First, I'd like to give a big thanks to Todd for executing this loan program, and allowing me the opportunity to enjoy the Opera for these two weeks.
The Corda Opera is the latest and greatest effort of Dr. Jan Meier, and certainly the finest implementation of his unique ideas on headphone listening. My first serious venture into Head-Fi began years ago with the purchase of a Corda HA1, Meier's first home amp, and to now come full circle with the Opera allows a great insight to the work of Dr. Meier these last several years.
Where the HA1 was somewhat bland and utilitarian looking, the Opera has a bright, brushed aluminum chassis that exudes class and elegance. The physical build quality is as high as ever, and the thoughtfully disguised ventilation system is sure to keep the Opera operating optimally for many years to come.
The crossfeed system that Meier is perhaps best known for has also come a long way from the days of the HA1. In that amplifier the crossfeed was barely noticeable at low levels, and at higher levels significantly reduced the bass impact. Fast forward to the Opera, and you have a one-setting crossfeed that manages to noticeable shift the soundstage forward and out of the head while not reducing bass impact. The Opera's crossfeed could only be described as excellent as it both reduces fatigue and increases soundstage coherency/believability, with no noticeable degradation of sound quality.
While the original HA1 was a nice performer, I can say that the Opera is among the best single-ended headphone amps I've had the pleasure of listening to at length. This is likely due to the Opera's new balanced ground amplifier topology. True to Dr. Meier's words, the Opera does come quite close to the performance of a balanced headphone setup.
By comparison to my Headamp Balanced Gilmore amplifier driving the W5000 in balanced mode, the Opera driving them single-ended showed noticeable improvement over the Gilmore single-ended, and was much closer in overall enjoyment to it balanced. Bass impact is one noticeable area in which the W5000 improves when balanced, and the Opera was able to nearly match the Balanced Gilmore in this regard. The difference was very small, but palpable, an attempt to quantify it would probably be that the two were only 5-10% different. The Opera also opened up the soundstage of the W5000 much they way the Balanced Gilmore does. Here the difference between the two was solely in soundstage depth, where the Opera sounded a bit flatter. This difference was more significant that that of the bass, perhaps in the 20% region. Overall, this is a great showing for the Opera, considering the physical differences of a balanced and unbalanced rig.
The traits of increased bass impact and a more open soundstage (as compared to a normal unbalanced headphone amp) were present on every headphone I used with the Opera. In all other areas, the Opera is a top performer, in that the frequency spectrum is presented in a very even and detailed way with no noticeable anomalies. The high end in particular is smooth yet still has all the detail I've come to expect from years using the Gilmore dynamic amps. Also, the gain switch is configured very intelligently to make the low gain mode have lots of usable room on the volume control (even with IEM's), and high gain only necessary for very loud listening (louder than I care to partake in).
If the Opera were a headphone amp only, I think it would merit its' current cost because it does perform so well in this role. However, the Opera also includes a very high performance DAC section that can allow it to be the centerpiece of an entire audio system. Whether fed from the SPDIF or USB inputs, I feel the Opera's DAC performs well enough for it to be considered alongside either of my Stello DAC's for sound quality. When switch from the analog inputs being fed by a Stello to the digital input, I could find nary an area in which the Opera underperformed. Unless one has a much higher end DAC or CD player, or one with a sound signature they particularly enjoy, the Opera's ability to upgrade or replace their current source increases its' value immensely.
Now as great as the Opera looks and sounds, it is not without a few quirks here and there:
-The balanced ground system makes for a slight background hiss when using high-sensitivity IEM's. I don't find it to be a problem, but if one listened to a lot of soft music at low levels, it could be. The hiss is quite a bit quieter than that produced by the headphone jack of the iRiver iHP-120, at least 6-10dB's, for those who can use that as a reference.
-The LED indicator for the digital input pulses on and off constantly if a digital source is not attached, which I think some who use the Opera as a headphone amp only might find annoying.
-The choice to use a muting relay in the DAC where most companies use a potentially sound-degrading muting transistor does result in a clicking sound (from the unit itself, not in the signal) whenever the digital input signal drops to zero (on the gaps in between CD tracks, for instance). While using headphones, I usually didn't even notice it, but it could be an issue when using speakers.
-I find that the input selector knob is a bit too close to the volume knob, which prevents me from turning the volume knob as I naturally would sometimes.
-The lack of an optical input to the DAC section is somewhat limiting, as it can't be used with devices like the iHP-120 which only have optical SPDIF output.
Certainly these are not big issues, just the idiosyncrasies of this particular piece of gear.
Having come full circle from the HA1 to the Opera, I am extremely impressed with the advancements Dr. Meier has been able to make with his ideas in the last few years. The Opera is certainly a state-of –the-art machine for headphone listeners, offering superb detailed, balanced, yet non-fatiguing sound from almost any source. Taking into account the sonic performance, build quality, and appearance of the Opera (not to mention the great service of TTVJ and Dr. Meier) I'd recommend it to anyone who finds its' features useful. The Opera performs well enough as a headphone amp alone to merit its' cost, but when the DAC is considered, I think the unit is a bargain for what it offers.
(I will include my time with the Opera as part of a DAC/Headphone Amp combo review coming up soon.)
