separating the stereo channels/speaker effect/sound stage seems bigger as side effect). you can also use a DSP plugin for winamp/foobar/whatever you use. i personally stopped using crossfeed after upgrading my source to a DAC1 (the fatiguing sounds never come out anymore)

i'd have some questions like is the meier amp really balanced?

 

[tomjtx]

I don't have the 650's but I can give you my perspective on Cantate with the K701's and compare it to the DV337.

1st, the dac in cantate is quite good. I have a/b'd it with my Transporter which is considered by many to be one of the better dacs around. The TP certainly compares well with the benchmark dac1 and Lavrydac10.

I was surprised how good the cantate dac sounded. It was not as good as transporter but was very good for the price and a big improvement over a computer soundcard. So , since you are using a computer as source the cantate could be a great choice.
The cantate has plenty of power to drive the 701 even on low gain.

The DV 337 is a world class amp, IMO.

Again, going back to the cantate after much time with the 337 I was pleased that I was not unhappy with the cantate. The 337 is a tremendous amp and the cantate is not in that league but the cantate sounds good enough that I have been hesitant to sell it because I am using it in my bedroom system.

I do think the cantate is so good that it is at the level where one starts to think about the point of diminishing returns.

 

[snoxu]

I can only speak for the Opera/HD650/DT990Pro combo which i owned for a while. My source was my laptop with the Opera DAC via USB. I never heard the Cantate, but maybe my thoughts could help?

I had the chance to demo a Bel Canto DAC3 and CD1 with the Opera. From that, I concluded that the Bel Canto is definitely a better source (more detail which results in a cleaner tighter sound with the Opera, at least this is what I remember)

Even with a better source, while the Opera did many things right, I wasn't too into it's sound (signature).

Mind you though, the Opera was my first introduction into a proper DAC/amp combo, so take my opinion for what it's worth. Just because the Opera wasn't my cup of tea sound wise, doesn't mean you won't enjoy it.

BTW, what kind of music you listen to?

 

[LoweArt]

You have nothing to fear in regards to matching/synergy of the Meier Corda Cantate with either Sennheiser HD600 or HD650's.

I have put through hundred's of hours on this unit and oth my cans and it never ceases to impress me. This is connected through SE ( ie. RCA ) and not USB so I can't comment on how good the DAC is.

 

[IPodPJ]

If I'm not mistaken, The Sennheiser HD650 were some of the reference headphones used when Meier was building and testing the Cantate and Opera.

As mentioned by someone above regarding software crossfeed, I would stay away from it. It's sound is in no way comparable to the hardwired crossfeed developed by Dr. Meier. They are different animals. To my ears, no software based crossfeed has ever done anything right. It wasn't until I got the Opera that I finally was thrilled with crossfeed. There are many threads on Head-Fi that discuss hardware crossfeed in headphone amps. The two biggest companies that incorporate a crossfeed design into their amps are Meier Audio and HeadRoom, and there are several smaller companies as well. The reviews have all put Meier's crossfeed leagues ahead of any other implementation of it. And that was one of the major reasons I went with the Opera.

 

[ninjapixie]

I really enjoy the Meier crossfeed, especially on older recordings. I don't think the Arietta is that great an amp, but the crossfeed alone keeps me from selling it.

 

[lerio]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomjtx /img/forum/go_quote.gif The cantate has plenty of power to drive the 701 even on low gain.

Wow

i don't own a 701 but i read many time here that he's hard to drive, i wondered if Cantate can drive it at High Gain and you said he can at Low Gain

Why my avatar look cruched since forum shutdown ?

 

[tomjtx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lerio /img/forum/go_quote.gif Wow i don't own a 701 but i read many time here that he's hard to drive, i wondered if Cantate can drive it at High Gain and you said he can at Low Gain Why my avatar look cruched since forum shutdown ?

The only CD that is too soft with low gain is the Mo=Fi reissue of AJA. That is the only CD that the DV337 vo;ume can be turned as high as 12 o'clock.

But even that's not a problem with the cantate DAC. I simply turn up the gain in the computer and it's fine.
So, with over 2,000 CD's I have, only one was recorded at such a low level that I have to up the gain on the cantate.

Oh, and x2 on the crossfeed. Meier has the the best versions I have heard.

 

[Tom77]

Thanks for all the answers guys!
So, if I understand this correctly the Cantate is a step up from the Gilmore lite so I guess I'm off to sell a kidney then

I listen mostly to rock music, like Iron maiden, Linkin park, Radiohead, the Cure, does that have anything to say? It will also replace my plastic-fantastic computerspeakers and thus be used for gaming.

Again, appreciate all the helpfullness

 

[JaZZ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lerio /img/forum/go_quote.gif Why my avatar look crunched since forum shutdown?

The forum seems to want square-shaped avatars and therefore tends to warp the deviationists. I had to modify mine for this reason.

BTW, to my ears crossfeed is indispensable with most recordings, and the Opera offers its best implementation so far. I'm not absolutely sure, but I think the Cantate uses the same crossfeed circuit, which is superior to the predecessors thanks to active bass compensation. Nonetheless personally I prefer my own (handmade) version, realized via wave editor in a laborious process and applied to every single song. (Another advantage is that I can also benefit from it on the go, via DAP.)
.

 

[jh4db536]

i didnt mean to imply that a software crossfeed plugin could touch something like Meier's. However it can make unbearable into bearable.

 

[freestyler]

I own both cantate and hs650.
I'm completely new to this thing so don't listen to my opinion.
This is the first head hifi setup i ever heard (i'm coming from sennheiser pc160-gaming headset and audigy ls) and i can say i'm very dissapointed (to the point i'm crying from the money i spent).
It's just isn't what i was expecting. I took hd650 for the only reason that almost any comment for them was referring to the heavy bass on them.
Well,i listen most to some electronica (sasha) etc.
The songs i tested are flac and i use foobar outputing to cantate dac through asio and it's working with no problems. But the truth is what i was expected is nowhere near what i'm listening. I don't see the "extreme bass".
Both units are burned-in for several hours. I enjoy to listen more to my sennheiser pc160 + audigy ls than with the hd650 and the amplifier.
If anyone is interested i'm willing to sell both cantate+hd650. But i'm european (greece) so selling the headphones outside my country is not worth it for the outsiders and also i can't sell the amplifier outside europe also cause again it's not worth it.
If anyone is interested for cantate pm me.
I'm really sorry about my buy. I wished i had gone for a new pc.