Any thoughts on Meier Cantate and equivalent alternatives?

[manaox2]

Fucking imps. I don't think it was a mismatch, but rather that you had imps in your signal path at all.

Having matching imps make the musical magical. That little one is really the problem.

[Fungi]

The Opera was getting a taste of its own shitty DAC. I don't remember what else I was using, but honestly I've seen enough about the technical aspects of Meier amp internals to confirm what I heard. The Opera is just bland as hell.

As for type of music, I really will listen to anything and that wasn't it; I can't say the Opera did anything better.

Since you were quick to say something was wrong on my end, let me mention that possibly your source has negative synergy with correct amps.

[Mycenius]

Thanks for the additional comments guys... Got a stack of demo gear last night so about to start listening to a bit of stuff...

[Fungi]

definitely user error.

I can't remember what it was but I also had another more capable DAC...

[atothex]

I can't remember what it was but I also had another more capable DAC...

Ooohh I just checked your profile. Club Transdac.

[luvdunhill]

Opera has an input imp of 12Kohm which is very low IMO and hard to match with.

what kind of sources do you have?

Let's see... my phono preamp is 300 ohm and my CD player is around 150 ohm and my DAC is a bit lower...

actually, how does one even manage to get a 12K input impedance using a LM6171 with a LM317 as a current source, would the Zin be somewhat arbitrary?

[Icarium]

Ooohh I just checked your profile. Club Transdac.

Don't think it's even on the same continent as him right now :/

[Fungi]

The Opera was a long time ago, I think I had the VDA-2 at the same time.

[boomana]

My first impression of M^3 was literally -- "that's it?"

Quite often the reaction of those hearing an excellent amp for the first time.

Did you use the same headphones all those amps you rated? It's not like they're one size fits all.

[TC_Shadow]

Quite often the reaction of those hearing an excellent amp for the first time.

Did you use the same headphones all those amps you rated? It's not like they're one size fits all.

yeah..and I have had my HD650 for quite a while now.

I had actually owned M3 for quite a while (>1yr) before letting it go; it wasn't bad, but I didn't get goosebumps listening to it like how I did with Dynahi.

I like Opera because I get goosebumps every time I listen to it.

[TC_Shadow]

what kind of sources do you have?

Let's see... my phono preamp is 300 ohm and my CD player is around 150 ohm and my DAC is a bit lower...

actually, how does one even manage to get a 12K input impedance using a LM6171 with a LM317 as a current source, would the Zin be somewhat arbitrary?

I don't know why Meier's input imp is so F#@$ low (the industry std is around 50kohm for unbalanced and 25kohm for balanced).

I am using a DAC1 with the Opera; I tried using CAL Alpha/Delta but that didn't work out too well (1.5kohm output imp..lol).

[luvdunhill]

I don't know why Meier's input imp is so F#@$ low (the industry std is around 50kohm for unbalanced and 25kohm for balanced).

looks like a key ingredient is opamps made for video applications.

[swt61]

I think of the M

[Azazel]

I had an Opera too, lovely case and 'practical' unit, but way overpriced and underperformer IMO. What I loved about it was the crossfeed (with those recordings asking to use it, not all) and the gain switch... that's it; well it sounded smoothy unless pushed hard. Oh yes and Jan Meier is a nice guy and quick at answering emails.

The hp out of the DAC1 does better with most cans IMO than the Opera, and the Benchmark case is cute too

I cannot imagine a way to like the Opera better than a M3 even using crappy PS and opamps on the AMB unit... I know, I have two M3s and made that test, and it sounded still fine (I did not compare directly to Opera as it was long ago gone).

And it MUST be said for the price of an Opera you get two (three?) nicely done M3's. Maybe a fairer (?) comparison will be Opera against a two-board Beta22, but boy, I will be only fair price-wise...

[TC_Shadow]

I had an Opera too, lovely case and 'practical' unit, but way overpriced and underperformer IMO. What I loved about it was the crossfeed (with those recordings asking to use it, not all) and the gain switch... that's it; well it sounded smoothy unless pushed hard. Oh yes and Jan Meier is a nice guy and quick at answering emails.

The hp out of the DAC1 does better with most cans IMO than the Opera, and the Benchmark case is cute too

I cannot imagine a way to like the Opera better than a M3 even using crappy PS and opamps on the AMB unit... I know, I have two M3s and made that test, and it sounded still fine (I did not compare directly to Opera as it was long ago gone).

And it MUST be said for the price of an Opera you get two (three?) nicely done M3's. Maybe a fairer (?) comparison will be Opera against a two-board Beta22, but boy, I will be only fair price-wise...

IMO Opera sounds much better than DAC1; both of which I have. I bought another M3 w/ sigma as this would be my 2nd M3; my 1st M3 had STEPS. I have lowered expectations, however (but I am open to the possibility of a miracle with the new sigma ps