Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Kraftwerk box - CD vs. server

I presume you come out of the Sonos with a digital connection ? (heresy not to in a Meridian world anyway!!)

Yup. Digital all the way, man - via G91 and into my DSP7000s.

I am at a loss as to me the sound from i) 800 to 861 via MHR and ii) ZP90 to HD621 to 861 via MHR sound very very similar...and, with the SONOS volume set to fixed it is an exact copy as the "DTS playback" test works...

And, fwiw, I am storing and retrieving all my music on a WD 4TB SharedSpace NAS with all music being ripped into AppleLossless using dBpoweramp...

Thats very similar to my experience with several computer based systems- so long as everything is bit for bit its hard to tell the difference. But the products that resampled the music, it was easy to hear the difference.

A little off topic but all this discussion about CD ripping, etc. has me wondering whether or not anyone here knows of a website that sells "CD perfect ripped songs" because would of course be far more convenient than purchasing and ripping songs myself...

Did the test yesterday again with another buddy. Impossible to detect any difference with AB test (both of us). Easy to prefer CD when listening for some time, and knowing the source. Beats me, too. Probably pure psychology, and certainly nothing to worry about (except for M. and others who still sell zillion dollar CD transports).

Good to know that neither JerryL or I are either crazy or have losts our hearing sensitivity...

I can only speak for myself...

Crazy: check

Lost hearing sensitivity: sadly, at 39, check- I dont hear much above 15khz. I have a disc of test tones and I tried playing them and once above 15khz- I really didnt hear much.

I'm 53 and don't hear anything above 9000 hz (tried test tones). Still I enjoy both music and quality sound, and expect to do so into my 90's...

It's interesting isn't it. A couple of years back Caldham and I did SB+ vs 800 and it was much the same on all but one track. Quite revealing in many ways to do it.

The main difference is the way it presents mid-bass. More punch and detail in G91 then Sonos. But again, it's hard to hear any difference at all in a direct comparison. To most people - even most high end buffs - this discussion will be highly theoretical. Which again raises the question of the sense in producing megadollar transports/players today. Will we see a 808.4?

And if we do a fairly blind test (i.e. got the Mrs to switch whilst you look away) I bet you'd never know which was playing. That's what happened with the SB+/800 game.

It doesn't mean we shouldn't prefer the one we prefer but it does say that sometimes we shouldn't be quite so adamant about our views based on what we 'think' we should prefer or the 'theory' behind either device.

It is food for thought.