[Armaegis]

I don't have much experience with the really low impedance headphones/iems, and I think those balanced armature ones have all sorts of wacky impedance curves, but again I have no experience there. The only headphone that I have heard palpable variance in frequency response was with the Senn HD595, which swings from something like 50 to 250 ohm impedance. With that one, an output impedance of 10-ish is noticeable. Upping to the Senn HD600 isn't very noticeable anymore. 

 

[shigzeo]

Quote:

I don't have much experience with the really low impedance headphones/iems, and I think those balanced armature ones have all sorts of wacky impedance curves, but again I have no experience there. The only headphone that I have heard palpable variance in frequency response was with the Senn HD595, which swings from something like 50 to 250 ohm impedance. With that one, an output impedance of 10-ish is noticeable. Upping to the Senn HD600 isn't very noticeable anymore. 

Indeed, I find few amps that can't sustain a good FR with the HD600. 300-600Ω seems to be a sweet spot as long as the headphone is sufficiently sensitive.

 

[DKCon]

OK, looks like mine arrive Monday.  If anyone is in the Washington DC area, send me a message.  Happy to show it off.
I should have a pair of IE800s next week as well, man should be a killer match..

 

[plakat]

Nice thing, especially that it sports a lineout... which would make it a nice companion to the Lake People G109 I'm considering for home use. With the added benefit to use it standalone as a portable solution.
 
I seriously doubt that it works with the iPad CCK as the power output of the iPad is limited to 20mA (starting with iOS5 if I remember that correctly). Constructions with a powered USB hub might work, but I guess thats too much hassle (and things to carry).

 

[shigzeo]

Quote:

Nice thing, especially that it sports a lineout... which would make it a nice companion to the Lake People G109 I'm considering for home use. With the added benefit to use it standalone as a portable solution.
 
I seriously doubt that it works with the iPad CCK as the power output of the iPad is limited to 20mA (starting with iOS5 if I remember that correctly). Constructions with a powered USB hub might work, but I guess thats too much hassle (and things to carry).

The 20mA limit began in iOS 4 point something. 5 was more of the same. Too bad. External USB will certainly work. 

 

[cooperpwc]

Quote:

OK, looks like mine arrive Monday.  If anyone is in the Washington DC area, send me a message.  Happy to show it off.
I should have a pair of IE800s next week as well, man should be a killer match..

 
As a fellow IE800 lover (well, you will be soon 

), I look forward to your impressions!

 

[bobeau]

Quote:

I'm unsure of everyone else, but mine arrived at work and I don't have a potentiometer handy to measure this easily at my desk. I don't understand how this is a "no brainer" as it's not listed in any of the Meridian provided product literature. Only that review mentions that it's 16 ohms.

 
Right... if anyone remembers early on in the DragonFly thread I raised this point quite a bit, to the point where a member made a measurement showing it to be rather high, I posted the results to CA, it irked Gordon Rankin and he weighed in claiming it was under 1 ohm and explained how the measurement was not done properly.  
 
I'm listening to this with 16 ohm IEMs and am not under the impression there are high OE related issues but I'm not sure if I would necessarily be able to detect that.  I thought the DF had a high OE because I was comparing against an ODAC/O2 combo I had at the time and it seemed to be 'off' with my lower impedance IEMs/cans.  
 
In any case, after maybe 8 hours of head time now I'd say this is a impressively high end unit.  I'm not sure if it's quite to the same level as my old AP2/Metrum Octave desktop setup I had, but it seems to play more in that ballpark than other portable units I've had.  Not sure if it's brain burn-in or the caps settling a bit but I'm not sensing the brittle high end this morning that I experienced out of the box.

 

[carma143]

In thinking of buying this. Lets say I have both an Android phone with the worst audio quality, and the other with the best audio quality out currently. With music outputed through them with this meridian Explorer, will my music sound the same through each?

 

[bobeau]

Quote:

In thinking of buying this. Lets say I have both an Android phone with the worst audio quality, and the other with the best audio quality out currently. With music outputed through them with this meridian Explorer, will my music sound the same through each?

 
You're just using each device as a digital out, so the only differences would be down to whether the quality of the output is bit perfect, amount of jitter, emf, etc.  Probably in the domain of non-audible for most people esp. as this uses a fairly robust PS and async USB implementation.
 
The bigger question is how are you going to supply power?  It seems to draw a significant amount.  The DF doesn't work with Android devices (that's why AQ is coming out with an Android specific version called the bumblebee) and the Meridian appears to draw significantly more.  Unless you have an outboard supply of some sort it's probably a no-go.  But I'd love to stand corrected on this, have a Nexus 4 myself.

 

[cooperpwc]

-

 

[TheJesusGuy]

Quote:

In thinking of buying this. Lets say I have both an Android phone with the worst audio quality, and the other with the best audio quality out currently. With music outputed through them with this meridian Explorer, will my music sound the same through each?

Yes, the signal doesn't even go through the integrated DAC/amp but this may be different with a phone.

 

[Dsnuts]

Ok so I am gonna jump on this band wagon. Just ordered.

 

[bobeau]

Quote:

Ok so I am gonna jump on this band wagon. Just ordered.

 
Right on... I think you're going to be quite impressed.

 

[bcwang]

Quote:

The 20mA limit began in iOS 4 point something. 5 was more of the same. Too bad. External USB will certainly work. 

Has anyone actually tried the iPad CCK with a powered hub to see if it works?  The fact that it's not driverless with windows makes me wonder if it'll work with the iPad. 

 

[Dsnuts]

Quote:

 
Right on... I think you're going to be quite impressed.

I read about these the day after I ordered my Audio GD NFB 15.32.. I was thinking about cancelling that order but you know what I will try that one out too..I am all about upgrading my source and I think both units will do just that. I am excited to try both for certain.