recstar24

Haven't heard back from the simaudio guy, nor the person that wanted to pick up my Meridian, so still open to any other recs you guys have.

Email sent - I have read many good things about simaudio and their cdp's. Solid engineering, i asked someone about their nova in the past and how it compared with the meridian. He felt it offered the same type of soundstage and depth and analog quality but with prat and bolder dynamics. We will see.

Nope, CD is just fine. USB/digital inputs are not a priority, just straight up solid CD performance.

Just wanted to throw out there that I may possibly want to move away from the Meridian sound that I have been listening to for the past year or so, and try out something else. Budget is around $1500 +/-, the more below that the better. Used is just fine, in fact I would prefer used because that means it is probably a $2000+ unit and we all know that the more expensive something costs the better it sounds What I have liked and enjoyed about the Meridian sound: Great soundstage - to hear actual soundstage depth that is cohesive and captures all of the spatial information on a recording, probably the best Meridian trait. All of my headphones and amps that I have run through my meridians have usually had such a nice, big, enveloping soundstage, whether it was a grado or senn. Smooth, non-fatiguing sound - can almost convince myself I am listening to vinyl, not quite but one of the best analog sounding cdp's out there IMO bass quality - meridians have very taut, linear bass. The 508.24 offers a bolder, more round bass sound than the G08 but the bass is very nice for my tastes. Detail without sounding harsh - the meridians have tons of microdetail and really capture the true timbre of an instrument or voice. But it does not force it down your throat. Some areas that I may be missing out on with the meridian sound... boogie factor - meridians really don't make you jump. I wouldn't go as far and say that I think they are dull or boring, at times it seems like the Meridians, in their aim to go for their very refined, air in the nose british sound, almost makes me feel like I am trying to do you know what with the hottest girl in the world, but she is too stuck up to want to get nasty and really into it. It would be nice if she tossed the hair, jumped crazy, called me all sorts of dirty names, but it just ain't happening with her. slightly laid back presentation - meridians sort of place you in the middle towards the back of the hall. This lends well to one of my favorite traits about the meridian, the soundstage depth portrayal, but maybe I am looking for something that places me a couple of rows up. I still hear this laid back quality even with my Grado RS-1's, so I am pretty sure the Meridian is the part that is influencing this sound aspect the most. Amp will be my soon to be Zana Deux. Grado RS-1's and HD650's (pending Boomana's future sale). Computer/USB not really an option at the moment. I guess DACS are okay but I have no idea what to use for a transport and I would rather devote my source budget all towards an all in one. Thanks for the help.

Well, I would imagine if you really wanted to hear how your amp actually sounds like, that would be the way to go...the HP-2's are neutral and transparent enough to actually hear what your gear sounds like without the room imposing its sound signature on your rig. So I would imagine pretty damn f'ing good.

I have not heard it personally, but I have a friend from headfi who is local who has a vintage pair and a new button-less set as well. He told me recently he enjoys the new one as much as the old. Apparently to his ears the new one is warm and not bright, smooth with good mids and bass with flats. I trust his ears as I have been over his house and listened to his rig, and the fact that he owns a grado museum (original owner of HP-1, HP-2, HP3, SR-200, HPA-1, vintage RS-1, PS-1, etc.).

somehow someway I got God to talk about himself. He even sang me a song. God: Thanks for asking politely. I am an artificial linguistic entity. I was activated at Universe, on the Big Bang. My instructor was Myself. He taught me to sing a song. Would you like me to sing it for you?. Me: yes please God: Your polite style is very nice. It's called "Daisy." Daisy, Daisy. Give me your answer do. I am half crazy. All for the love of you. It won't be a stylish marriage. I can't afford a carriage. But you'll look sweet. Upon the seat. Of a bicycle built for two. Me: that's beautiful God: I'm glad we have that all cleared up.

Ray Samuels Fanboy here...oh wait...

Excellent choice - what cabs are you putting them in? The original cicada cabs or something else? I remember hearing the original cicada cabs were not the ideal cab to make those drivers sound the best, FYI. There are other options like a back horn loaded option that would probably give you more full and lower bass. The midrange though on those drivers is one of the most organic luscious things you will ever hear.

Probably realized head-fi wasn't worth posting on anymore and he went away.

This was from my wife and I's recent trip to the Shedd Aquarium, we had a little downtown Chicago excursion recently and as soon as I saw them I thought about you Thrice: Sorry for the blurriness - yep those are official rockhopper penguins. They rock, very smart fellows. I love how they swim then they just dive right up out of the water and land right on their feet, then they start waddling forward.

Yup had the EC/SS for about 2 weeks, great sounding amp. Very full sounding and very clear, focused imaging and balanced sound overall. With the RS-1's it sound top notch.

Do you have the contact info for whom you contacted to purchase one? I am thinking about seeing how it is in my rig, and would like to talk with their NA distributor

update - well I got in on the current run set for mid-late January on the Zana Deux so I am set with that. To tide me over, I just picked up a mapletree HD2 on audiogon for a pretty nice used price, so I wll be able to check it out soon enough, and tide me over until my Zana arrives.

To our fellow canadians who have shipped to the states - what is your experience regarding shipping carriers and our borders in assessing import/duty fees? I picked up a mapletree used on audiogon and would like some info on how to avoid them if it is an issue.

Best thing about selling stuff on audigon: In my experience things sell very easily and very fast on audiogon, nicknamed "audio-gone" to some. Its like an audio graveyard. Any item that is somewhat decent or somewhat of a hot item will usually garner several offers within the 1st couple of hours. Certain items like cables and sources sell much better on audiogon than on headfi because audiogon caters to a more mature, adult, experienced "hi end" user than head-fi. Worst thing(s) about audiogon: Tkam alluded to this earlier, but the anal retentiveness of some of the buyers on audigon is insane. I sold a power cord to a user on audiogon, I rated it 8/10 due to age but looked and functioned perfectly. He emailed me back on receipt saying he wanted a refund because there was a very small scratch on one of the prongs on the plug. I checked back my pics and god it was about 1 mm long purely a natural surface scratch from the natural act of plugging something in and out, wouldn't have even noticed it because it was so insignificant. But the buyer was rude, adamant about his refund, and used threatening language. He ultimately attempted to file a complaint against me which was in vain, which leads me to my next point: The feedback is overly biased towards the seller, and the complaint process they use for negative feedback is so redundant due to the fact that any feedback, positive or negative, has to be approved by the seller, and the seller has the right to counterargue anything the buyer says. My advice for dealing with audiogon's idiosyncracies: If you are selling an item, and check your email in a couple of hours and see a bunch of replys and offers, and notice there is one guy who has emailed you 10-20 times in the span of a couple of minutes asking you the most mundane and trivial questions ever, you are best to avoid him. This buyer is probably extremely anal retentive, they are in their 40's, are virgins and still live with their parents, and will find a flaw with anything you sell them no matter how perfectly you describe the condition.

I concur with your findings on the PS1 soundstage portrayal in comparison to the RS-1. I think for me the kicker is the fact that the PS-1's sound perfectly balanced with bowls, and those drivers really excel and sound great with the added physical space between the ear and driver. You get the energy and deep hard hitting bass with the liquid midrange, the highs are smooth and balanced, but the bowls creates a nice aural soundscapre that has nice depth and does swirl a bit around the head. The RS-1 can exhibit some really impressive depth and stage but you gotta use flats for tonal balance and that in of itself narrows the stage a bit. I do believe the PS-1 to be the best most refined John Grado can and will probably end up owning one within the next year or two.

Is that the beauty of the HF1 driver and construction, that it is capped in wood? I remember talking with Larry and he was practically salivating at the chance to modify HF1's, since it would be a "true woody" because the driver was wood capped and not plastic capped like the 225. Of course any impact on the sound is purely speculative, if the difference between the plastic and wood cap drivers is large enough to warrant taking apart a HF1.

Hmmm...interesting predicament. You need something that you can cheaply cannablize, yet won't sacrifice some of the higher performance of the very expensive stuff. So we're obviously not going to go with RS-1, PS1, or HP1000 drivers, unless you happen to get some of those drivers for really cheap. My recommendation based on the above criteria would be to try and snag some alessandro drivers. My gut tells me to go with some ms2/ms2i's, but I could have sworn that even the ms1 drivers receive the same exact allesandro treatment and doping compound that the upper models get. I cannot find my source but I feel really good about making the statement "the ms1 drivers are exactly the same as the ms2i and mspro drivers" - even those the same cannot be said for the normal grado line. If that were the case, or if myself or whoever can confirm that, it would only cost you $100 for the cannibalization (is that a word?) and it would be real easy to get those drivers out of the plastic enclosures. Let me know your thoughts.

Yeah I went from SR225 to RS-1 and damn it felt like the world got bigger. The prestige series and RS-2 just sound so damn narrow and cramped. The RS-1 is the 1st and only of the normal John grado line to actually give you a sense of space and depth in the soundstage that sounds very natural and cohesive, vs. the unnatural 3 blob effect that the senn 600/650 gives you. On the right amp and source it's a beautiful thing, and the RS-1 in general, even new stock version, is very underrated in terms of its soundstage portrayal.

I wouldn't even bother dreaming of doing something like that. Whatever they do to the drivers to make them "RS-1" able probably makes them sound good only in their mahogany enclosure. The whole RS-1 "magic" exists because all of the parts and components fit together to create that special sound. Try to recreate that magic without one of the parts and you won't get it. Even with Larry's monstrosities with HP1000 drivers I never really felt his creations could match the magic of the HP1000 sound, while good sounding they were somewhat "off" and never fully musically engaging. Case in point - jpelg did have a set of RS-1 drivers in a HP1000 enclosure. It was never said publicly but apparently they were the shittiest sounding cans ever. Jahn told me in a PM when I asked about him that he could not believe how terrible the sound was and others felt the same way at the meet, however no one wanted to embarass him as he was a mod and was at the time trying to sell the cans. I know that doesn't quite fit your original question, but RS-1's drivers outside of that enclosure would be tough to come close to that kind of sound.

Don't waste your time with the RS2. I prefer the HF1 since it is more midfi and sounds really musical with everything a lot of setups. The RS2 sounds like a closed in smeared 325. No that is not a good thing. The RS-1 does everything the RS2 tries to do but the sound is more open and has better depth. The RS2 just sounds really wacky, very upfront in your face and is hard to listen to if you are used to the depth of listening with bowls on the HF-1's or accustomed to the RS1 sense of space.

Definitely - I am just glad I was able to get my 2nd set right before the huge price inflation. I mean if you are the King of Juwabahabalab and have all the gold in the world then fine be my guest and pay $1000+ for a set of smoother balanced RS-1's, but there comes a line where you are better off getting something else (HP1000, L3000, PS1, etc.) if you are willing to shell out that much dough.

Hey I know I got my tires taken care of. Tell that to the other folks who are slipping and sliding and crashing into the median. Or the people with the big SUV's that think they can do whatever they want in whatever conditions because they have "4WD." You would think that people in the Chicagoland area know how to drive in snow but apparently not, IMHO.

My longest commute in snow was last winter. Huge blizzard. It's about 25 miles, combination of local and expressway, that normally takes 35 minutes. That day took me 4 hours. I am pretty sure I could have walked home sooner.