2. digital
  3. 1008095338

no difference between 4k meridian & 400 DVD?

hi,

i am really starting to doubt this whole damned industry. today, i tried a little experiment. i burned a copy of my favorite k. jarrett CD. i put the CDR into my 508.24 and the original into my 2-year old sony DVD player. i cued the players up simultaneously and did an extensive A/B for about an hour.

guess what? the differences in sound quality were so minor as to be almost inaudible. if anything, the 508 had SLIGHTLY better response at the frequency extremes and SLIGHTLY better dynamics. i'm not sure if i honestly could tell them apart in a double-blind test.

i always believed my main system was fairly transparent. meridian 508 CDP & 502 preamp, bat vk-75, AZ silver reference IC's, decent copper speaker cables (forget what kind), avalon arcus speakers. the IC connected the DVD to the 502 is cheap audioquest copper. i am using a monster hts-5000 power conditioner with vibrapods under the front end and BDR cones/pucks under my amp.

given that the 508 COSTS 10 FRICKING TIMES MORE, i wanted to hear a major improvement over my cheapo DVD but there just wasn't one. my ears are fine...for example, i heard substantial improvements after installing the pods and especially the BDR cones. so...wtf is going on here?
s2k_dude

Showing 1 response by argent

argent
245 posts
 
A few questions:

What type of connections are on the speakers? Bare wire? Spades? Bananas?

Which Sony DVD player?

A few observations:

I own a Meridian 508.24, a Sony DVP-S9000ES, an old Toshiba 1200 DVD player, and an even older CAL DX-1 CD player. For CDs, the Toshiba sounds better than the DX-1, the Sony sounds better than the Toshiba, and yes..the Meridian sounds better than the Sony.

Lets face it, digital technology gets cheaper to make with each passing year. It broke my heart to hear my 5 lb clunky Toshiba blow my beautifully crafted DX-1 out of the water, but life goes on. That said, I do believe that Meridian makes extremely high quality equipment. My advice--listen to it one more time...and then keep what sounds best.
More to discover