SIMPLY AMAZING: Coda Technologies 07x Preamplifier


I have in-house Coda Technologies 07x preamplifier, which is the latest iteration of their '0' series linestages.  Very briefly, over the last seven years I have had over five solid state preamplifiers, price range was between 4K to 20K, in for auditioning in my system.  They were quite good, but lacked what my tube based linestages had to offer.  The solid state pieces were wickedly transparent, micro-detailed, tight accurate bass extension, and had great overall dynamics.  However, they lacked the organic timbres/tonality, 3D imaging, and the ability to create a sense of space between the players that my tube based preamplifiers produced in my system. 

So, I was concerned that based on my personal preferences that the Coda 07x might not be my "sonic cup of tea".  Boy was I wrong!  Besides, the superlative build quality, starting with the double-sided gold-plated circuit boards, and the sane prices Coda charges compared to other much more insanely priced gear, the 07x is priced at $6'500, this preamplifier has patiently shocked me regarding it might be the best synthesis between what solid state offers (transparency-clarity/low frequency extension-control/micro-details/speed-dynamics) and the best of what tubes have to offer (pristine timbres-tonality-color/holographic imaging/three-dimensional sound-staging with a sense of air around the individual instruments).

Coda always, at least in the America "flies under the radar" compared to other US manufacturers, but based on performance, build quality, and  smart evolved engineering they offer cutting edge equipment at reasonable prices that deserve to be heard by more music lovers. I'll get into all the little details in my review on the performance of the 07x, but for right now if you are thinking about purchasing a solid state linestage, consider giving Doug Dale a call to hear this very special piece.
teajay
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hi all!

re: bleed issue:

sorry for late comment about this, but i got no notifications of new posts to this thread.

anyway, i noticed an issue w/my 07x, which only occurred when switching from balanced 2 to balanced 1. sometimes i'd get no sound, sometimes i'd get both 2 & 1 playing, sometimes 1 would play at a muted level. (and going from 1 to 2 also worked perfectly) so, when i spoke with doug dale about it, he said it sounded like a relay issue, and i'd have to send it in, as it wasn't a socketed part that could be swapped out. well, i was in no rush; i wanted it fixed, but it wasn't a deal breaker, since going from aux or disc to balanced 1 worked perfectly. and i was waiting to get my melos ma333r back from mark porzilli, so i wanted to wait until that happened, so i'd still have a great preamp in my system.

well, mark porzilli is now either (a): no longer mentally competent and/or capable of proper documentation, or (b): an asshole. i suspect it's a mix. it took me a year of back-n-forth emails to get him to finally agree he was responsible for repairing the unit under warranty, (suffering the nasty abuse of him saying i was accusing him of sending out something that wasn't tested, {which it WASN'T}; and accusing me of trying to rip him off for a freebie repair, until i documented events via emails). then, after i sent it out, it took him 25 months to finally return the preamp. and to add insult to injury, instead of doing the proper repair to the balance pot and the special tube volume pot that was installed almost 20 years ago for $500, he just ripped everything out and installed a $15 cheap chinese sourced alps pot. it's too bad; the preamp still sounds great, even w/the cheap alps pot, but it sounded better before i sent it back to him for repair. (i'd originally paid $1k for a circuitry mod, which sounded great, but the remote & balance/volume controls weren't working properly when i got it back.) i will likely replace the cheap chinese alps pot with a tortuga ldr pot, a relatively easy conversion, before i can really decide which preamp to keep. (sorry for the diversion, i was less than pleased and just had to vent. mark was always cool in my dealings w/him prior; he's definitely got a screw loose somewhere, now. or maybe he just gets nasty, if he's made a mistake; some people are like that.)

after all that, the melos still sounds great & i know it will sound even better w/a tortuga ldr volume/balance pot.  the fact that i'm still considering keeping the coda, being a bona fide tubehead, speaks for how excellent *it* is. i thought i'd *never* have a s/s preamp in my main system.

anyway, now, w/the melos back in the system, it was the time to contact doug dale and reschedule having the 07x sent out to him to fix the relay. sometimes, it's good to wait - when i contacted doug initially, he thought a relay that was soldered to the board was bad; he now said that coda received a bad run of another chip that's socketed, and that it's been misbehaving in some amps as well as preamps, similar to the problems i was having, so it's most likely that chip and not the relay. so, he agreed to mail me the chip as it's not a difficult diy, as long as you're careful aligning the 16-pin chip w/the sockets. worse case, it's something else, (which i now doubt), and i'll have to send it off anyway.  i haven't yet put the 07x back into the system, (switching out preamps in my system is a b**ch), but i powered it up and everything works, regarding the switching, anyway.

when the 2-to-1 switching problem 1st occurred, the 2-to-1 switching clicked much quieter than any other source selection changes, and  i'd initially thought that was indicative of the bleeding/muted sound/no sound problem, so when i installed the new chip, and 2-to-1 switching still clicked much quieter than the source selection changes, i was concerned the problem may still exist.  so i called doug about the differing sound of the relays clicking; he said it was mere coincidence that the 2-to-1 click was quieter than the others, and not related to the problem. the preamp's circuitry is such that balance 1 comes on when the unit is turned on, so going from 2-to-1 engages one less relay than any other source selection change, making a quieter click than the others. while not 100% certain the issue is fixed until i try it connected in my system, doug is convinced the chip i replaced was bad, because of my getting either no sound, muted sound, or bleed-thru when going from 2-to-1.  he said that issue is directly attributable to what this chip should be doing - especially the bleed-thru.

so, all you owners with bleeding 07x's may want to contact doug at coda and tell him you need a new 4094 chip. and hearing about others w/this problem, and only occurring w/the balance inputs, i'm confident it's the issue, and a good 4094 will fix it. and it's nice not to have to deal with sending the unit out for repair.  i will follow up when mine is back in my system.

if you look at this pic, the chip that needs replacing is at the far left/center, to the left of the 'coda' logo; above and perpendicular to the much larger chip.
https://www.linearsystems.com/lsdata/images/Coda-012216-p-021.jpg

doug s.
ps - if customer service is a priority, coda's doug dale is great! he was ready to send me out a call tag to send the unit back to him, before he sent out the chip.
an update to my "bleed-thru" issue. it seems that my issue is more serious. as sometimes, i’m getting balance-2 still playing fully, when i switch from balance-2 to balance-1.

after speaking with doug dale, i packed it up and sent it off. it very well could be a relay, in my case, after all. but doug did say the bleed-thru i’ve read about here is most likely not this issue, but a simple situation of one or both of the sources being hot, w/a lot of gain. in that case, you could change the source layout to your inputs, or, as folks have indicated, just turn off the source that’s bleeding thru. it seems my issue is something else.

doug s.
The bleed through is likely a common issue on all the 07x's. Mine has it and also another A'goner who was DM'ing me on the CODA 07x has the same issue.

I hate the push button volume control that can accidently go into the unwanted state if you inadvertently hit the knob. You also need to have the 07x placed close to eye level so that you know what operational state it is in. It is hard to read the GUI.

I hate the fact that it is not dead silent. At least in comparison to my previous preamp, the Benchmark HPA4.

If this unit did not sound so good I would sell it. Since my need for 2 sets of XLR's is diminished the Benchmark LA4 preamp will come back into the system to potentially replace the 07x. I should add that I now also own the CODA # 8 amp, which I like a lot. The KRELL K-300i integrated that I was planning on selling was kept and I am so happy I kept it. So the CODA 07x is on shaky ground with me.

Another issue I had was that the volume control's internal wire had become loose from shipping. I was getting all manner of problems with the preamp due to that issue. I opened up the case and pushed the wire connection together and that solved all the crazy operational errors that I was having. Doug Dale was very helpful in working with me to resolve it, though I figured it out.