Please tell me about the Coda Technologies 15.0

I'm afraid that I cannot comment on the 15.0, as I have never heard it. I have owned many audio products over the years, I owned CODA Model 10 and Model 20 amps in the 1990's. After climbing up the almighty audio food chain for many years, I have finally gone back downstream due to the economy. I am living very happily these days with a VAC preamp and CODA Model 11 amp.

I won't bother to say that the Model 11 is the best amp I have ever owned, because it isn't. I will say that it is a very musical amp though, especially for a solid state amp. Yes, certainly not the last word in transparency, but never irritating or aggressive, always pleasant to listen to. Just as I recalled the Model 10 and 20 amps from the 90's. It's one of the reasons I went back to CODA when downsizing.

Thanks Jmcgrogan2,

I also have a VAC preamp so I am glad to know yours is working well with your CODA amp. I appreciate your input very much.

Glad I could help Joe. The only concern you MAY have is if you plan to run balanced interconnects. I don't know why you would, since VAC's are generally single-ended preamps, but some offer a balanced output (not truely balanced). I believe that the input impedence of CODA amps is VERY low through the balanced inputs. I'm running RCA's with no problems at all. I have the VAC Auricle preamp with built in phono stage. It's not quite as nice as the Renaissance MK II preamp that I previously owned, but it comes close for a lot less $$$.

Which VAC preamp are you using?

VAC Sig IIa. I love it. I saw the CODA love in other posts and it has me intrigued.

Hi, Joe: Yep, I have the CODA 15.0 and love it. I will be happy to give you more information via phone if my comments here don't suffice. Try to send me a private message if that is the case, and I'll email you my phone number. First, I have 4-ohm speakers (Tyler Woodmeres), which require the grunt of a high-current amp to sound their best. The 15.0 was specifically designed to run this type of low-impedance speaker, which pays dividends for those of us living in that scenario. The VAC Sig 2a was on my short list, but I ended up with a Purity Audio Designs tube preamp instead (also very highly regarded). So, my electronics are in line with your potential scenario.

This amplifier has NO weaknesses that I can detect, and my system is quite revealing. I could list a dozen positive adjectives right off the bat, and they would all be appropriate. No one or two or three things stand out with the sonics; each area is as strong as the others. It is powerful, sweet, has all the finesse AND imaging that you would wish for. Instruments are palpable and immediate (if the recording contains it). And all the time, it sounds like music (not hi-fi). My musical test track is pretty grueling, and, among the more difficult passages are complex classical, which can convey a huge shift in dynamic range in an instant, and in the next instant, shift from a full-on orchestral battering to the airiest and most delicate sound of flute and harp. This amp doesn't care..... it delivers whatever I throw at it and doesn't flinch.

I am familiar with the VAC sound, and I think the 15.0 will mate with it very well. Both are sweet, full and liquid sounding. I think you will be more than satisfied with the imaging, too. I have read that high-powered Class A delivers excellent imaging, and I can only nod my head, based upon my results. Stage width, depth, air surrounding individual instruments, layering of instruments in a group, different textures, all of it is there in the highest sonic quality I could hope for. With an expensive tube preamp, you certainly don't want to lose imaging potential with an amp, and solid state might make some folks shake in their boots for fear that they might lose imaging potential. But I am extremely satisfied and could not ask for better. I hope this was helpful.
Ren Tilden/Winter Park, Florida