[Dano]

Am curious to see what 'phones you Meta 42 owners out there like best for your amp. I am having one built for me and am torn on my headphone purchase. I can afford about $300 on a pair of cans to pair with my Meta.

Listen mostly to classic rock, some newer rock (Pavement, JSBX, Radiohead/Coldplay, etc..) and jazz. No country, techno, dance or house music.

Thanks again for helping out a newbie...

 

[venzuel00]

There have been alot of talks about the grado rs2 and sony cd3000. Most headfiers are selling their HD600/cardas, so this would be the best time to get one of the very best headphones in the market at very low price.

 

[screwdriver]

im not sure but i know there is a gain to be set on these meta42 so it will match with the headphones .

you need to determine if you are going to use a low or high impedance cans so you can let the DIYer - so he can match them well.

if you are using different cans - just let the DIYer know.

i might be wrong though.

so far i have a maxed out meta 42 with 8620 op amps - i have used a beyer DT770pto, AKG K501(need more power) but decent, ATH W1000 and i have a cd3000 coming.

 

[tom hankins]

I've used hd600/w Cardas, and beyer DT770pro, with my meta42. Just got my sony cd-3000 today, can't find the strength to pull them out of my OTL32 yet. If you've got a couple days I'll get back to you on what I think of the three with the meta.

 

[KurtW]

Ideally you should have figured out what phones you liked, since they have the most dramatic differences between the various choices, and then figured out which amp would drive them the best. Fortunately a well made META42 will drive any phone well, so you should still focus on the headphones.

 

[purk]

Hi,
For 300 bucks, concentrate your choice on CD3K, and HD600 w/ cardas cable. I've great success with my CD3K + Meta42 w/ OPA637. The OPA637 bring out the delicate warm in CD3K. Very punchy bass too. You won't be disappointed with this configuration. However, if you want to go portably, get the AD8620. I have these two op-amps, and I slightly prefer the OPA638 to the AD8620. By the way, my Audio Technica (A1000, and A100ti) seems to like the Meta42 as well.


Purk

 

[DLoken]

I listen to rock/metal, and my Grado SR-225s are quite excellent on my META.

 

[N@Z]

I personally prefer the META with the Sony D66SL Eggos or Etymotic ER4S but I don't exclusively listen to rock or jazz.

 

[AIM9x]

ksc-35s sound awesome on a meta

 

[fiddler]

Hard to generalize, because putting different opamps in a META42 can produce very different results. I have a AD8620 in mine, and it sounds great with Etymotic 4S.

Aim9x, what opamp's in your amp? I didn't really like the KSC-35 out of my META.

 

[lextek]

JMT built me a portable META that sounds great with everything I have ever plugged into it. Grado RS2, SR125, HD600/Cardas and Ety 4P. I don't know if that helps. The META is very, universal IMO. It depends on the sound you like.

 

[AIM9x]

Quote:

Originally posted by fiddler Aim9x, what opamp's in your amp? I didn't really like the KSC-35 out of my META.

portable meta w/dual stacked elantec 2001s, and AD8620 opamp running on one 9v. sounded awesome out of my NJB3's line-out.

odd that you don't enjoy the ksc-35s with the AD8620 meta... i passed my portable rig (was stuartr's meta, but i just bought an exact copy yesterday) around the room and some of us practically shat our pants. except for Dean, he's still heavily speaker-biassed. Electronica, rock, hip-hop, i couldn't find anything that these sounded bad on. Best reproduction of Oakenfold's live in sydney mix i've ever heard.

 

[fiddler]

You have doubled buffers while mine are only single. This is probably why yours sounds better with a low impedance phone like the Koss.

 

[fiddler]

Ok, I'm giving the Koss another go with the META42.

Not as bad as thought initially, but the bass is a little loose and the mids wooly and lacking in definition.

Interesting, my CMOY with an OPA2132 is a far better match for the Koss, to my ears anyway. Just more musical sounding combination overall.

However, ER4S sounds lovely out of the META, and quite uninteresting out of the CMOY.

It's possible, I mentioned earlier, that the Koss would sound better had I stacked the buffers.

 

[AIM9x]

when you amp the KSC-35s, pop on the ER4S adapter... just an extension cable with a 73 ohm resistor on each channel. Forgot to mention how important it is to the sound with the meta42.

i enjoy the full sound from my ER4S out of my CHA47 (OPA2134PA opamps), but i'm waiting for my new meta to get here before I can test the ER4Ss on them.