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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 drubin

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drubin
3,265 posts
 
In my experience, rapid A/B evaluation disguises differences between components. Listen to a track, pause, switch players, listen again, and see if you don't hear a greater difference.

Of course, this could mean that my method "creates" differences that aren't there.

Better still, listen to each component for extended periods of time and notice how you feel about the music. Level matching is a hard-to-control variable that you must consider. -Dan
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