Conference cookie::notes$archive:cd_v1

1229.0. "Meridian warm-up" by KLOV01::LEWIS (Not Impossible, Infinitely Difficult) Thu Jun 16 1988 09:40

    I have just upgraded my CD player, and discovered an intriguing
    phenomenon.
    Just as a bit of background, I was working for Phillips when CD
    first came out, and bought their original machine on the staff
    discount. Over the years, I bought a few CDs, but maintained my
    LP collection as although I appreciated not having to listen to
    all that surface noise, it just couldn't compare with my Linn.
    Having noticed improvements in CD player technology (my old Phillips
    was 11 bit single sampling !), and having read the reviews of the
    Denon DCD 1500 mk II and Cambridge CD-2 machines, I decided that
    maybe it was time to try again.
    I called in to a shop in Swansea that I heard good reports about
    on my way home last week, and they set up a demo for me. I must
    say I was impressed with both machines, but then the salesman mentioned
    that they had their demo Meridian 207 on Sale. I had not read anything
    about the meridian, so I was interested to listen to it without
    any preconceived notions about how good it is "supposed" to be.
    It blew the others into the weeds, and as they were selling it for
    #650 (reduced from #900), I decided that this was too good an
    opportunity to miss.
    When I got it home, I was not able to listen to it for a couple
    of days, as I am in the middle of moving house, but before leaving
    to come back to work on Sunday night, I tried it through my Beyer
    DT440's. I was disappointed with the results, with quite noticeable
    distortion on guitar notes in particular. Everything else was much
    improved over the Phillips machine, but this sounded a bit like
    the mis-traking I used to get with my Shure V15 on a cold day.
    I decided to risk the customs, and bring it over to Eire with me,
    and on Monday night took it to a friend's house to test it on his
    system.
    The first thing we did was an A-B comparison of Pink Floyd's The
    Wall. We immediately noticed the same problem on the CD which was
    totally absent from the LP. As my friend is a CD skeptic, his opinion
    was that this is what one would expect. It bothered me though, not
    only because I had parted with the readies, but because I just hadn't
    noticed the problem in the shop.
    Later that night, however, just as I was thinking 'hey, this sounds
    better', he said the same thing, but as it was 3am by then we came
    to the conclusion that it was perhaps because we had turned the
    volume down that we didn't hear it, and we were too tired to
    investigate any further. We switched off, and put it away, and I
    went back to my digs, leaving the machine behind.
    The next evening I called round to collect it, and when I returned
    to my digs I set it up, and switched it on but was too tired/depressed
    to bother playing anything. The following morning I played The Wall
    again, through the Headphones, and perfection !
    My conclusion is that the machine needs several hours to warm up
    (I had left it switched on all night). This would match my experience
    with test equipment - if you switch off your $200,000 HP tester
    it takes 24 hours to get reliable measurements from the A-D converters,
    so I assume the same must apply to the D/A converters in the meridian.
    Has anyone else had a similar experience ?
    Has anyone else got this machine ?
    I still haven't read any reviews of it, so I don't know what it
    is "supposed" to sound like, but now I know to keep it switched
    on, I am as happy as a pig in Sh*t !
    
    Rob.