Mallus
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2004
- Posts
- 3
- Likes
- 10
I’ve put together a story about my experiences with Meier Audio Corda Prehead (MK1) and Sennheiser HD 650. It accounts for deciding on, purchasing and using for the first few weeks the amp and phones combo. As it is, the text ended up rather longish, so I sprinkled it with some subheadings to help you pick up the parts that might interest you. The music I’ve used in the auditions has varied from Leonard Cohen via Tiger Lillies to Rammstein including most genres save for too much classical. If you any comments or questions, I’d be happy hear them!
Background
I’d been planning on the purchase of a headphone system for well over a year, but had been forced to wait due to other capital sucking black holes appearing out of nowhere. During such a long period, I had been contemplating (as well as auditioning) both dynamic and electrostatic set-ups. Despite liking the Stax SRS–3030 and –4040 systems I didn’t want to be later on depended on the Stax amps only, nor did I want to go for the trouble of having someone build me a custom unit, as most of the electrostatic ampsmiths seemed to be based on the other continent. Also, customer service in Japan for the grey imported Staxes sounded too much of a trouble to me. So dynamic it’d be.
Choosing the phones and amp for them wasn’t too easy. I wanted to have a relaxing sound and while the Grado RS 1s were fun and exiting I was a bit hesitant being rather sensitive towards overly forward higher frequencies. Senn HD 600, on the other hand, had been so veiled they didn’t thrill me too much. The newest iteration on the theme, the HD 650, was to my ears a smoother sounding compromise. A bit better lower register than HD 600 and a bit less distant sound felt ideal to me so I decided to give them a try.
What comes to the amp then, in case my girlfriend would like to have her share on the aural delights, I wanted to have two headphone jacks in addition to excellent sound quality. The two commercial products available in Finnish stores, the Creek OBH 21 (and SE) and Pro-Ject HeadBox raised no passion on me, but the Meier Audio products seemed much more promising. My preamp duties had so far been taken care of by a passive Creek OBH 12, but I was keen on experimenting there too. A Prehead would do it all, hmm…
After seeing the contributing member deal on Prehead, I couldn’t wait anymore but had to contact Jan and start lining my cents in queue to be sent marching towards Meier Audio. In Prehead, having never heard it myself but only read some rave reviews; I was fascinated by its reported excellent quality (both sonic and built) and versatility. Since I wanted resolution and thought it unlikely that I’d be using phones that’d benefit from the 120 ohm headphone jack, I ordered my amp with the LM6171 opamp and both jacks at 0 ohm.
From the moment I butchered my bank account it took a couple of days before the money appeared in Jan’s and my amp was sent on its journey to its new daddy. Being a little short on money, I had agreed with Jan that after my payment he would hold the amp for me for a month and then I would wire him more cash for the phones. The idea was that this way I would save some costs on posting and package. Anyway, there was a little confusion as I forgot to check my e-mail one day and the amp was put to the post immediately after Jan got the money. From that point, it took a week before I got a note from the local post office declaring arrived goods. As I didn’t have any phones lying around at home to test the Prehead with, I just replaced my passive pre with it in my speaker system.
Pre- in Prehead
I hadn’t expected much of a sonic improvement for my speakers, since I’d though the OBH 12 to be a pretty decent for a budget component it was. In fact, I didn’t even sit down for a listen at first but went on busying my self with other stuff, my thoughts elsewhere. However, within a few second’s I was drawn back to the living room. The sound had changed quite significantly and I just had to sit down and listen for it more carefully.
Indeed, the music was much more dynamic and the imaging clearly sharper than before. The hit of a snare drum, in particular, lighted up way faster and more naturally and the control over bass (as well as depth) had improved, too. In the evening, even my better half, who was not so enthusiastic when she found out I'd ordered a new amp, admitted that the improvements were easily distinguishable.
It would be fun to test the Prehead against another active preamp some day to see how much of this effect is due to the different acting principles between active and passive preamps. Passive might be transparent but in my system it was lifeless, which is no good if you want the music to be involving.
…and what the –head part’s for
Of course I couldn’t wait for my next paycheck but within a couple of days had to send Jan more money out of my savings account… Now it took only one week from the transaction to the moment the HD 650 with the Oehlbach cable and the Meier IC’s landed on the neighbouring post office. By this time I had already gotten a loaner pair of HD 600 from my friend to play with, so I was eager to get to compare them with the HD 650.
Earlier I’ve described how I’ve felt the HD 600 to be veiled and too laid back to my tastes. Connected to the Prehead they still sounded, true to their nature, a bit distant but much less so than what I remembered. Also, it didn’t take long to get adapted to the sound signature, and after a moment I was having great fun with my old recordings.
Out of the box the 650 sounded a bit restrained and muffled in comparison to the effortless sound reproduction of it’s predecessor. I wasn’t too worried, however, since I had tested both of the phones earlier and had liked the HD 650 more. Since the HD 600 was well used, it was obvious that a burn in was due to my phones until they would realise their potential. At the moment, the HD 650’s have clocked some 35 hours, and their sound is already loosening up in a positive sense.
The gap between the HD 600 and HD 650 is, miraculously, much narrower than what I’d earlier remembered it to be, which is probably due to the fact that I’d auditioned the phones previously on separate occasions and setups. Listening volumes affect the sound as well, which, in the case of Prehead, can be ruled out the phones and jacks being (pairwise) of the same impedance. Due to tinnitus, I normally have to have my music served at rather low volumes, which translates here as settings between 7 and 8 o’clock positions on the pot’s dial. Luckily, the Prehead combined with the HD 650 does very well under such circumstances.
Conclusions
I’m very satisfied with the Prehead, and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to someone looking for a quality, versatile headphone amp. It performs brilliantly both as a preamp, and a headphone amp. The built quality is confidence inspiring and the feel very solid. The crossfeed I’ve found to be a nice feature, especially with the older recordings like Scott Walker’s Scott 2, to fill in the gaps in the headstage. Usually, I have it on all the time set low. The Sennheiser HD 650 goes nicely together with the Prehead. The combination is relaxed and effortless and the Senns less laid back than with feebler amplification.
Also, I’ve found the excellent rep Meier Audio’s customer service enjoys to be completely justified. Jan has responded to all my mails promptly and been kind enough to answer my numerous questions even if they haven’t been related to his line of products. When the amp and the phones ended up being sent separately by accident, I only had to pay for the postage of the first packet, which I thought was very fair.
-mallus-
Background
I’d been planning on the purchase of a headphone system for well over a year, but had been forced to wait due to other capital sucking black holes appearing out of nowhere. During such a long period, I had been contemplating (as well as auditioning) both dynamic and electrostatic set-ups. Despite liking the Stax SRS–3030 and –4040 systems I didn’t want to be later on depended on the Stax amps only, nor did I want to go for the trouble of having someone build me a custom unit, as most of the electrostatic ampsmiths seemed to be based on the other continent. Also, customer service in Japan for the grey imported Staxes sounded too much of a trouble to me. So dynamic it’d be.
Choosing the phones and amp for them wasn’t too easy. I wanted to have a relaxing sound and while the Grado RS 1s were fun and exiting I was a bit hesitant being rather sensitive towards overly forward higher frequencies. Senn HD 600, on the other hand, had been so veiled they didn’t thrill me too much. The newest iteration on the theme, the HD 650, was to my ears a smoother sounding compromise. A bit better lower register than HD 600 and a bit less distant sound felt ideal to me so I decided to give them a try.
What comes to the amp then, in case my girlfriend would like to have her share on the aural delights, I wanted to have two headphone jacks in addition to excellent sound quality. The two commercial products available in Finnish stores, the Creek OBH 21 (and SE) and Pro-Ject HeadBox raised no passion on me, but the Meier Audio products seemed much more promising. My preamp duties had so far been taken care of by a passive Creek OBH 12, but I was keen on experimenting there too. A Prehead would do it all, hmm…
After seeing the contributing member deal on Prehead, I couldn’t wait anymore but had to contact Jan and start lining my cents in queue to be sent marching towards Meier Audio. In Prehead, having never heard it myself but only read some rave reviews; I was fascinated by its reported excellent quality (both sonic and built) and versatility. Since I wanted resolution and thought it unlikely that I’d be using phones that’d benefit from the 120 ohm headphone jack, I ordered my amp with the LM6171 opamp and both jacks at 0 ohm.
From the moment I butchered my bank account it took a couple of days before the money appeared in Jan’s and my amp was sent on its journey to its new daddy. Being a little short on money, I had agreed with Jan that after my payment he would hold the amp for me for a month and then I would wire him more cash for the phones. The idea was that this way I would save some costs on posting and package. Anyway, there was a little confusion as I forgot to check my e-mail one day and the amp was put to the post immediately after Jan got the money. From that point, it took a week before I got a note from the local post office declaring arrived goods. As I didn’t have any phones lying around at home to test the Prehead with, I just replaced my passive pre with it in my speaker system.
Pre- in Prehead
I hadn’t expected much of a sonic improvement for my speakers, since I’d though the OBH 12 to be a pretty decent for a budget component it was. In fact, I didn’t even sit down for a listen at first but went on busying my self with other stuff, my thoughts elsewhere. However, within a few second’s I was drawn back to the living room. The sound had changed quite significantly and I just had to sit down and listen for it more carefully.
Indeed, the music was much more dynamic and the imaging clearly sharper than before. The hit of a snare drum, in particular, lighted up way faster and more naturally and the control over bass (as well as depth) had improved, too. In the evening, even my better half, who was not so enthusiastic when she found out I'd ordered a new amp, admitted that the improvements were easily distinguishable.
…and what the –head part’s for
Of course I couldn’t wait for my next paycheck but within a couple of days had to send Jan more money out of my savings account… Now it took only one week from the transaction to the moment the HD 650 with the Oehlbach cable and the Meier IC’s landed on the neighbouring post office. By this time I had already gotten a loaner pair of HD 600 from my friend to play with, so I was eager to get to compare them with the HD 650.
Earlier I’ve described how I’ve felt the HD 600 to be veiled and too laid back to my tastes. Connected to the Prehead they still sounded, true to their nature, a bit distant but much less so than what I remembered. Also, it didn’t take long to get adapted to the sound signature, and after a moment I was having great fun with my old recordings.
Out of the box the 650 sounded a bit restrained and muffled in comparison to the effortless sound reproduction of it’s predecessor. I wasn’t too worried, however, since I had tested both of the phones earlier and had liked the HD 650 more. Since the HD 600 was well used, it was obvious that a burn in was due to my phones until they would realise their potential. At the moment, the HD 650’s have clocked some 35 hours, and their sound is already loosening up in a positive sense.
The gap between the HD 600 and HD 650 is, miraculously, much narrower than what I’d earlier remembered it to be, which is probably due to the fact that I’d auditioned the phones previously on separate occasions and setups. Listening volumes affect the sound as well, which, in the case of Prehead, can be ruled out the phones and jacks being (pairwise) of the same impedance. Due to tinnitus, I normally have to have my music served at rather low volumes, which translates here as settings between 7 and 8 o’clock positions on the pot’s dial. Luckily, the Prehead combined with the HD 650 does very well under such circumstances.
Conclusions
I’m very satisfied with the Prehead, and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to someone looking for a quality, versatile headphone amp. It performs brilliantly both as a preamp, and a headphone amp. The built quality is confidence inspiring and the feel very solid. The crossfeed I’ve found to be a nice feature, especially with the older recordings like Scott Walker’s Scott 2, to fill in the gaps in the headstage. Usually, I have it on all the time set low. The Sennheiser HD 650 goes nicely together with the Prehead. The combination is relaxed and effortless and the Senns less laid back than with feebler amplification.
Also, I’ve found the excellent rep Meier Audio’s customer service enjoys to be completely justified. Jan has responded to all my mails promptly and been kind enough to answer my numerous questions even if they haven’t been related to his line of products. When the amp and the phones ended up being sent separately by accident, I only had to pay for the postage of the first packet, which I thought was very fair.
-mallus-
