New MEIER AUDIO headphone amp "CORDA CLASSIC"
Feb 21, 2015 at 3:05 PM Post #376 of 501
Does anyone have thoughts as to how the Classic would perform with Mr Speakers Alpha prime? I currently own the Meier Corda Arietta and was told it might not have quite enough power. I assumed the classic has more power.
 
Thanks Bob
 
Feb 21, 2015 at 5:06 PM Post #377 of 501
Have never heard Alphas but for sure the Classic has much more power than the Arietta.
 
Feb 21, 2015 at 6:20 PM Post #378 of 501
Are there any Meier dealers in the US?
 
Feb 24, 2015 at 5:24 PM Post #379 of 501
I don't think so, and why should there be? Dr. Meier is a pleasure to deal with and I'd rather he get all of the money then either some of it going to a middleman or his having to raise his (very reasonable) prices to break even. :)
 
Feb 24, 2015 at 5:59 PM Post #380 of 501
^ Yes I agree. I buy direct from Jan from a small nation in the south pacific. He makes purchase very easy and does his best to keep costs to a minimum.

Of course this does not address the original question of Classic + Alpha Prime as a match...
 
May 17, 2015 at 2:03 PM Post #381 of 501
Has anyone tried OPamp rolling with the Classic? I heard some users earlier perhaps trying it out earlier but I don't remember seeing much about results? Also, has anyone tried contacting Meier Audio in the last few days?
 
May 23, 2015 at 11:32 AM Post #382 of 501
  Has anyone tried OPamp rolling with the Classic? I heard some users earlier perhaps trying it out earlier but I don't remember seeing much about results? Also, has anyone tried contacting Meier Audio in the last few days?

It appears Meier was closed for a few days , but is now back up for business. I had e-mailed an inquiry about the current USD
price of the Classic the day before yesterday & Jan return emailed me yesterday !
 
May 30, 2015 at 2:44 PM Post #383 of 501
  It appears Meier was closed for a few days , but is now back up for business. I had e-mailed an inquiry about the current USD
price of the Classic the day before yesterday & Jan return emailed me yesterday !

 
 
Bump! I'd like to know too... Considering the Classic as an upgrade to my old Prehead1 MkII and saw some op-amp sockets at Meier product webpage!
 
May 31, 2015 at 4:53 PM Post #384 of 501
 
  It appears Meier was closed for a few days , but is now back up for business. I had e-mailed an inquiry about the current USD
price of the Classic the day before yesterday & Jan return emailed me yesterday !

 
 
Bump! I'd like to know too... Considering the Classic as an upgrade to my old Prehead1 MkII and saw some op-amp sockets at Meier product webpage!

For some reason I didn't realize I forgot to post the USD price that Jan quoted to me. The Classic is now $552 (which is very reasonable, considering the sophisticated volume control alone)
 
I better clam up, before Jan reconsiders what he's asking for the Classic (because some "knucklehead" even mentioned this to
him in his return email)
 
Jul 14, 2015 at 12:29 PM Post #387 of 501
I'll wait for more detail on the frequency adaptive feedback technology.

Maybe I can add some information. Several weeks ago Jan Meier stopped by at my home. Over the years our relation has grown from headphone addict to developer to a friendship. So when Jan is on his way from Erlangen (Germany) to the Netherlands, he sometimes stops by for some hours which we truly enjoy. Sometimes he has some luggage with him like new developments he is working on. So one of the last times he brought his DAC and his Corda Classic with him and we fed it with the digital output out of my Audionet CD player. He told me that with one of the switches I could listen in to a new circuit. This new circuit, now called frequency adaptive feedback, was build in the DAC and in the Corda Classic. So with one switch I could change between old and new circuit in the DAC and with another switch in the Corda Classic.

Interestingly Jan did not tell me which switch did what or what too expect, so listening in the two devices was completely blind. I took my Sennheiser HD 800's and listend with my favorite music for testing audio equipment: Chesky Ultlimate Demonstration Disc, Youngblood Brass Band - center level roar, Bach Goldberg-Variationen Bwv 988 for violine (Mischa Maisky, Julian Rachlin, Imai Nobuko89) and David Munyon "Four wild horses".

After going back and forth I found that one of the switch positions was much better. I had no chance to discuss this with Jan during the 1.5 hour I was testing, since he was hanging out with my family and I was alone.
The difference was very clear and very audible.
While I tested between the headphone amp and the DAC I found that the difference was stronger for the amp and while still clearly better, less extreme for the DAC. As Jan explained to me later the DAC has less amplification stages and therefore the effect overall is smaller.

I have owned a lot of gear and still own some, like for example amps like the CEC HD53N, the Lehmann Linear with SSC feet and a Music Hi-Fi tube amp. But I was surprised that I have not heard some of the songs in that quality.

There where two distinct moments where I was surprised listening in my music.

1. At the beginning of the center level roar CD of the Youngblood Brass Band, in the intro "To Come Together" there is a rap with only some brass and a drum. The rap is recorded comparably quietly and you should not turn the volume up too much, since you would get a shock when the the second song starts with full force. Exact position of the rapper and size of the person were always a bit unclear. With the new circuit, it was suddenly so clear where he stood. He also wasn't just a voice but he kind of became a person.

2. At the beginning of David Munyon's "Four Wild Horses" there is something like a dark sound of a gong (I believe). While the sound is and was mysterious I never had heard so much from it. It became with the new circuit clearer and more tangible.

These are two examples out of many, where it was immediately clear Jan had improved something dramatical. Overall I had the feeling like the fog had lifted.

While listening I started to become unsure why my music sounded so much better. Did I just had a golden ear day? Was it different since I listened to my music at a normal volume while I usualy listen to my music at very low volumes during night time.
So I turned on my Music Hi-Fi amp (which I was using for the last year) and fed it with the analog signal from my Audionet Art G2 CD-player (https://translate.google.de/translate?sl=de&tl=en&u=http%3A//www.audio.de/testbericht/audionet-art-g2-328714.html). What a shock. I couldn't believe how bad it sounded in direct comparison. It was like going back a lot. And believe me, I have owned so many configurations and was thinking I had reached my audio heaven, which is the reason I am not so active any longer in the forum world.

Anyhow, I asked Jan if he could build this "modification" into his DAC and amp and sell me one and he agreed. So now the Jan Meier dream team is working in my home and I am very happy with it.

Two surprises I had since I own the configuration:
Although Jan does not advertise it, you can use the DAC with the iPad together with the Apple camera kit. I am even not sure if he was aware of it.
2. While I buy some high-res stuff myself, I was surprised how great my Qobuz MP3 320 kbps streaming sounds no matter if I use my laptop or my iPad.

So overall, I am surprised what a difference this new frequency adaptive feedback makes and I can fully recommend this new amp.
 
Jul 14, 2015 at 2:34 PM Post #388 of 501
@Richter Di thanks for your detailed impressions. Much appreciated. It certainly sounds like an interesting upgrade! So you must be one of the few or even the only owner with the upgraded Classic and Daccord?

I'm waiting for the Meier website page to be updated on the matter, I'm curious specifically on the technical side. Then I will have consider what to do. The stock dac and amp already sounds great, so in a way I'm not too bothered about whether I upgrade now or further down the line.

Thanks again!
 
Jul 14, 2015 at 2:44 PM Post #389 of 501
The "freq. adaptive fb tech" sounds very interesting & should appeal to anyone who has been building their music playback system toward having more insight of the "Micro" detail that exists in the music they listen to. The "Macro"side of musical detail very rarely needs to be emphasized in other than misbalanced playback systems !
 
I like the concept of placing this circuit in the amplifiication stage. I think when functions additional to converting the digital stream to an analog output are added to DACs there's an increased risk of adding Colorations (that may or may not be needed;& if they are learn how to buy better recordings) to the music.
 
I think Headphone Amp/DACs are a bad idea for the fact they operate with a dual identity that really doesn't allow either section to work as well as they could individually !
 
Jul 15, 2015 at 3:25 PM Post #390 of 501
Dear head-fellows,
 
just a note that a short explanation on the FF-technology now can be found at my website.
 
A direct link: http://www.meier-audio.homepage.t-online.de/fftechnology.htm
 
Enjoy reading,
 
Jan
 
:)
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top