Following the recent thread about adding a DAC to my Schneider DVD player, I
went ahead and purchased a used Meridian 203 when it was offered by a
subscriber here. It arrived this morning and it's been playing all day...
My initial impressions are that there's much better detail and a huge
improvement in bass (cleaner, deeper, more controlled). Individual
instruments are easier to pick out and follow. Bass drums and low toms have
tone rather than just a thumpiness, and basslines can be picked out around
the drums. There's far better resolution of cymbals and other high tish-tish
noises - hardly ever noticed such things on the Schenider. Strings solo or
in small groups are clearer - the sound of rosined horsehair passing over
strings is really quite noticable. Soundstaging seems better - although I
haven't concentrated too much on this as yet, there have been a few times
when something has sounded 'solid but further away' (like, several yards
behind the speakers, but as if the room was bigger).
Overall, it's as if heavy curtains have been drawn back from the speakers.
I'm certainly hearing things in my CDs that I wasn't hearing before. I
realise that I'm still listening to the system at present - it'll take a
while for my brain to stop spotting differences and get used to the sound,
so I can't comment on how musical the DAC is. I'll see how this goes once
I've lived with it for a while. Suffice it to say that the prognosis is
pretty good - the Schneider is too mushy to ever sound musical.
I found that using a coax cable resulted in a little 'tick' noise when
skipping tracks. It would happen right at the start of a track. I tried an
optical interconnect and it stopped happening. I presume this is down to
some sort of interference, but can't really say what's causing it. I note
that the Lock light on the DAC goes out between each track, which I gather
has something to do with the player not sending timing information unless
it's actually playing music, so it might be related to that. I haven't
noticed anything in the way of digital artefacts - the Meridian seems to
have tracked everything I've played without a problem.
My feeling is that the differences between the Merdian DAC and the Arcam
player are slight, and that the difference between both of them and the
Schneider is pretty big. I was orginally considering getting a better
single-box CD player, and I would probably have preferred to get a new one
(zero wear on the mechanism), which would have meant waiting quite a while
until Arcam-sized money was available.
With the arrival of the 203, I don't think I'll be going shopping for an
Arcam any time soon, if at all. In fact, the 400 quid I didn't spend (and
don't have!) would probably be better spent on some mods to the speakers
(current semi-plan is isobaric subs and reboxed mid & high, possibly
bi-amped).
At a fifth of the price of a new Arcam, I think this is a thoroughly
excellent upgrade.
--
Wally
www.art-gallery.myby.co.uk
Latest addition: Early Works gallery
Added a DAC to a cheap CD player - and got a result
Linear Mode
