have you heard meridian cd players?

[nusiclover]

to be honest, i was looking into getting the jolida tube cd player. but, during my searches i came across a used meridian 588 cd player for $1500. this is an obvious good deal(and also $600 more than jolida), but without being able to hear it, im asking you if you can offer sound advice.
thanks, nusic
my system is as follows:
dynaudio 52se
musical fidelity a3.2
tara labs interconnects

[RGA]

Why is it a good deal because it is $1500.00 now and was grossly overpriced when it was new? Do you not remember the article of a NAD cd player a few years back. When it came out at $450.00US they said it beat every mega thousand player of just 4 years prior. This theory is take it or leave it but the difference of a cd player is the DAC. Get a DAC to go with your current player - choose wisely.

[topspeed]

Completely agree with RGA on this: the dac is where it's at. Unfortunately, outboard dac's seem to be the hi-end's newest cottage industry and there are a ridiculous number of manufacturers all making ludicrous claims. Which is right and which is bs? I have no idea. I do personally believe that the difference in sound between cd players is subtle, excluding major differences in design like tube output stages, and certainly nowhere near the differentiation between speakers. Let your ears decide for you. Meridian is very good stuff but if I were looking used, the first thing I'd try to find would be a Wadia.

[nusiclover]

getting a dac would mean i should focus in a great transport right? the meridian uses a ROM transport, this could be good.
the jolida uses a tube gain.
however, i just got an email. this adds one more cd player to my choices. Cyrus CD6. reviews are killer.
so, my 3 choices are between Jolida jd100a, Meridian 588, and Cyrus CD6.
i could very well use them as a transport to a DAC. Of which ive had my eyes open and heard good things about MSB dacs. But, i am still investigating on wether to get a cd player or a cd transport.

[46minaudio]

getting a dac would mean i should focus in a great transport right? the meridian uses a ROM transport, this could be good.
the jolida uses a tube gain.
however, i just got an email. this adds one more cd player to my choices. Cyrus CD6. reviews are killer.
so, my 3 choices are between Jolida jd100a, Meridian 588, and Cyrus CD6.
i could very well use them as a transport to a DAC. Of which ive had my eyes open and heard good things about MSB dacs. But, i am still investigating on wether to get a cd player or a cd transport.

http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...5Fid=42%2D7001
Here is a one you may want to look at..For a little more you can get DVDa,SACD,DVDV.
http://www.jandr.com/JRProductPage.p...uct_Id=3701173

[topspeed]

That's a lot of dead presidents laying down just to bypass their on-board dacs, nusic. Make sure you understand that there are only so many transport designs, laser pick-ups, etc. and the vast majority of manufacturers use a licensed Phillips or Sony design. A LOT of the scribes for mags such as TAS use Sony ES players as their reference so don't discount them just because they are mass market. Sony did invent cd (in conjunction w/ Phillips) as well as sacd and their transports and optical pick-ups are everywhere. If you really want to go the route of outboard dac, just get a cheap transport like RGA's mega disc changer. If you are going to throw down this much for a cd player, I'd really consider one that also plays sacd and/or dvd-a and finding an outboard dac for that is going to be mucho dinero.

Good luck

[nusiclover]

ok, once again tops, you make sence. but, just to be sure:
the marantz 5400 is a $300 cdp. would this make a good transport. this way i can put $600-800 on a dac. this means i get to focus on DAC's now. something i know nothing of, but will surely learn about quickly (asking the right questions here)
about sacd and dvd-a. i havent used them, i own none, and dont see myself using them for another few years. also, i have 2-channel right now so multichannel audio is meaningless.

[Geoffcin]

Why is it a good deal because it is $1500.00 now and was grossly overpriced when it was new? Do you not remember the article of a NAD cd player a few years back. When it came out at $450.00US they said it beat every mega thousand player of just 4 years prior. This theory is take it or leave it but the difference of a cd player is the DAC. Get a DAC to go with your current player - choose wisely.

The difference in a CD player is mostly NOT the DAC. I've heard many CD players using the same DAC, and they do NOT all sound the same. While a good quality DAC is absolutly nessasary for good sound, the real difference in CD players is the quality of componants that they are built with. The DAC outputs are mated to an amplifier in all CD players that are not just transports. The quality of this line level amplifer makes a large difference in the sound, just as a quality amp, or preamp would. The best amp companies also make great CD players too. Ever wonder why?

Oh and yes, I've heard the Meridian, and I was NOT overly impressed. To me the Arcam 92 is a much better buy.

[RGA]

I'm not saying there is zero measured difference but using Arcam as an example is a bad one. The alpha 7,8 and 9 were identical players with the difference being the DAC upgrade. The 9 had a better dac same transport same parts.

I go off my own experiences and PRICE has absolutely nothing to do with sound quality when it comes to a CD player. There is a simple three parts to a cd player.

1) reading the bits off the disc and sending it to the DAC. ALL new DACs buffer the information 100% correctly whether it is a $50.00 Transport or $50,000.00 transport. Audio Note is a bit different as they use a no times oversampling system and the transport may play a more important role...but I dunno since they sell $50,000 DACs and $400.00-$1800.00 Transports.

2) The conversion of the DAC - different DAC different conversion = different sound --period.

3) the output stage. A CD player is effectively a pre-preamp - here is where the manufacture can deliberately alter the signal or you are correct completely ruin it.


Times are changing. When I bought the mega changer it was more as a toy to put the discs I don't much listen to in and use it for background music. It is slightly less full sounding than the Cambridge - but unlike players a decade ago it's not harsh or bright and is more than satisfactory - certainly not outclassed by any 1kUS player. It has a digital out so provided you by a buffering dac which will reclock the player to a perfect zero(or negligable jitter) match and that the dac has a good output stage you should be fine.

This is the reason they sell external DACs - not just to replace the DAC but also replace the output stage(pre-preamplifier stage) of the cheapie cd players.

There has to be a measureable difference within the audible spectrum at volume levels people can hear. The measurements of JUST the transport very expensive versus very cheap have not been done lately and the ones that were done show extremely tiny differences at -90db which no one can hear - and what's worse no one can even tell from the measurement which would be better - the expensive one could be worse!!

If people are trying to fix a bright sound - they should be buying Audio Note loudspeakers and getting rid of speakers utilizing drivers of a totally different design(like metal tweeters)before spending thousands on a cd player which MIGHT alter the sound in the treble delibertely to fix bad speakers.

[46minaudio]

I wont get into SQ diference between CD players .If you must spend 1500$ get the 563a DVDv,SACD,DVDa player for around 150$ then put another 5 to 600$ into a good sub.This way you will hear a real difference...If a cd has information down to 25hz the sub will produce it..The only problem I can think of going this way is you wont be able to tell friends and family you have an audiophile grade 1500$ cd player..(even though you will have one that sounds just as good and is capable of all formats).The plus side is you will have an extra 750$ to spend on music..This is another area you will hear real differences..

[nusiclover]

isnt there anybody out there that can give a pro-expensive cd post? LOL
all i know is that the toshiba dvd player i am currently using can be beat. the means to that end is what i am trying to figure out. anyways, after last nights bills i have decided to postpone buying anything for the next 2 months. this should give me plenty of time to sort through this cd/transport/dac/dvd/dvd-a/sacd/universal/tube stuff to the closest -90db possible. wait, sorry, from what i know i cant hear down to -90db, so disregard this part.
i have discovered that AMPS make a difference, SPEAKERS make a difference, INTERCONNECTS make a difference, and im in the process of figuring out speaker cables. Something tells me that cd format players must also make a difference. Which one i like best, is what im working on.
Thanks for everyones posts- these help me decide for myself.

i have one more thing to add: reviewers in magazines and online have different characteristics they associate with different players- this alone suggests that players do in fact sound different. Ive read a few food comparisons here throught my time, most of which i found silly, but heres mine: to me See's chocolates are better than Godiva even though they are cheaper and i can surely find a thousand reviews that would disagree with me, perhaps millions. But, so what? at my local mall these two stores are kiddy corner to each other, and i always go for the See's. While you may say "thats because you are cheap when it comes to chocolate" i would simply state that any time someone else has offered to buy me chocolate i still ask for See's. Maybe this makes me a less greedy person because i dont want someone else to spend more money on me, or maybe i truly do prefer the taste of See's chocolates. My point is not to get all of you craving chocolate, or thinking whether you are greedy or not, but to say that it very well may be that a $500 cd player will in fact sound better to someone over the $1500 one. This is why i truly believe that when buying any audio component, unless the prices are outrageously different, just pretend they cost the exact same, then decide which you like best. This is greatly uttainable without bias by doing DBTests. This is how i discovered audible differences and preferences between speakers and even more true for interconnects.