Meier Corda Jazz ff Impressions

This is my first second impressions post, I don't dare to write a real review yet. Also, I don't have much gear to compare to, so this might be of limited value. But I like my new gear so much that I just can't keep my mouth shut.

General Information
The Jazz ff is the top standalone headamp available from Meier Audio, though this doesn't count Jan's actual top end device, the Soul, which contains a DAC and DSP with lots of options, too. I fetched my new stuff (see also the Daccord ff DAC/preamp impressions I wrote) directly at his place. He's a really nice guy, I liked being there for a few hours and listening to his gear.
This is a SE only device, and very simplistic. It features an RCA input and a 6.3 mm headphone jack ouput, and that's it for connections.
There is knob for volume (the potentiometer of which actually feeds a D/A converter that controls 31 discrete volume levels via digital switches), and a push button for switching between low and high gain.
The "ff" technology is supposed to somehow provide the advantages of balanced in single-ended connections, but I honestly don't understand what it does and how that is supposed to make a difference.
Like with many other Meier Audio devices, there is crossfeed available (analog in this case) that can be switched on or off. Jan told me that the bass shelf that can be chosen to use or not in the Daccord will automatically be applied here.
The output impedance is < 0.1 Ohm.
It uses OPA209 opamps biased into class-A, and "a total of 4 BURR-BROWN BUF634 buffer amplifiers at the left, the right, and the ground output channel", whatever that means.
More technical info is available at https://www.meier-audio.de/jazz.html
The current price is € 425,– including VAT for EU customers or € 365,– for customers outside the EU.

Chain
Roon -> Pi4 USB -> Daccord ff -> Jazz ff -> Clear Mg
For comparison:
Roon -> Pi4 USB -> Daccord ff -> Jotunheim 2 SE in, bal out -> Clear Mg

Sound impressions
I'm very happy with the device. It sounds very neutral to my ears with good extension at both ends of the spectrum, and it provides lots of detail. (I know, this is the exact same sentence I used in the Daccord impressions post, but it's true here, too.)
Listening to this amp was like a revelation to me. I could hear so much more little details than I was used to that I was really wowed. Those stereotypical "WTF, I never heard this before!" moments happened so often to me during the first few days that I was really baffled.
To be fair, part of this experience was probably due to the fact that I was used to a warmer presentation with less treble, so the different sound signature played its role, too, along with the better DAC (the Daccord ff) that entered my system at the same time. But still, it made me very happy.
Speaking of sound signature: This is not a clinical or extremely analytical amp at all. While it does provide more treble than the Jot 2 I was used to, and with it a bit less warmth, it is still a very musical amplifier and in that regard doesn't differ too much from the Jotunheim 2 (see comparison below).
It is what I regard as neutral, but also provides very satisfying amounts of emotion.
The blackground is as perfect as I ever heard, I couldn't detect hiss at any volume level even with quite sensitive IEMs.
It isn't suitable for extremely sensitive IEMs, though, at least not without extra attenuation before the amp. The cheap KZ ZSN Pro X I hooked up out of curiosity were at a comfortable listening level at the lowest possible volume level. Which can't be turned down to complete silence, BTW, the left-most position of the volume knob still delivers sound. The ~1.4 dB volume steps are easily audible, but are close enough to each other that I didn't miss any extra steps.
It is surprisingly powerful and can drive even power hungry headphones with ease (see also comparison to Jot 2 below).
What I like most about the amp is the clarity. Everything is as perfectly refined as I ever heard it, the presentation is easy, light-footed, and draws an absolutely sharp and detailed audible picture, from very low bass to upper treble. The headstage is great, instrument separation is superb, voices are clear and smooth.
Really, I haven't heard anything remotely as good before, but that doesn't mean very much as I haven't heard a lot of amps yet in my audio journey. At least I can compare it to the Jotunheim 2 which many people here know.
Just like with the Daccord: I don't use the crossfeed much. It is not very strong, on many modern recordings I strain to hear a difference at all. It is very audible on extreme panned recordings, but I don't listen to such music much, so I can't say much about how good it is.
On the negative side, there is an audible click or short noise in the headphone when the amp is switched on, and an audible series of low frequency tones a few seconds after it is switched off. These are not loud, though, no problem in having the headphones on the head while doing that.

Comparison to Schiit Jotunheim 2
The amps are roughly in the same price range, though in Europe, the Jot is quite a bit more expensive due to added VAT and shipping. At the importer that calls itself Schiit Europe, the current price without modules is € 549,–.
The Jotunheim 2 is also quite a bit more versatile, though, as it features balanced inputs and outputs and can also be used as a preamp, in all configurations of single-ended or balanced inputs and outputs.
At the level of pure headphone amplification, though, I like the Jazz ff much better.
It's a bit cooler that the Jot, especially by providing more treble and maybe a bit less mid bass.
The bass confused me a bit: It was perfectly clear that the Jazz provided much better detail and clarity in the bass, I now know why some reviewers described the Jot's bass as "woolly". But in some (most) songs, I heard more bass from the Jazz, whereas there was more bass from the Jot in others. It was easily clear to me that the Jazz didn't roll off as much in the deeper bass regions, and across all bass provided more definition and less bleed. There were songs, however, where there was more pronounced bass from the Jot. I couldn't really pinpoint when that happened. Maybe it was a bit more midbass, maybe something like a room mode, but in an amp? I don't know if such a thing even exists in amplifiers, but it appeared to me as if the Jot had a certain range where something like resonances happened that made the bass louder and more blurry.
Regarding treble pain, where I'm quite sensitive, both have their regions. With the Jazz, it's the upper treble that can sometimes be a little piercing to me, while with the Jot, female voices and their upper harmonics can be painful to my ears. With both amps, however, this only happens at loud listening levels that I don't normally use, though I have to crank up the Jazz quite a bit louder to get to painful treble levels.
Speaking of volume: Both amps have much more power than I'll ever need. The Jotunheim 2 even more so than the Jazz ff. For comparison: Jazz ff 12 o'clock roughly equals Jotunheim 2 11 o'cock at both gain levels of the two amps. Which, at low gain, is louder than comfortable to me with my Clear Mg. Which also means that the comparison at high gain might be off as I couldn't keep the headphones on for longer than a few seconds.
Head stage and instrument separation are much better on the Jazz ff, to the point that instruments can sound mashed together in comparison on the Jot. This is true for clarity all across the spectrum: The Jazz sounds much more precise to me, allowing for lots of extra detail, giving the impression of a slight veil on the Jot, or a worse recording.
There's one area where the Jot earns bonus points, though, and that's musicality and emotion. It sounds more romantic to me than the Jazz, and for some very groovy music, the Jot delivers more groove and feet-tapping than the Jazz does. But the Jazz is no slouch there, too. It doesn't sound clinical to me at all, it's definitely not an analytic amp without soul. If I had to assign a number to the difference, I'd say that the Jot is maybe 5% ahead of the Jazz here.

Now, don't get me wrong. The above may sound as if I wanted to say: "Don't buy a Schiit Jotunheim 2, it sounds like ass!" But that's not my opinion at all. I do think that the Jot is a great amp, that it delivers great value for the money. I was perfectly happy with it and didn't miss anything, in fact my original plan was to only buy a DAC to use it with the Jot. It's only that I like the Jazz even better. The Jotunheim 2 is wow. The Jazz ff, to me, is even wower.

Pros:

• Best headamp I ever heard (which doesn't mean much, admittedly)
• Lots of microdetail/plankton
• Great extension at both ends
  
• Neutral, very detailed, but musical
  
• Very good bang for the buck

Cons:

• Audible click/noise when switched on or off
  
• Not suitable for very sensitive IEMs without extra attenuation

Conclusion
To my ears, this is a spectacular device, even more spectacular than the Daccord ff. This is much more than a sidegrade from the Jot to me, it's a leap ahead. Once more, I can't imagine how the sound could get any better, and I severely doubt that there's anything as good in this price range. As my experience is very limited, though, I can only speculate.

 

Great review @zottel . Thank you. I miss my Meier stuff.