Απάντηση: SACD PLAYERS:Η καλύτερη επένδυση σε πηγή;
Και επειδή δεν σας βλέπω ζωηρούς, να και ένα φρέσκο συγκριτικούλι να ... δροσιστείτε! :food-smiley-005:
Listening to a $16,000, $6,000 and $2,000 CD Player
March/20/2009 12:31 PM
It was interesting reading a review of the new Meridian 808.2 CD player in Stereophile this week. In summary they felt that it set a new standard in CD playback and frankly for $16,500 it should. However the question really becomes is there that much of a difference between a Meridian CD player at $16,500 versus a $6,000 Ayre or a $2,000 Sony ES?
I had a chance to hear the new Meridian CD player at a friends house and I was blown away by the sound. Of course he had two Rowland Mono-blocks a Rowland preamp and Revel speakers. His whole system probably costs more than my car !
As I sat there listening though I kept staring at the $16,000 CD player and wondered why in the world anyone would spend that much money. I guess if you're lucky enough to have the money than it's no big deal but lets face it there aren't a hell of a lot of people who have that kind of money today. We decided to try an experiment...I asked my friend to swap out the Meridian for the Ayre he had just replaced and then my new Sony 5400 ES. Joe seemed reluctant at first but he said "sure why not?"
For our listening we used three CD's: Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon SACD, Vivaldi's Four Seasons on JVC 24 bit master and Ben Webster meets Coleman Hawkins on Verve 20 bit master. We decided to write our impressions on pad and not discuss them until we listened to all three. (it was a long nite !)
First the Meridian: The detail was amazing and I found that I could hear every little sound of the orchestra on the Four Seasons and that Ben Webster's sax on "Blues for Yolanda" was smooth and analog. Dark side of the moon seemed to have sonic depth but since I had listened it to many times before at home I was not impressed although this is a 40 year old recording.
Next we move to the Ayre 7 CD player. To me it sounded a lot like the Meridian although it was missing a little of the high end analog sound. The bass was deep and defined and again the Four Seasons sounded wonderful. I could not detect any difference in the Dark Side of the Moon so we moved on to my Sony.
Sony 5400ES (Balanced outputs)- When Joe hooked up my $1800 CD player I could tell he wasn't expecting much and although we agreed that we would not compare notes after listening to "Spring" by Vivaldi Joe let a big "wow". I looked at him and he said "that was awesome". I believe the Sony sounded great and I could not make out any real differences between the music on this and the Ayre.
After everything was said and done we compared notes and basically had the same thoughts. The Meridian sounded a little more "analog" but it was missing some detail in the bass. The Ayre had great high and low end detail and was simply great to listen to. He was impressed by meager Sony and said that it missed the quality of the Ayre by only a very miniscule amount.
So at the end I asked the dreaded question: "Was the Meridian worth $16,500?" He thought about it and said "you know I probably could have stuck with the Ayre but I have the money and for me that little extra umph was worth it". Ahhh there's the rub that little extra "umph". I said that's an awful expensive "umph".
I am happy with what I have and that is all that counts for me. It was nice to be able to compare three really good CD players on a great system but as much as I love hi-fi listening I don't want it to rule my life and forever want stuff I probably can't afford. You see for me hi-fi is my reward for a tough day with more bad news. I put on a CD and am reminded that not all great artists put their work on canvas...some put it on a recording and to be able to appreciate that is what it's all about.
Καλό; :BDGBGDB55: