[Review] CD lathe update

So Chris, are you saying that if we buy an appropriate transport, we can forget about all these "tweaks" and just enjoy the standard CDs?

 

not really..

it seems more like....

1) it is CLEAR to hear what the CD Lathe does if you have a Meridian 500 Mk2 transport..

Also..

2) It is CLEAR that the CD Lathe doesn't do much if you have a Meridian 500 Mk2 transport..

 

I think I can shed light on the mystery.

If you have spent £300 or so on a device to lathe your CDs you WILL hear a big difference.

If you have not spent £300 or so on a device to lathe your CDs you PROBABLY WON'T hear a difference, big or otherwise.

Conclusion: there isn't really a difference at all, unless you really want to hear one.

-- Ian

 

Agree that that effect exists - but in my case I just listened to a CD that had been lathed for me, and had no intention of buying a lathe, so had no financial motivation, just curiosity... The pair of CDs I used had previously been used to test for differences from other tweaks - freezing, reveel, relees, wacko cosmic foil - and I heard no difference from any of those. I know my player (as was my old Krell) is sensitive to irregularities in the centering of CDs (I have some old Decca ones which run a bit clattery because of that), so it could be that the lathing has corrected that in some way - even though that's not supposed to be how it is generating its effect.

 

actually, I am holding judgement.

I want to hear the drum section described above first, and also get a few more pairs of ears in to listen.

 

I, too, agree that that effect can exist.

I maintain that the lathing treatment works on my system; my discs have been done very economically, not by myself.

The cds I listen to are listened to pretty regularly and I know what to expect (generally). The improvements i have experinced range from the subtle to quite dramatic benefits in detail and sounds staging, such that my standard discs now sound (noticably) a bit lifeless.

So, i don't altogther agree with you summation Ian, as I now have to get the rest of my discs lathed or they will irritate me intensely!





David

 

dev I think you need to read the posts again...

someone with a Meridian 500 mk2 thought that it was clear as day when using that transport.

I have the same transport and can't detect anything really with the lathe (YET!.. haven't finished playing yet)

 

No....not in my case as I got someone else to do a disc for me. This was sufficient to convince me.

I have not the foggiest as to why the same machines appear to be giving different results...though its not unknown to hear the same player in different system do different things.

Its interesting to note that bottleneck found no difference ...did you find the same with some of your other comparisons recently ?

Which may suggest other factors are involved ...of which I can't shed any light on.

Its like a lot of things neither is wrong ....but I prefer lathed discs to unlathed ones...to the point where they are sounding lifeless actually souless may be a better term ?

 

I (generally) only hear small differences (and sometimes no differences) with power cables, interconnects, racks, green pens, cd cleaning products and speaker cables.

I always hear differences with speakers, almost always with amplifiers, turntables, cd players and phono stages.

Julian (2002) is coming over later, I'll ask him to have a quick listen to the two discs while he is here.

 

Yep ...... I've no explaination

In my system and room everyone [10 plus people at different times] with different disc have all heard a plus with lathed disc. Though some more than others, which throws up another conundrum. Theres seems to be some discs that are less affected too...as mentioned elsewhere.

Stellabagpuss has sent me a load of duplicate promo discs I see how these lathe over the next week ....we could then do a little more listening especially if several people all have the same discs.

I'll think about setting it up

 

Hi Zanash, My disc arrived back safe, many thanks, Will have another listen this w/e... The brief listen I had on the 1.1 didn't seem to be much difference..... But did raise another question, does the effect change with different areas of the disc.... I only used the first track so far, so furthest from the treated edge..
So do the later tracks show more improvement than the early ones ????
This could be another variable in peoples experience with the degree of improvement heard.

 

Interesting that you have the same Transport Bottleneck, although I've had mine modded, and TBH it's a shadow of it's former self. It's had a Trichord Clock 4 & NCS, improved PSU for the servo, and a small mod on the Digital Out, not sure what, probably just better caps ? Anyway it's certainly a million miles away in terms of preformance of the bog standard 500 Mk2 transport which I started with.
Bottleneck has your 500 been modded ?
And would you like to have a lend of my CD-R Comp ?

Also the same thought has crossed my mind in regards to 9designs thoughts, must be worth checking out Zanash, as it does seem logical or possible in regards that later tracks could see a bigger improvement?

 

I think this must be an exaggeration. I've never heard a cd transport that was anything other than ever so slightly different from any other. Can you describe exactly in which ways your transport is a "million miles" better than an unmodded version? Be as specific as possible.

-- Ian

 

I have 500 mk2 transport, with a better power cord, it's been clock modded and is sitting on stillpoints. All of those tweaks have improved it. The key improvements have been a reduction in harshness and grain and better definition of notes (not as swamped by noise around them). In short, simply sounds more like real music, and less like a stereo system.

 

Ok sideshowbob,
I could just echo really "Mr Sukebe",basically the background noise level,timing and the dynamics and imaging are improved, put simply the 500 MK2 really improves after the the mods that I've mentioned.
Of course this is just my opinion, and when you consider that there are lots of different types of DAC you can match with a Transport, I believe peoples opinions will differ.
The Clock 4 mod was the biggest improvement,New PSU for Servo another small step, I enjoyed a small improvement by making my own Power lead with 4n Silver. Then some 5 months later, I fiited the never connected Supply, which is a independent PSU for the Clock. This gave another improvement, as low noise background noise is greatly reduced, with less harshness around the instruments.
Of course I would tend to agree that alot of transports sound similar, when I first had the 500Mk2, I was also using a Pioneer DV575a as a transport, I was hard pushed to tell the diffrence in performance, and TBH the 500MK2 had a slightly warmer sound with better timing, but when you consider the RRP diffrence,it's a bit hard to swallow.
Ok before I ramble on any more,I was just wondering that if the quality of transport is a factor, to if you can hear a difference with a lathed CD?

 

hiya

Yes, my Meridian 500 has been most extensively modified.

I've used clock 10 on the transport, EMF'd the upper body of the casing.

Capacitors have been replaced with neodymium field coils, and bybees at every junction.

Stilton points are used under the corner points for added virtuosity, and this really clears up the muddle in the middle.

The power cable has been replaced by shunyata tree trunk. The extra detail is impressive. Unfortunately the cable doesn't bend so I've had to build a magnetically levitating tower to balance the transport on top.

All in all there has been a 62.5% improvement in ALL areas.

 

Oww Chris, what no dilithum enhancement fluxing modulator chucked in for good measure, I'm gutted

 

I'd complain - I'm sure you could have got 62.9%...

 

The offer is still there Bottleneck, would you like to try out some CD-R's ? Just PM myself with your address.

I do like the humour 62.5% ha,ha , but I couldn't read through the lines or jokes if you have had your 500 modded or not ?

TBH I'm just interested to the reason behind, people hearing and not hearing a difference. And being that you have the same transport, I'd thought it would be interesting to hear your views if you had a listen to the CD-R's.