The new Coda S5.5 amplifier: It's a "Petite Beast"!

@speedthrills 

Good. That keeps the costs lower for the consumers. It costs money to send your product to reviewers such as the ones you listed in the form of required advertising, from what I have read. 

Those "mainstream credible" mags don't review the best gear, they just review the gear that gets sent to them where the manufacturer chooses to pays the price, and as a result must pass the costs onto the customers. 

If a company sells enough of their product by word of mouth, what would be the point paying several thousands (*I am not exactly sure) for a review? 

@mclinnguy +1, exactly.

Coda doesn't advertise in the mainstream rags, making a review highly unlikely even if they were to send them a unit.

The consumer pays for the high cost of marketing for the ones that do.

It's why folks pick Pass over Coda even though Coda sounds about the same or better at far less cost.

I’m curious how you all think a 5.5 will mate with an Atma-Sphere MP-1 3.3 preamp, which has an output impedance of 20 ohms using the XLR outputs.  I love the pre-amp and it mates beautifully with my MA-60s but I’m interested in finding a nice solid state amp for the summer.  The A-S mono blocks sound amazing but throw a lot of heat; also, it's fun to have different amp options.  I do tend to collect and trade around my amps.  

preamp bal out 20 ohm ; A-S MP-60 bal input 200K ohm factor. 10,000x impedance bridge- Outstanding.

preamp bal out 20 ohm: Coda S5.5 bal input 10K ohm factor. 500X impedance bridge- Excellent.

Both are quite good but when you have two systems like this to compare, is it possible that in an A-B comparison you might audibly hear a relative difference with the larger impedance differential (MP-60) revealing better signal, tonality, bass, neutrality, more natural sound??? Again both amps independently may sound great but when you have both to compare,  and go from one to the other with the same preamp,  is this difference in the impedance bridge going to reveal itself audibly? I have experienced such  an occurrence; however, that does not mean it is common or even likely for your system or most. You may not know without actually A-B comparing. Perhaps others with more knowledge and experience can elucidate on this subject.

We are all aware that there are many other factors as well that can and will likely  contribute to sonic differences between the S5.5 and the MP-60 with speaker matching being a key factor. Even with the different preamp-amp impedance bridges, the numerous other differences between the amps coupled with their synergy with the rest of your gear and especially the speakers, may be far more influential on the audio quality than any impedance bridge difference. You have to expect there will likely be an audible difference and should you try the S5.5, hopefully you will find it  as enjoyable as the MP-60. From the great reviews on the S5.5, that's entirely a good possibility! 

@car123 

20 ohms is probably as low as it gets for pre amp output, and should match from an impedance perspective with any amplifier, balanced or not. 

@firefly627s 

preamp bal out 20 ohm ; A-S MP-60 bal input 200K ohm factor. 10,000x impedance bridge- Outstanding.

preamp bal out 20 ohm: Coda S5.5 bal input 10K ohm factor. 500X impedance bridge- Excellent.

Both are quite good but when you have two systems like this to compare, is it possible that in an A-B comparison you might audibly hear a relative difference with the larger impedance differential (MP-60) revealing better signal, tonality, bass, neutrality, more natural sound??? 

From what we read 1:10 as far as  impedance pre output:impedance power input is minimum, and 1:20 is better, but does it get better and better the greater this ratio is? 

I would "think" after a certain point, maybe 1:30? it doesn't make a difference, so the difference between 1:500 and 1:10,000 is irrelevant, and if one hears a difference it is due to all the other factors between different amps, but I am just throwing random numbers out there and guessing. I am sure there is some pre/amp combo that synergizes very well at 1:15, and there is a 1:500 pre:amplifier combo that sounds like Kakk. And there probably isn't a number that explains this. 

Maybe we could get a particular engineer to respond and give his answer considering the preamp in question is of his design? @atmasphere ?