Thanks. I’ve always had an eye on the Valvet amps. I actually bought a pair of their mono blocks used that were a level up from this. However they were damaged in shipping. The seller was good to work with but I never got a chance to listen. One reason I’m interested in the Coda is I may be trying some other speakers down the road and if so I want an amp that works well with the Cubes but can also drive a less sensitive speaker if I go that way too.
The new Coda S5.5 amplifier: It's a "Petite Beast"!
I have in-house the New Coda Technologies S5.5 amplifier for review for Stereo Times website. It will be awhile before I write the review. However, I'm so impressed by the performance of this petite amplifier, it only weights 45 pounds, that I wanted to give a heads up to you GON members if you are in the market for a balanced pure class A amplifier, delivers 50 watts @ 8 Ohms, and can drop 100 Amperes of current on a peak!
The world class build quality of Coda amplifiers is on display with the S5.5, along with the most beautiful purity of tonality, precise sound-staging, complete liquidity offered by pure class A design, and what might be the best top end regarding details, decays, and a natural shimmering without brightness or any edge at all.
The S5.5 uses extremely wide bandwidth output transistors instead of the usual TO3 devices used in most transistor designs. I own the Coda #16, which is great, but the midrange/high end is taken to another level of musical enjoyment with the S5.5. The S5.5 has a sense of speed/aliveness that is exciting to listen to that you experience in live music. The amp is dynamic as hell, has driven with ease any speaker I have tried it with, hence my nickname of the "Petite Beast". Remember, 50 watts pure class A, can drop 100 amperes of current and only weights 45 pounds.
Teajay (Terry London)
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- 590 posts total
@abd1 Got it. In that case the Coda would be a great choice I’d think. |
@hflook if are you looking to live sound and bass, i think coda n8 could be better |
FWIW, someone asked about power cords for the Coda. I just got a Snake River Audio Signature Amp series a few weeks ago and it's a very good mate. The music just jumps out of my speakers and the timber is more natural too. I had a DH labs Redwave Signature in it before and that worked well. But the SNA is better. |
@Teajay (Terry London)
It's been about 18 months since your original post, are you still so enthusiastic about this amp? I'm driving Magico A5's with a Pass X250.8 now and just wondering if the Coda would be an upgrade or sideways. I'm not unhappy with the sound but would like to maximize the performance of the speakers/system. I'd be interested in your opinion if you have experience with the Pass. The one thing I don't understand about audio is impedance matching between amp and preamp so I'm not sure if I'm getting the most from what I have! System: SME 15/ Kuzma 4 point/ Lyra Etna; Pass XP17 phono; T+A MP2500 R player; Soulution 525 preamp; Audience AU24SX balanced & speaker cables; Shunyata Hydra conditioner with Shunyata cords. |
- 590 posts total