[blacknile]

Which one would you buy and why?
 
Headphones will be a pair of Grado SR325is (32ohm) and a pair of Beyerdynamic DT990 (600ohm) with a view on upgrading to something nicer in the future, potentially (Sennheiser HD800). Ideally I'd like an amp with good voltage and current output to cater for any current and future headphone purchases
 
The Violectric and Lake People seem to share most of its components and differ (if I understand correctly) in the choice of components at the output stage and in the location of the gain jumpers (internal on the g109, external on the V90). Given that I will likely have to play with the jumpers whenever switching between my two headphones, I'm wondering whether the V90 would be better for me. However, I don't know if the output stage components in the V90 will make a difference compared to the G109s.
 
The Meier is attractive to me due to 1) its slightly lower price and 2) the crossfeed circuit, which might end up being useful for some "hard panning stereo" recordings I own (Blue Note Jazz). However, [EDIT: the following is inaccurate  - thank Jan from Meier Audio for correcting me!] one downside of the Jazz is that I think it does not allow to set the gain.
 
i'm not interested in the following categories of amps:
-chinese clones of any kind
-valve amps (I don't want to introduce coloration, "warmth", etc in the sound - I'm quite happy with the vivid signature of the Grados and of the DT990)
-american amps which would be very expensive when factoring in customs + VAT.
 
Any opinions? Thanks!

 

[blacknile]

Anyone? Are these amps not popular around here?

 

[xaval]

It's not they're not popular. It's simply hard to find someone with experience with those 3 amps.

They seem to offer Good value though.

 

[blacknile]

I see thanks. I noticed you have a pair of 325is as well, does it pair nicely with your HPA V220 (though I'm sure such a powerful amp will be overkill for the Grado?)

 

[xaval]

The v220 is a very recent purchase and I haven't had the opportunity to listen to any Grado with it yet.
 
Amps in general are not - at all - about power. You just need "enough" of it to drive a certain headphone. Obviously, some cans require more "base" power than others and the new V220/V281 were basically made with a particular objective: to power almost every headphone around except for estats.
 
As per your selection, despite the fact that I have no experience with any of those amps, I have little doubt that they are more than adequate to "power" the Grados or Beyers. V90 and the G109 have certainly enough current/voltage for both. The Meier is also an amp that's highly regarded here, but I'm not sure if it was built to sound great with high and low cans.

 

[Liu Junyuan]

Subbed.

 
I'm also looking at a similar situation, since I'm keen to move to solid state for reasons similar to yours, though my eye is on the Corda Classic instead of the Jazz (this puts it toe to toe with the G109's price-range). Yet the Lake People is perhaps even more directly within my crosshairs for a possible future purchase and indeed it may be the one I finally decide on.
 
From what I gather from the reviews I've read, it particularly excels at driving a wide variety of headphones very well. This is the primary reason, for instance, that Tyll put on his "Wall of Fame." In his review of the Yulong A28, project86 concluded he preferred the G109 with my HE-500s, even though the Yulong is balanced. This has particular appeal to me. But I really don't think either of us could go wrong with Meier or Lake People, to be honest.
 
One thing I have noted is that I have never seen the Lake People for sale on the amplifer forums. I'm not sure if this means it's just not very popular here or whether it means people are just not wanting to sell it. I have seen Meier Cordas being sold more frequently there (of wide varieties), but this could just mean it's a more popular amp. (With all of that said, popularity doesn't necessarily dictate my listening preferences but may only point to a strong candidate for further consideration).

 

[Jan Meier]

Dear headfellows,
 
no, I won't comment on the differences between amps of Violectric/Lake People (they make nice stuff!) and Corda for obvious reasons. Just a little note:
 
"one downside of the Jazz is that I think it does not allow to set the gain."
 
It does! The small knob at the middle of the front is a gain switch and thus performance can be easily optimized for both low impedance and high impedance headphones!
 
Just drop me a mail at meier-audio@t-online.de and I will send you a copy of the user-manual.
 
Cheers
 
Jan

 

[Sorrodje]

 @blacknile You can't Go wrong with Jan Meier's Jazz. I sold mine a  year ago and still think to rebuy one as my reference Solid state amp at home besides my Sonett. i've really appreciated a lot the  Jazz with every Can or IEM I've tried. I miss the Crossfeed feature especially for old Jazz recordings I listen to sometimes.

 

[blacknile]

  Subbed.

 
I'm also looking at a similar situation, since I'm keen to move to solid state for reasons similar to yours, though my eye is on the Corda Classic instead of the Jazz (this puts it toe to toe with the G109's price-range). Yet the Lake People is perhaps even more directly within my crosshairs for a possible future purchase and indeed it may be the one I finally decide on.
 
From what I gather from the reviews I've read, it particularly excels at driving a wide variety of headphones very well. This is the primary reason, for instance, that Tyll put on his "Wall of Fame." In his review of the Yulong A28, project86 concluded he preferred the G109 with my HE-500s, even though the Yulong is balanced. This has particular appeal to me. But I really don't think either of us could go wrong with Meier or Lake People, to be honest.
 
One thing I have noted is that I have never seen the Lake People for sale on the amplifer forums. I'm not sure if this means it's just not very popular here or whether it means people are just not wanting to sell it. I have seen Meier Cordas being sold more frequently there (of wide varieties), but this could just mean it's a more popular amp. (With all of that said, popularity doesn't necessarily dictate my listening preferences but may only point to a strong candidate for further consideration).

 
Food for thought thanks. Though in Europe the G109 seems to compete more with the Jazz, price-wise.

 

[blacknile]

Thanks Jan, corrected!
 
Quote:

  Dear headfellows,
 
no, I won't comment on the differences between amps of Violectric/Lake People (they make nice stuff!) and Corda for obvious reasons. Just a little note:
 
"one downside of the Jazz is that I think it does not allow to set the gain."
 
It does! The small knob at the middle of the front is a gain switch and thus performance can be easily optimized for both low impedance and high impedance headphones!
 
Just drop me a mail at meier-audio@t-online.de and I will send you a copy of the user-manual.
 
Cheers
 
Jan

 

[blacknile]

  I miss the Crossfeed feature especially for old Jazz recordings I listen to sometimes.

 
Sorrodje, thanks for this. I'm particularly interested in the above comment on the effect of the crossfeed on old jazz recordings. Could you elaborate further?

 

[Sorrodje]

I had always the worst difficulties to enjoy some old Jazz and rock Recordings.  take that one for example :
 

 
It seems that Scott LaFaro and Paul Motian play in my left ear while Bill Evans plays in my Right ear.  With the crossfeed feature, left and Right channel seem to be crossed then the listening experience is far more natural. drums and bass stay at the left of the scene and Evans at the right but they sound closer from each other.  This is when the crossfeed feature benefit is the most obvious but I noticed that there's an effect event on some modern recordings. the effect is a more cohesive soundstage.  sometimes it's very subtle and sometimes I can't really hear the difference. So when i had the Jazz the Crossfeed was always ON and I knew it will benefit to some recordings while staying transparent for others.  No shortcomings I can hear .
 
Without any crossfeed, I listen to "Waltz for Debby" only on my speakers system.

 

[xaval]

I hear you Sorrodje. On louspeakers these older recordings sound more integrated. I think for a while a lot of recordings were mixed that way on purpose. Sound was moving from mono to the best thing on earth since the invention of the record player: stereo 

 

[Sorrodje]

@xaval: right. I haven't by any means any Hi end speakers System . I have a Tangent Exeo AMP+CDP and a pair of Vintage Sonab OD11. But this very simple system really does wonders to reproduce this 50/60 Jazz . My Caiman MKII will soon be added in this system with my self-built Linux based audio server

 

[xaval]

The Sonabs with the Caiman must produce quite a nice bass (don't know about the rest of your gear). Salut!