Fran wrote:
I think the Meridian CDP was the weak link in that system.
I agree, there was a hardness to the sound which did sound a little digital. I asked him what he thought about the CD player, not much was the impression I got from his round about answer.
He was talking about cables whilst I was in his room. I asked if the purity of the copper/silver used in the cable was important. He said the more pure the copper the worse the cable becomes because the Electrons move away from their intended path more. Wow!!!
Sounds like that guy was a bit of a bullshitter so coming out with stuff like that. I also asked him about the Meridian player and he said that he was impressed!!! WTF????
That Meridian player was the G08.2 player and several reviews and other forums have noted its distinct lack of digitalness and how smooth the player sounds so I'm not too sure if the problem in that system was the CDP. I actually thought that he was playing too loud and that the speakers werent too coherent when the music got loud in the treble.
I currently have an old Meridian G07 CDP on trial for 2 weeks playing through a pair of Kharmas and an Airtight. The speakers are extremely revealing but the Meridian sounds very smooth. In fact I would say it sounds less digital and less strident than a Wadia does.
I hope to borrow one of those Meridian G08.2 players from Cloneys in the coming weeks so I'll post up my impressions then.
"I may skip. I may even warp a little.... But I will never, ever crash. I am your friend for life. " -Vinyl. Michell Gyrodec SE, Hana ML cart, Parasound JC3 Jr, Stax LR-700, Stax SRM-006ts Energiser, Quad Artera Play+ CDP
Interesting to hear the views as always, just goes to show we all have different ears!
First things first, I really enjoyed the show this year, more so than any show since the PMC BB5/XBD days, so congratulations and thanks to Cloney Audio for organising it. This year featured quite a few bits and bobs that I really wanted to hear, and to be honest that's pretty rare. As a consequence I didn't make it into quite a few rooms (the Arcam room, the B&W room, the Cyrus room) but I thought there was some good sound to be heard.
My first port of call was to the smaller Kharma room which I had to myself for a while. Despite some obvious problems with too much bass in too small a room, I thought the sound was genuinely very good, especially the liquid and open treble coupled to lots of midrange body. There's no doubt that this was a different sound to the former Kharma range, but I thought it did pretty well. I'd like to hear it in a real room, but for me this was one of the best sounds of the show. Granted when I went back in later on things didn't sound so good, which may be down to material being played or the fact that I couldn't sit in the hot-seat. Still, I liked 'em.
The bigger Kharma room was, quite frankly, a repeated disappointment. Don't get me wrong, I suspect that the sound on offer in there was absolutely superb, and what little I could hear over the din of the Lavardin room next door sounded excellent, but a combination of poor choice of repertoire and poor choice of volume meant that I couldn't judge the capability of that system at all. It's a shame really, 200k worth of equipment playing the kind of music that normally accompanies a mud-wrap in a spa, but them's the breaks at shows. To be fair, at one point a record of Cowboy Junkies' music was played, but that just served to confirm my views about vinyl which I know most people don't share, so I won't go on. Good God if I could have been given a couple of hours with that system and a bottle of whiskey after hours I'd say I would have been in heaven, but sadly I'll never know. It is marvellous to even see that stuff, though, and to gawk at the excess of it all. I was seriously impressed that they brought it over.
The thing I wanted to hear the most after the Kharmas was the Devialet, and I wasn't disappointed to hear it with the Wilson Sophias. Well, actually I was at first, which just goes to show the importance of the track being played at these things. I walked into the room to hear "Riders on the Storm" sounding thin, virtually bass-free and hard-toned from my seat, but when we moved on to some other material I was genuinely impressed. Headroom seemed virtually infinite, balance was gorgeous, and the whole thing sounded very right, and very accomplished. On balance I think I prefer the Kharma sound to the Wilson sound, but I love what that system can do, and I love the myriad of options the Devialet gives you. Lovely.
The Lavardin IT15 was also high on my list and I liked aspects of the sound there very much (the pace and life and openness, really) but you could have shaved with the treble sharpness. My ears decided that the speakers were absolutely at fault, but I don't know if that's reality. Certainly it was all just far too loud, and that was a shame for both the Lavardin room and the aforementioned Kharma room next door. I have heard great reports about that amp, though, and it's another I'd love to hear in more normal surroundings.
Having heard a tantalising snippet of the Leben amp in the shop a few months ago, and having been alerted to the Golden Ear Technology reviews by Cybot, I was excited to hear the combination. The excitement didn't last! I'll take the Leben home some time and give it a whirl perhaps, but the loudspeakers weren't for me. 'Nuff said.
Contrary to the views of many, I enjoyed the sounds to be heard in the Primare and System Audio room, and I was disappointed not to hear the larger speakers. A colleague (also a fan of the System Audio sound and an owner of System Audio speakers) had heard them and liked them earlier, but unfortunately I missed them. Still, I'm a big fan of the Primare amp they were using, and I thought the diminutive SAs sounded great. Interesting to hear the dissenting voices.
I was very pleased to be able to freely sample some high-end headphones too, what a great dem room that was. There were nice sounds to be heard there, but I'm not really a headphone man. Tell me, do any 'phones ever get the soundstage thing right, or is that just too much to ask? Anyway, great to be given free rein there.
I popped in to hear a bit of Eleanor McEvoy and thought she sounded great, she was really giving it socks, which seemed slightly bizarre in a hotel room of vaguely interested spectators. Great to have such a standard of live music on tap of course, but as usual I was looking at the other end of the room where Martin Logan speakers and Audio Research electronics were set up ready to go. After a brief visit to Lars' room (more on that later) I popped back in to this room and got a seat slap bang between the speakers. I heard big (panel only, no bass driver) Martin Logan speakers many many years ago and they provided some of the finest hifi sounds I've ever experienced, so you can imagine my surprise and disappointment with what I heard here. Easily the worst sound at the show, and possibly the worst sound I've ever heard from a "serious" hifi, ever. I left utterly bewildered.
And so to Lars! Now, I've seen Lars in action lots of times, and I'm not going to lie to you, I love the man. I think he's tremendously entertaining and he does an excellent job. Fair play to him for standing up and presenting to rooms full of people all day long, it's no mean feat. On the one hand I've seen Lars do some very convincing cable demonstrations, not least showing the improvement going up the Nordost range, including Valhalla to Odin (!), and on the other hand I've seen Lars peddle really questionable products that seem complete lunacy to me. Sadly, this was the latter. It's a psychological masterstroke getting 20 guys in a room, all of whom want to seem like they're in possession of golden ears, and then persuading them that a clear difference can be heard if you put your electrical distribution block on some kind of cones costing 300 Euro each, and spend another 300 Euro each using some magical product in the unused sockets. Well, I'm here to freely admit that I heard no difference whatsoever. I liked some of the sounds he was getting in that room, though. Can't argue with that!
So, that's enough from me. Great show, great to see a few familiar faces, wish I could have stayed longer, and wish I could afford some of the stuff on offer!
Thanks once again to Cloney Audio for bringing this stuff in so we can hear it.
Nerdcave: ...is no more! Sitting Room: Wadia 581SE - Rega Planar 3/AT VM95ML & SH - Bluesound Node II - Copland CSA 100 - Audioplan Kontrast 3 Kitchen: WiiM Pro - Wadia 151 - B&W 685s2
Nice write up Simon! I agree with your point on the bigger Kharma room. The music being demoed and the volume levels probably didnt show what the gear was really capable of.
Diapason wrote:....... persuading them that a clear difference can be heard if you put your electrical distribution block on some kind of cones costing 300 Euro each, and spend another 300 Euro each using some magical product in the unused sockets.
lol....stuff like this winds me up no end! I'm glad I didnt venture into that room.
"I may skip. I may even warp a little.... But I will never, ever crash. I am your friend for life. " -Vinyl. Michell Gyrodec SE, Hana ML cart, Parasound JC3 Jr, Stax LR-700, Stax SRM-006ts Energiser, Quad Artera Play+ CDP
The SA room..... when I was there, the ranger masters were hooked up, and I meant to get back to hear the cheaper floor standers they had.... and being purely selfish, this was because they cost €600, more or less the same as the frugal horns - so it was a money for money comparison I was after (the frugal horns should blow them away). I wonder if the smaller ones actually sounded better?
Actually, on that note I think it's a bit of a difficult comparison to do in reality under show conditions. My feeling is that you're hearing hifi in the Burlo in the absolute worst imaginable situation, and while comparing to other stuff at the show seems somewhat reasonable, comparing to something external probably isn't. Honestly Fran, I doubt you'd have learned all that much.
Of course what you really need to do is borrow something of that ilk at some point and do a shoot-out at home. Don't know if you could charge us a tenner in, but we could bring some biscuits...
Nerdcave: ...is no more! Sitting Room: Wadia 581SE - Rega Planar 3/AT VM95ML & SH - Bluesound Node II - Copland CSA 100 - Audioplan Kontrast 3 Kitchen: WiiM Pro - Wadia 151 - B&W 685s2
First off, well done to Cloneys to get the show off the ground. I was talking to Ivan and he said that there was a problem with the mains in the hotel, some of the sockets were down to 180V, causing problems galore!
My impressions were very positive, the big Kharmas were spectacular but no way, even if I could afford them, would I get anywhere near the house with amps that size without hearing the rattling wheels of the tumbril and catching the glint of madame la guillotine in the distance!!! Those kind of things remain beyond aspirational.
Lars was good crack, he did have a good sound from the Krell gear and Raidho speakers. I couldn't really detect much of a difference in the sound when he changed cables, and certainly not a quality change worth the kind of money he was talking about. Maybe a group of us should have chipped to buy a few cones and tried them out in the other rooms!!!! That could have been interesting!!!
The Golden Ear didn't appeal at all, and I thought that the plastic base looked cheap and nasty. As Dermot said to me, " Give those to Fran and let him make a decent cabinet and see what happens."
Meridian didn't appeal at all, nor did they last year and yet I use Meridian gear and love it! Maybe it needs time to settle in??? Certainly, it didn't do the gear justice.
I really liked the Elac stuff, they're ploughing their own furrow and it's working well for them. The Devialet was outstanding, as was the Oracle. The Paris turntable was gorgeous looking and sounding. The Stax range is magnificent but not how I would want to listen to music.
All in all, a Saturday morning well spent and great to meet some of the guys again.
Just back from the match, a great day out even if the football was not great...the penalty masters win out again!!
Would have loved to been back at the show again today to recalibrate my thoughts from saturday but credit to Noel and Ivan for surpassing my expectations.
The great benefit for me from the show was meeting John, Fran and Claus for the first time where we could swap thoughts on some of the good and the bad. The good surpassed the bad for me.
To more serious Hi Fi matters.
It is with great sadness that i announce the retirement of my Yound DAC....sadness over and on to more joyous matters!
I have just listened to Hard Nose the Highway by Van Morrison for the umpteenth time and i have never had such an enjoyable listening experience.
All credit for this goes to the new JKDAC which i picked up from John after the show.
From now on the discussion on digital versus analogue source is not relevant anymore, using Jplay and Johns new DAC with valve amplification and electrostatics ticks all my boxes.
The show has been a real win win for me so lets hope next years is at least as good.
Diapason wrote:The Lavardin IT15 was also high on my list and I liked aspects of the sound there very much (the pace and life and openness, really) but you could have shaved with the treble sharpness. My ears decided that the speakers were absolutely at fault, but I don't know if that's reality. Certainly it was all just far too loud, and that was a shame for both the Lavardin room and the aforementioned Kharma room next door. I have heard great reports about that amp, though, and it's another I'd love to hear in more normal surroundings.
I spend most of my time in that room and I could say it was most natural sound for me comparing with all other rooms. First I shut the door and play my own stuff on my volume level. I never listen to other stuff that I don't know and more than likely every dealer in the room knows what stuff sounds better on they system. Mostly hi rez samplers or as you mention SPA sounds.
One hour just flew in that room,played one album tracks by another and it was joy for me.
BTW after few listenings in other rooms I return to Lavardin for the secon round :)
Nice to meet few forum members that I know and thanks to Cloney it was great show
Great report Si. We all hear things differently to be sure.
The Arcam room had small standmounts and two sub woofers setup in what I think was a surround sound system. The picture on screen looked great [Bluray source] and there was a 'lot' of sound from the small speakers. The demonstrator played a disk which showed Joe Bonamasa [hope I got his name right] playing solo acoustic guitar. Very impressive visually and sonically but musically the performance of JB hit zero - lots of notes and great movement but only for the bedroom guitarists I think.
I seem to be the only poster here who actually liked the Meridian Sooloos system. Maybe my ears are knackered but the sound in that room [I had it to myself for most of the day!!!] was closer to what I like than most other rooms. The simplicity and great user interface of the system makes the process of playing a CD seem like a step backwards in time. I think absolute sound quality is less important than conveying the spirit and feelings of the musician. This is someway proven by the general approval of the Eleanor McEvoy shows. She sang and played through what is a very basic public address system, equivalent to lower than entry level hi-fi kit in our world, but this 'restriction' in no way restricted her performance on stage. What was obvious was her talent and the effort she put into the songs, this came through despite the basic hardware used.
I agree with all the posters who praised Cloney Audio for putting on such a fine show.
