[Daneel]

Meier Audio Corda Aria.

I wanted 3 things from the amp: good sound quality, easy connection to my PC / laptop and a crossfeed filter. The Aria has all of these (I hope!), plus a built in power supply that works with 110-240V.

I considered other options such as one of the Firestone amps + USB DAC or a PIMETA with the same DAC, but most of the options saved me little money to have the same options and I wasn't convinced the overall result would be as good.

The Aria has a few negatives for me, it's more than I wanted to spend, it's bigger than I wanted and I've yet to hear one. Meier has a very good reputation though and I'm sure I can find someone to sell it to should it not be to my taste.

It looks like it will take about 2 weeks to get my hands on it (it will ship next week). In the mean time, I'm going to see if I can part with my HD 580 having bought the Beyerdynamic DT 880.

[Daneel]

I thought I should post some pictures

[Daneel]

The build quality of the amp is simply superb. It looks very much like a high end component, the pictures don’t do it justice.

So how does it sound? Well, it’s definitely more capable of driving my headphones (Sennheiser HD580 and Beyerdynamic DT 880) than my M-audio revolution 7.1. It it’s a closer call between it and my receiver though.

The first thing that I noticed when I started listening was how quiet it was. When there isn’t supposed to be sound, it is dead silent. Strange thing to notice immediately you might think but there you go.

USB functionality works easily. You plug it in, turn it on and assuming nothing is using the sound card at that time, windows switches to USB DAC. Turn it off, and it switches back to your sound card again.

The volume level is noticeably lower on USB compared to analogue inputs but it’s still more than loud enough. Even when really getting into a track I’ve not had it over 2/3 with the 880s which are one of the most demanding headphones around.

The sound is….clean. Very clean. I can’t hear any distortion or anything else that shouldn’t be there. I don’t think I’ve ever come across such a neutral, transparent piece of kit.

Given the headphones I’m using, this leads to excellent musical reproduction. I haven’t tried films yet, but playing counter strike with this setup was pretty intense

I haven’t had time do a lengthy comparison with my receiver’s output so I’ll leave it here for now.

All in all, I’m pleased with my purchase.

[StevieDvd]

From what I've heard over at Head-fi it is one very nice amp and approaches my Corda HA2 MkII SE in sound though for a lot less money.

Did you get it at the anniversary price in which case it will probably sell for more once that price has finished so a good investment either way.

Make sure you let it run in for a good while before you make final assessment of the sound quality though it should sound great out of the box.

Jan Meier is a great guy and I'm pleased we have a good manufacturer in Europe so we don't have the hassle of customs etc.


Regards

Steve

[rommi]

Where can I get one of these?
(and this anniversary price?)

[Daneel]

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

The special price ended on 31 Dec 2005. Additionally, only 500 of the Aria have been made. It is a limited edition. The price is 425 Euro.