Meier Corda Classic vs. Schit A2

[walls]

Thanks to PaulyT for letting me use his Meier amp I was able to compare his $600 solid state headphone amp against my sub $300 Schit.

LOOKS! BUILD QUALITY!

The Schit is somewhat smaller then the Meier but I like the build quality of the Schiit a little more. It just seems as though it's of better quality by feel. It's a heavy little amp with a nice solid brushed aluminum case whereas the Meier's black case seems to be made of a much thinner material. Also the switches on the Meier seem somewhat "clunky" compared to the Schiit.
I do however love the fact that Meier put all the much needed switches on the front of the amp, Schiit places the gain and power switches on the back, leaving just the volume knob and headphone input on the front panel. While it makes for a nice clean look it is without a doubt the DUMBEST design flaw I have seen on a piece of equipment. Nothing better then fumbling behind the amp to turn it on or off.

SOUND!

Both amps are dead quiet when not playing music, dead quiet. I noticed right out of the gate that I didn't care for the sound of the Schiit, it is compressed and the soundstage is incredibly narrow and "in your head". The amp plays loud and dynamics are by no means it's weak point and it can power just about any headphone you throw at it. It's just to analytical sounding for my tastes. Now to be fair compared to the output from just an iPod or even my Elite receiver it trumps those with spades, and for less then $300 it's a decent entry level amp if one wants to try hard to drive headphones.
The Meier didn't blow away the Schiit, but it did beat it on pretty much every aspect of sound quality. But yet again, for me, it was just to perfect, for lack of a better word. I like my music on the "warm" side and IMO neither of these amps can be called warm.

HIGH'S

Schiit..... Sharp and crisp, almost piercing with some music. 3/5
MEier..... Sharp but not fatiguing like the Schiit. 4/5

LOW'S

Schiit..... Nicely controlled bass, just not much of it. 3/5
Meier...... Well rounded, deep with nice control. 4/5

MID'S

I give it a tie here, both amps play well through the spectrum but both amps also sound very "digital"
in the MID'S. 31/2 / 5

DYNAMIC'S

Schiit...... Tons of push here, lots in the reserve tank. 5/5
Meier....... Plays almost as loud as the Schiit but gets compressed at high levels.but keep in mind that I am talking levels that nobody in their right mind would listen at anyways. Lol. 4/5

So in closing while I liked the Meier overall more then the Schiit I can't say I like it $300 more. Also the Schiit can drive a bigger variety of headphones a little easier then the Meier. If I had to choose one though, for me, the Meier. I found myself enjoying music on it from time to time where as on the Schiit I never get past being critical about what I am listening to.

Thanks again PaulyT!! I have always wanted to hear a Meier since I first saw the ad for the Concerto so this was really fun for me.

http://schiit.com/products/asgard-2


http://www.meier-audio.homepage.t-online.de/

So PaulyT..... Should I pack up the WA2 yet??

 

[PaulyT]

Ha! Not sure I'm ready to discover any weaknesses in my humble WA6! :laughing-rolling:

Glad you enjoyed it. I agree about the switches on the Meier, they seemed a little cheap. The Meier also has that funky quantized volume control... How does the overall weight of the two compare? Would be interesting to know which internal components are making up the weight in each. You can see in the central vent on top of the Meier that it has a lot of pretty good size caps, but I didn't open it up all the way to see what else is in there.

Did you play with the crossfeed at all? I did a little, but since the effect is to give it a more speaker-like presentation, more forward instead of middle-of-your-head, the result was to narrow the soundstage which is the opposite of what I look for in a headphone amp.

 

[walls]

Tried the cross feed very briefly, didn't impress me. I think for me it's the solid state sound in general with headphones that imdont like. I listened to it for a couple hours last night. This time with some different headphones and I still have the same basic impression.

Your amp will be on it's way home tomorrow. THANKS!

If you want to try my WA2 let me know. I still have all the original packaging so it would ship fine.

Also are we the only ones on this site into cans?? Lol.

 

[PaulyT]

GreatDane is/was definitely a headphone guy, but he hasn't really been around much in a while. Rope's into it, I think... he should post more on the subject. May be a couple others, but yeah it's not an enormous chunk of the pie here.

 

[walls]

Folks don't know what they are missing. In the two channel world to hit high end one would have to spend five to ten times what one would spend to achieve high end audio with headphones.

Figure $300-$500 for headphones, $1000 or up for amp and DAC, add a source and your in. Not gonna happen with speakers and such.

 

[Lone Stranger]

There is some preference involved. Yes, speakers are much more costly but I do like to be able to feel the bass sound waves from speakers in addition to hearing them.

 

[Rope]

There is some preference involved. Yes, speakers are much more costly but I do like to be able to feel the bass sound waves from speakers in addition to hearing them.

I've got some HP's for ya.

Rope

 

[Deleted member 133]

There is some preference involved. Yes, speakers are much more costly but I do like to be able to feel the bass sound waves from speakers in addition to hearing them.

I've got some HP's for ya.

Rope

Soundwise, for the most part I see (and hear) a lot of difference between headphones and loudspeakers - a lot no doubt because of the room/no room difference.

However one area where there is a big overlap in "sound" is in the bass region.

I have and have listened to a ton of loudspeakers over the years, and their bass performance - sometimes completely independent of their price - has ranged from outstanding to anemic.

While I have listened to far fewer headphones over the years, I have at least sampled most of the major (and not-so-major) brands, with prices ranging from a few tens or dollars to a couple of thousand. And their bass performance has likewise ranged from anemic to outstanding - sometimes independent of price.

And if I had to say exactly what makes such performance "outstanding" in a headphone, I'd have to say its ability to make you believe that you actually feel the bass (which goes to LoneStranger's post).

Case in point (that I have posted about, and about which others have confirmed): all of the Denon headphones that I own have been capable of such bass. There are some passages in some songs that amaze the first-time listener. Here's a simple test: put on Avril Lavigne's Sk8er Boi. Set things to a healthy output level. If you don't go "wow!" by the 21 second mark, your headphones just failed!

By the way, that same track will elicit a similar "wow!" with but only a very capable loudspeaker system - and almost certainly only one that's supported by a very capable sub.

So if all that's stopping someone from really enjoying headphone listening is the lack of bass "feel" then, as Rope says, there are headphones for you - and in my experience, there are some at an amazingly low price.

Jeff

 

[walls]

See for me, I don't need to feel the music to enjoy it. And quite honestly, I get "lost" in the music much easier through my headphone rigs easier then I do when listening loud enough to " feel" the music on my main system.

I think any audiophile needs to experience what a good headphone rig can do.

 

[PaulyT]

Agreed on all the above. While headphones are a fundamentally different experience (no room acoustics, no change of sound field as you move your head around, in-your-head soundstage), careful listening with headphones will, IMHO, help you hear things in speakers you otherwise might not, and vise-versa. It's all about paying attention and really LISTENING. I derive great pleasure from both systems, and I can "get lost" in the music either way.

And of course, the practical applications are totally different. I doubt I would want to watch a movie with headphones - though that would be an interesting experiment to try sometime, especially if/when "surround" processors for headphones become more effective and available. Anyway, if I'm home alone and want to immerse myself, I'd usually choose speakers. But if the kids are in bed, that's not really an option, as it's either not full enough volume or I'm distracted by worrying about waking them up. And my home office room is definitely not good for speakers (a square glass and brick walled room).

My point is, there are a lot of factors - price to get the good stuff (as walls mentioned), environment, practicality, and the usual personal preference as in all things audio.