[chewmanji]

Hey all,

My Corda HA-1 courtesy of chuckieshere arrived today. I haven't had too much time to listen to it yet; I may or may not post a review later. Depends on my mood

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Anyway, first impressions with Corda, litening through Sennheiser HD580's using my D-25S as a source: quiet. I think it may be that the line out on the D-25S is considerably weaker than on a regular CDP. Can anyone confirm this?

Although quiet, I did some initial listening with Pink Floyd - Echoes Disc 2. Even though I had to turn the volume on the Corda up to about 2:30 - 3:00, there was no distortion, and it still sounded a lot better than the headphone out of the Sony. The first guitar solo in Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts 1-7) sounds amazing. There's definitely a fuller, sweeter sound than I'm used to.

From the short amount of time I've had with it, I also noticed more separation and detail, and where the Sony at many times sounded/felt congested, the Corda pulled through with ease. I think I'd like a bit more midrange though, but it still is a lot nicer to listen to than straight out of the Sony.

Time to do some more listening. I may hook it up to my Sony LD player just to see what it sounds like with a proper line level signal. More impressions to come.

Cheers,

chewmanji.

(finally on my way to some decent head-fi)

 

[Gopher]

Yeah, I can confirm it.

I breifly compared my NS500V with the line out of my D-25s and asside from sounding better, I think the line level was significantly higher on the CDP vs the PCDP.

On a side note, I recieved my HA-1 and Corda on the same day and became immediatly disinterest with the D-25s. I only very breifly compared with outlaws going to the ns500 and crappy generic cables to the d-25s dont know if maybe that also played a role.

 

[puppyslugg]

chewmanji:

Which hp jack did you plug your hd580's into? If the hd580 is like the hd600, they will sound better plugged into the low impdence jack.

 

[markjia]

Ya, you definitely need a better source...a PCDP really can't compete with a normal CDP. The LD would probably sound much better. I've tried my HD 580s (plus tube amp) with an old Pioneer LD player and was a big step up from my MP3 player and Creative sound card. Though...it wasn't that great, not as good as my Art DI/O.

Sounds like the next step for you would be to get a decent source.

 

[lini]

chewmanji: Yes, pcdp usually shell out between 300 and 500 mV, whereas for full-sized cdps the line level is usually ~ 2 V.

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

 

[kelly]

I used Corda HA-1 with Sony D25S briefly. I think the D-25S is a crappy source, even by portable standards, but I was definitely able to get even hard to drive headphones up to high volume levels with the HA-1. If you can't, you may consider whether you're listening too loudly.

 

[chewmanji]

Thanks for your input everybody.

puppyslugg, my concern wasn't with the outputs themselves but the levels I was getting. I actually do prefer the 0 ohm jack.

Quote:

Originally posted by kelly I used Corda HA-1 with Sony D25S briefly. I think the D-25S is a crappy source, even by portable standards, but I was definitely able to get even hard to drive headphones up to high volume levels with the HA-1. If you can't, you may consider whether you're listening too loudly.

kelly, I'm more or less certain that I'm not listening to loudly. When I was listening to my HD580's straight out of the D-25S, I had the volume set to either "min" or just above it. However, you make a good point. I think I should probably do some measurements to see how loud I actually am listening.

BAH! Whatever the case, it means a flatter wallet for me

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Thanks again everyone,

chewmanji.