I know the sort of thing you’re referencing regarding bass quality vs quantity, but that’s not what was going on with the No.8 vs the Yamaha. With the Yamaha, the bass sounded as though it dug a whole half octave deeper. I asked Doug at Coda if having the V1 boosted to V2 or V3 level would bridge that gap but he didn’t think it would.
One recurring theme I encountered in researching this phenomenon is that bass roll-off is a common trait among amps employing zero global feedback. I can’t say for sure what the culprit is but I owned about 5 different pair of speakers at the time and the same difference was audible with all of them. With my Magnepans specifically, I was not impressed with the Coda despite its alleged current output. Putting the A21 to the Magnepans following the Coda was a revelation.
I do still like the Coda amp on the whole. It was very quiet at least, much quieter than most amps.