"I've just reviewed an amplifier. Two, in fact."
"This one's a little bit different. It's 50Wpc, class-A, and beautifully built."
"So what makes it different?"
"It's under $4000; $3950, to be precise. It's made by Coda."
Who?
Exposition
Coda's roots are in Threshold, where founding members Eric Lauchli, B.D. Dale, and Lorin Peterson all manned the R&D trenches. After founding the company as Continuum Electronics in 1985, they renamed it Coda Technologies, Inc. in 1989, producing…
Description: Solid-state, remote-controllable, stereo amplifier with class-A output stage. Output power: 50W RMS into 8 ohms (17dBW), 100W RMS into 4 ohms (17dBW). Gain: 26dB at 8 ohms. Maximum current: 100A peak per channel. Input impedance: 50k ohms (RCA), 1k ohm (XLR). Output impedance: 0.03 ohm, 20Hz–20kHz. Frequency response: DC–100kHz, –3dB. Distortion: <0.03%, 10Hz–20kHz at 125W, both channels driven, 2–8 ohms. Noise: –120dB ref. to rated output. Power requirement: 450W maximum at rated output.
Finishes: Black, silver, graphite-anodized aluminum.…
Digital sources: Krell DVD Standard DVD-V player, Polk XRt12 Reference XM satellite radio tuner with Musical Fidelity X-DACV3, Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 3D CD player.
Preamplifiers: Conrad-Johnson ACT2, Krell KAV-280P, Mark Levinson No.320S.
Power amplifiers: Conrad-Johnson Premier 350, darTZeel NHB-108, McCormack DNA-500.
Loudspeakers: Canton Ergo 702DC, Krell Resolution 2, Sonus Faber Cremona.
Cables: Interconnect: Audience Au24 SE, Shunyata Research Aries, Stereovox Studio HDSE. Speaker: Audience Au24, Shunyata Research Lyra, Stereovox…
When I first attempted to measure the Coda S5, the internal rail fuses blew after a few minutes of high-power running into 8 ohms. I returned the review sample to Coda, who investigated what had happened. Apparently, they had had a bad batch of output devices, and two of these had found their way into our review sample. They had survived Wes's music, but gave up the ghost when hit with sustained sinewave signals. The amplifier was repaired, then sent back to me so that I could complete my measurements.
The Coda S5's output stage is biased heavily into…
After testing a new sample of the Coda Technologies S5 stereo power amplifier (May 2005, Vol.28 No.5), JA left it at my house for additional listening. Even though, at $3750, the S5 is more than twice the price of a pair of Channel Islands D-100 monoblocks, it seemed a likely subject for a level-matched comparison.
I began with the Hilliard Ensemble's CD of Guillaume de Machaut's Motets (ECM New Series 1823), and the Coda and the CIAs sounded pretty darn close. Both captured the big acoustic of Propstei St. Gerold, and…
As someone who had lusted after the most modest project studio for years—and since I was in the market for a new computer—I knew that a high-quality soundcard was in my future. But I wanted one with analog-to-…
The A/D input worked marvelously. While I might have wished for more character in the recordings of my guitars, I have to admit that the threadbare tone recorded was, in fact, what I sound like. It's going to take a lot more than a digital soundcard to improve that.
Recently, I've been attempting to learn how to produce recorded music reviews à la National Public Radio,…
Description: PCI-bus computer soundcard for use in both PCs and Macintoshes with full digital and analog I/O.
Price: $599. Approximate number of dealers: Not known.
Manufacturer: IMM Electronik, Leipziger Strasse 27, 09648, Mittweida, Germany. Web: www.rme-audio.com/english. US Distributor: X-VISION AudioUS, 241 Federal Plaza West, 4th Floor. Suite 406, Youngstown, OH 44503. Tel: (330) 747-3866. Fax: (330) 747-3865. Web: www.xvisionaudio.com.
Other than the addition of a two-channel A/D converter, RME's Digi96/8 PAD is identical to the Digi96/8 Pro I reviewed in the November 2000 and January 2001 issues. I refer readers to those reviews for measurements of its D/A section.
To test the card's ADC, I drove it from the unbalanced analog outputs of my Audio Precision System One DSP. The program used was CoolEdit Pro, which can operate at sample rates of up to 96kHz, the fastest the RME is capable is of. I also used RME's excellent DIGICheck program. The resultant WAV files stored on the host…
The first samples to take up residence in Stereophile's storeroom used Corian enclosures. For various reasons, I never quite got to the point where I…