Review of Meier Audio Corda JAZZ with ƒƒ-technology upgrade

[Austin Morrow]

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The pictures are great. Made my day.

I know. Absolutely gorgeous photography, no?

 

[donunus]

Great Review of a very interesting amp!

 

[RazorJack]

I received the Corda JAZZ today, to replace the headphone amplifier in my computer desktop rig (it died, long story...)
Wonderful amp this is, it's like the Concerto's little brother 

 It shares the properties I love most about the Concerto: a dead silence when no music is playing (eat that, tube amps!) and the ability to drive 600 ohm beyers. The crossfeed is also great, I leave it on by default.
 
I agree with The Slow Down regarding the listening volumes. For me it gets pretty loud quickly in low gain with a Hotaudio DAC-WOW as source. Not a problem because there's still about a margin of 9-12 o'clock for me to set a comfortable listening volume, but I can see how this might pose as an issue for more sensitive headphones.
 
Very happy with the purchase, it's kind of a big upgrade over my now-deceased previous amp, a Shanling PH100. I will be using this mostly for PC gaming and casual music listening while working, but this amplifier may just as well be used in a "serious listening" rig.
Needless to say, the transaction with Meier Audio went smooth as usual, took only 3 days between ordering and getting the package 

 

[Shoggy]

Great to read some opinions on this amp from other users - especially when they share the same positive experience with it too 

 
I still have no comparison to any other amps but telling from the other opinions it seems the JAZZ is great buy for its money.

 

[Durandal]

Love the pictures, too.  (I tend to read anything Meier-related, after having such a good experience with Jan with the StageDAC + Concerto ... but the pictures here were icing on the cake.)

 

[db597]

Has anyone tried the Corda Jazz with a HD800 or K701? I'm trying to decide between the Jazz, Lehmann Black Cube Linear and Burson HA160.
 
On paper the Jazz looks very promising with the active balanced ground, stepped attentuator and good placement of signal paths. At the moment, I'm running a Corda HeadFive with a AKG K701. I find this combo is a bit lacking in power. Will the Jazz be a good step up from the HeadFive or should I go straight for the BCL or HA160?

 

[rasmushorn]

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Has anyone tried the Corda Jazz with a HD800 or K701? I'm trying to decide between the Jazz, Lehmann Black Cube Linear and Burson HA160.
 
On paper the Jazz looks very promising with the active balanced ground, stepped attentuator and good placement of signal paths. At the moment, I'm running a Corda HeadFive with a AKG K701. I find this combo is a bit lacking in power. Will the Jazz be a good step up from the HeadFive or should I go straight for the BCL or HA160?

I am absolutely sure that the Jazz will be in a whole other leagure and much better that your headfive. It will sound great with your K701 and HD800. I have the Concerto and it certainly does not lack anything in power. I also have the impression that Meier's amplifiers offer a great value and sound quality for the money option compared to many other amplifiers in the market. 

 

[Argo Duck]

+1. I also own the Concerto (and Jan's earlier Opera). It's a great performer with the Beyer T1 and also the LCD2. I have not heard the HD800 (and I've only heard the K701 with my Opera) but knowing that Jan seems to recommend the 800 and T1, it seems likely he designs with these sorts of headphone in mind. Maybe Jan will comment on this.
 
A little OT but concerning the LCD2 I have circled around the proposition often put that the LCD2 needs 2W at its 50-60 ohm impedance. In this area the Concerto - depending on source - is more like 1W I believe. Despite considerable comparison with more powerful amps (Violectric V100, Schiit Lyr and more recently Decware Taboo) I have been unable to detect any area in which the Concerto lacks for power, dynamics, detail, transparency or refinement.
 
FWIW (Jan will say it means little I am sure!) the Jazz is capable of even more max voltage than the Concerto.
 
I completely agree with Rasmushorn that Jan Meier's amps are great value for money. I think they are sonically superb. In fact, I think Jan is a highly innovative and original designer and something of a wizard, if we would like to think of hi fi as the occult arts 

 

[RazorJack]

 
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Has anyone tried the Corda Jazz with a HD800 or K701? I'm trying to decide between the Jazz, Lehmann Black Cube Linear and Burson HA160.
 
On paper the Jazz looks very promising with the active balanced ground, stepped attentuator and good placement of signal paths. At the moment, I'm running a Corda HeadFive with a AKG K701. I find this combo is a bit lacking in power. Will the Jazz be a good step up from the HeadFive or should I go straight for the BCL or HA160?

On paper the JAZZ looks quite promising indeed, and I can tell you that in reality it sounds fantastic 

 I don't know much about the other two amps you mentioned, but I'm enjoying the Jazz with my beyerdynamic T1 right now so if you're looking for an upgrade to your HeadFive for an AKG K701 or HD800, you can't go wrong. It's up to you!
 

 
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I completely agree with Rasmushorn that Jan Meier's amps are great value for money. I think they are sonically superb. In fact, I think Jan is a highly innovative and original designer and something of a wizard, if we would like to think of hi fi as the occult arts 

 
Haha, but sadly for a lot of people hi-fi is indeed a hobby in which blind faith and magic wizardry often rule over hard science 

 
 

 

[db597]

Thanks for the comments guys. How big is the gap in performance between the Jazz and the Concerto / Opera? Since the Jazz is a generation newer, does it catch up to the levels set by the former Concerto / Opera flagships? Unfortunately, the Corda Classic is a little too big for my setting, hence looking at something the size of a Corda Jazz / Lehmann BCL.
 
Hi-Fi is certainly not a scientific measurement - otherwise tube amps wouldn't be so popular. Seems most people actually like the warmth of a distorted signal.

 

[Argo Duck]

@db597 can't answer concerning Jazz vs the others, not having heard it. The Classic is what tempts me. Historically, Jan's designs have been meaningful improvements from generation to generation: see Skylab's comparison of 4 or 5 units -  including the Opera - several years ago. The Jazz has most of the features of the Concerto FWIW. The Opera is quite an old design with quite a different sound signature to the Concerto (less detailed, slightly warmer mids).
 
@RazorJack - obviously the T1 made it to you through the Christmas rush. Glad you're enjoying it 

 

[Focker]

Well, the shipping took a bit longer than anticipated due to a strike at one of the airports in Germany (per Jan), but I'm proud to say that I now have my first legit headamp in house - the Meier Corda Jazz. I did a ton of research on what direction I wanted to go, and when I came across this one I knew it was perfect for my needs. I loved the look, had a solid comfort level with Jan Meier not only as a result of email correspondence but also due to the archive search I did here at head-fi. I knew I would have lower impedance Grados in addition to some higher impedance Beyerdynamics, so I wanted an amp that could do justice to both.
 
Out of the box, I was impressed immediately by the solid build quality and small footprint. I love how it's just here to do it's job....nothing foofoo or fancy, just the the audio signal it's given and make it sound great. So far, that's exactly what it's doing. Grados are very easy to drive, but I had heard that once you get to the 325 model and higher, they do benefit from having a little more current available. to them. I did notice a little extra "thwack" with regard to the percussion, and I liked the presentation overall. It just seemed like there was a bit more authority to what I was hearing. As for the Beyers, I've had a pair of DT880s sitting here for the past few weeks without any way to properly drive them. Hooked up to either my Fiio E11 or laptop, they were able to make noise that was listenable, but it was pretty clear today why a 600 ohm headphone needs some juice. The 880s only have a few hours on them so far, but I love how dynamic they are sounding, and it's great seeing how much headroom the Jazz offers. The volume is not even half way up and I'm getting plenty of volume. I won't do any critical listening for a day or two, but right now I'm very happy with the three main components of my headamp system: The Jazz, Grado 325s, and BeyerD 880s. I'm sure down the road I'll end up with some higher end phones, but for right now I have everything I need to enjoy all of my music and movies.
 
This is my first headamp, but for under four bills shipped, I can't imagine doing much better than this beautiful piece of gear. Kudos to Jan Meier!

 

[rasmushorn]

 
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This is my first headamp, but for under four bills shipped, I can't imagine doing much better than this beautiful piece of gear. Kudos to Jan Meier!

 
 
I would place the Meier amplifiers at the very top of the list when it comes to Performance / Price ratio. Congratulations with the Jazz. Remember "life ain't nothing but JAZZ..." as they say. 
 

 

[Focker]

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I would place the Meier amplifiers at the very top of the list when it comes to Performance / Price ratio. Congratulations with the Jazz. Remember "life ain't nothing but JAZZ..." as they say. 
 

I love it when I spend so much time researching products and then when I pull the trigger it ends up being exactly what I hoped. It's even better when, as in the case of this really great little amp, expectations are exceeded. I've had great luck in this hobby over the past few months that I've been involved with it. Jan was truly a gentleman and provided fantastic customer service before, during, and after the sale. I had been reading a lot about damping factor and how amps with higher output impedances tend to not mate well with lower impedance headphones. So when Jan told me that the Jazz's output impedance was less than 1ohm, AND it could drive the 600 ohm Beyers without any trouble, I was sold. I was really close to taking advantage of the package deal he offers with the Beyer T1, but wasn't quite at that point yet. He said he does offer the package deal with his DAC, though, so I may give some serious thought to a StageDAC/T1 package in a few months. I'm very proud to own this amplifier and can't wait to send some more money to Germany in the future
 

 

[Focker]

Well, I put over 30 hrs on this amp over the weekend, and I am more than thrilled with the results so far. Saturday night I had a splitter cable that I hadn't ever used, so I hooked up to pair of Grados to the Jazz when a lady friend and I watched Paranormal Activity 3. This was one of the most fun movie watching experiences I've ever had, and this was the PERFECT film to show off both the Jazz and the Grados. You were able to hear *every* single detail from the soundtrack of this film, and it made for a more "jumpy" experience than it would have been otherwise. I remember one scene where all the character was doing was brushing her teeth in the bathroom off to left of the main image, and you could hear everything from the turning on/off of the faucet, to her swishing the water around in her mouth, and even dropping the towel on the counter aftewards. I have Magnepans for my HT system at home, so I'm used to tons of microdetail (which I love), so to have this level of detail from some $99 pair of headphones (Grado SR80i) was just staggering to me. Also been breaking in my Beyer DT880s with music and movies/tv, and those have sounded fantastic, as well. Jan Meier is a genius