Got a new CD spinner

For last 4.5 years I use in my system Meridian G-08.

At the time I've ordered it without audition after owning Meridian 588 for about 2 years.
Loving 588 and being very convinced in Meridian's abilities in digital technology for me it was a no brainer to go for the new model.


I like G-08 a lot and for me it was exceptional value for money being very very good players. Its strengths are very good deep and powerful bass, good dynamics, high level of details, good treble, even and consistent sound from top to bottom.

I actually thought that in order to better G-08 I need to spend on CD spinner silly money – so I was really not into it.

Until one day one of my audiophile pals informed that some very interesting player is going to hit local second hand market……… But more about it you'll later in this thread.

While waiting for the player to be put on sale I lost my patience and decided to check out other players available……….

To be continued……….

 

First one I got was Unison Research Unico CDE



Getting very rave reviews and being tube design I expected quite a lot.
2,350 GBP price is very close to G-08's 2,250 GBP.

In a first glimpse it sounded very interesting – very big sound, big stage, rich sound, great clarity in midrange.
After few hours it became apparent that this player creates something that doesn't exist – where Meridian plays one string Unico CDE plays 6 strings.

On top of that reduced dynamics, less details and less deep but more smeared bass completed the package. All those not in a huge degree but quite easily to hear compared to Meridian.

I couldn't lose a sensation that sound isn't even in the whole frequency range – I mean I felt a “whole†somewhere in high midbass and something else missing.

Next was Electrocompaniet ECC-1.



It's a new design with a regular loader transport and costs only 3,600$.
It's big and heavy, with straight operating tray but too simple display.

Sound?
Actually it sounded very good and even.
Big sound, good stage, almost Meridian's level of details, good bass, good dynamics, more “weight†to the sounds, good midrange clarity, rich mid and treble.
EC played 3 strings where G-08 played 1 - which sound really fun.

I actually summarized the 30 minutes session by “if I was on the market today I would pick EC over Meridianâ€Â.
Obviously talking about “upgrade†it doesn't make any sense (at least not an “audiophile†sense) to go for a cheaper player.
In addition somehow it manages to sound “boring†and I got a feeling that discs just sound the same…….

Next on the bench was AMR CD-777.



Gorgeous top loading player built like a tank with a transparent windows in top cover showing Burmester-like internal parts arrangement.
Really impressive. It was beyond my understanding how this Abingdon company manages to pool it off at just 4,000$. ….

This time we got even bigger sound. It was very rich in mid and treble. This time we heard 4-5 strings (where G-08 played only 1).
I felt that bass is tad less deep and dynamics loses just a tiny bit.
It has quite a few upsampling/oversampling options which can be switched from remote on the fly – nice.

I thought this player deserves long audition – but local price was too high.
And I was waiting anyway for “the player†to hit the market.

“Too good to be true†built quality enigma was resolved by discovering that AMR actually assembles in China.

Now, I'm not against “made in China†electronics – but I feel deceived when it's not mentioned anywhere in the manual or their web site. Only some reviews mention this.
I mean if I buy fantastically looking Shangling or good built Raysonic I know where it's made and why it offer such qualities for relatively low price.
Here the product and the company are presented to be British……….

Anyway – after listening to Unison, Electrocompaniet and AMR I quite used to like this big and rich sound, with such a nice and fun sounding strings……

Meridian sounded on comparison hard, dark and dry.
The problem is that all players are in the same price category, all of them had some drawbacks (smaller or bigger) and paying 50%-120% over second hand G-08 price just didn't make any sense to me.

To be continued……….

 

Back to the players that had started this all.

Well, we're talking about EMM CDSA-SE stereo CD+SACD player.



It was interesting to me because it's considered one of the reference quality spinner, Ed Meitner expertise in digital processing is exceptional and it plays SACD.

SACD is a dead format some might say – but I own over 250 SACD discs and wishlist is still long – so for me it's very relevant.

So – does it worth to pay 3 times to upgrade to second hand EMM?

Well, on the first tracks it was like “what the heck? It sounds exactly as Meridianâ€Â.

It was quite a disappointment not to get that huge rich sound with euphonic strings.
After some time I began to realize that although EMM general sound characteristics are similar to G-08's it sounds better.

Details level is just shocking. I mean it's beyond belief that so much details are on the discs that weren't heard before.
Dynamics is just huge. Micro is not much more than G-08. But macro can make you deaf.
I always like dynamics, but after few years with horn speakers I became dynamics freak – so EMM I likie

Sound is not huge – it's just a bit bigger than Meridian's – but image is more defined, each player/instrument is now placed in its own space – this makes soundstage more believable.
Midrange clarity is better – and vocals sound more lifelike.
Bass is even deeper and more powerfull. The whole thing sounds more defined.

In bottom line this makes music more involving – and this is important.

The level of relaxation on SACD is stunning. Analog Productions Bill Evans SACDs sound so unstrained and natural………….

So – back to the question about the cost justification.
What can I say? I would give it 10% maybe 20% maxxxxxxx of improvement.
Does it worth to pay big bucks?
Probably not.
But you know, no other component in system's chain can fix source's failures – so from this aspect EMM worth every dime.

To be continued……….

 

Now to the dilemma of rich/euphonic sound against precise/neutral:

Sure thin euphonic is nice and fun.
The problem is to distinguish between data that is on the disc and non-existent stuff that player produce.

On one hand going to such high equipment we should get character that we like.
On the other hand – we're talking not speakers here but CD source.

Let's see what other top digital vendors we have and how they sound – Wadia, Theta, Auido Aero, DCS, Metronome, Esoteric, etc – somehow non of them are euphonic/warm.
Even top Audio Research is not warm.

So it might be something in a source that it should be “as isâ€Â. Otherwise it would be like looking at the painting through color filter. Sure it might look rosy and nice – but alterations that filter does you can't remove to get back to the original picture.

So it seems like the source should just recover data from the media and not make 5 strings out of original one.
All other things to suite our taste we can do further down the system chain.

http://cgi.audioasylum.com/systems/4657.html