Detail Bass Build

None

I have just upgraded from the 506.24. This, in itself, was a superb player. The 508.24 takes things a big step further with tremendous detail and rock solid bass. Highly recommended if you can still find one.

Similar Products Used:

Meridian 506.24 Arcam CD72T

Absolutely thrilling highs, smooth mid and overall neutrality

somewhat flimsy ac socket, drawer misalignement, unpracticle remote!

Being an audiophile I must say that this instrument is one of the finest cd players I have ever had the pleasure of listening to. According to my humble opinion this player brings out the best of musical recordings. In comparison to, for instance, the AR CD2, which sounded dry and very thin(although this might have to do with the other components I used at the time)I was stunned by its ability to add nothing to the music that was not relevant.After listening to it for even a few hours I was wetting myself with not only tears of joy but also tears of of affection.Cd''s I had heard many times brought forth more detail and dynamics than ever before. On more than a few occasions I even caught myself laughing with amazament over its alsmost cunning deceitfulness to present itself as an ordinary cd player, oh but how fooled I was! The musical reproducion of this device goes beyond borders of human comprehension.To cut long things short and I hope you''ll pardon my french, this is an absolutely kick-ass player! Currently my set contains: Meridian 508.24 Classé CP 45 Pre-amp Classe CA 150 Poweramp Dynamic Solution Master 3 Speakers with Siltech interlinks and Ocos speakercable.

Similar Products Used:

Meridian 506,507,588+596, Audio Research CD 2, Bow Wizard, Linn Karik, Ikemi + Genki,Arcam FMJ CD 23, Luxman D 7, Duson CD 100, NAD S500

Good bass, smooth highs, great mids,fantastic soundstage,

NONE

This is a fantastic player. I have tried many in my Audio system and this is the best I have heard at under 10000 cdn. I have had the Sony XA7ES for about 2yrs before buying a Classe'' CD1 and the Sony does not compare with the Meridian. My sound system is a Highly Upgraded Copland Integrated Amp,Meridian 508-24 cd player, Cardas Golden Reference Cables and Interconnects. Iam also using a Vansevers Clean Line Jr. on the cd player.A Gut wire power cord is used on the Amp and a Harmonic Tech AC-11 is used on the Meridian. My Speakers are Celestion A2''s.

Similar Products Used:

Linn Ikemi,Classe'' CD1,Sony XA7ES,Rega Jupiter 2000(an excellent player),Sim Audio, Cairn Audio,Audiolab 8000D.

Natural soundstage and very musical.

Slightly loose bass.Slow access time to tracks.

I've just listened to a direct comparison of the new Krell CD($7500)compared to the Meridian,and the Meridian ate it and spit it out.ALOT more natural,better space and depth,natural harmonics.In other words REAL MUSIC! The only others in this league,are the Wadia's and the Bel Canto DAC1.Listen to live music,then do comparisons,as this is the true test.http://www.greshaudio.com

Similar Products Used:

Wadia,Krell,BelCanto

Amazing overall performance, especially analog sounding and non-fatiguing, which is saying a lot.

price

I completely disagree with the previous poster. While the SACD section has added performace vs. regular redbook CD's on the Meridian (or any ANY digital playback system), the comparison on "standard" CD's is a different story all together. The Meridian simply blows away the SACD on redbook CD's. For that matter, so does the Wadia and M/L #39 - So keep telling youself you have the best of both worlds with your SACD (it may make you feel/sleep better), but in reality, the Meridian is as good as it gets from standard CD playback, and far better than the SACD-1's.

I prefer the Meridian 508.24 it to the Wadia, and Linn, and find the M/L to be equal in performance. a few characterists emerge: the Wadia has tremendous soundstaging and imaging, but sounds artifically hyped up to my ears. The Linn is smooth as silk, but uninvolving and lacking in bass slam. The M/L is very similar overall, and may hold slight advantage over the Meridian in the soundstaging dept, and may be a tad bit more transparent run directly in the amp, but is less musically involving and less "rich" sounding. The Meridian is so effortless in its presentation, it's astounding - it reminds me of the best analog playback.

I ended up choosing the Meridian, but would have been happy with the M/L as well. Others that were not audutioned that may be strong as well: Naim CDX, BAT VDK5, AR.

If you can get one of these units, and have strong components around it, you will be happy for a long long time. Trust me , I have been doing this for 20 years.

Similar Products Used:

Wadia 850, Linn Ikemi, M/L No. 39, SACD

In my opinion, this is the best cd player ever made. I've heard sonic frontiers, audio note, wadia, naim, krell,and bat, and this beat them all. Music sounds like music, clean, smooth, and non fatiguing (which is very important).

Liquid highs, deep and satisfying bass, solid midrange. A sound that's almost too plain, but isn't. It's got a wonderfully musical yet detailed presentation that's hard to find in a CD player.

The build quality sucks! Panel misalignments, cheap parts, awefully cheap remote, drawer noise, drawer misalignments, cd skipping, mistracking, etc. It feels like my old crappy NAD player instead of a $4k player when it comes to fit and finish; and NO, the glass panels doesn't help.

When I compared the Meridian to the Accuphase DP55, I found surprisingly little differences. The Accuphase's bass wasn't as deep or as broad, where as the Meridian's thickens from the mid bass down and has lots of deep bass to spare. I don't listen to bass heavy stuff, but this characteristic makes some difference in the overall perception of the music. The sound is just more "full bodied" that way on the Meridian. I cannot tell much in the midrange, except Meridian's seems to be just a tad more forward but nicely so. The highs of the Accuphase is livelier, and perhaps almost too bright for my planar speakers. Initially comparisons suggests the Meridian almost sounded "dull", but extended playing tells the difference much better. I don't find myself missing the details with the Meridian, though the Accuphase sounded more "impressive" it was also more fatiguing. I can listen to the Meridian for hours, and still enjoying it. I need a player that can rescue the music from poorly recorded CD's, and Meridian thus far have done a very good job. I only wish it had better quality control, then I will have no problem with it. As of now I feel like replacing every parts on the player, just so it won't look so cheap. I'd love to have the ML39's build quality with the sound of the Meridian. If I put a sack over it, the Meridian would be the best sounding player I've heard yet.

Similar Products Used:

Accuphase DP55
ML 39
AudioResearch CD2
etc.

All around performance

relatively limited availability, esp used....

The overall best sounding playback I ever heard. Simply put, this player is the best player out there, bar none. Well, hold on a second, I am sure the Elgar/CEC separates and some of the Burmeister equipment would better the Meridian, though at multiples of the costs. Within the sub $5,000 realm, this player is best, for all the reasons others have stated - transparency, smoothness but not at the expense of resolution, imaging and soundstaging, bass slam, truth of timbre - need I say more. Do yourself a HUGE favor, and pick up one of these used - you will not regret it.

Similar Products Used:

Naim CDX, Wadia 850, Linn Ikemi, resultion audio55

Slam in the mid-bass, and transparency

I found the 508.24 to be a very good CD player. However, in spite of its technical excellence, especially in the bass region, I preferred the Sony XA7ES in my system. The Sony was always more musical. The Red Book section of the Sony SCD-1 kills the 508.24 in virtually every category.

Similar Products Used:

Sony XA7ES, ARC CD2, Wadia 850/860, etc

Excellent CD player; fine overall balance; seems well made

Meridian System Remote not easily used in one hand

An excellent CD player. I was on the fence, deciding whether the wait out teh victor for the high resolution format wars, but realized CD is going to be around for a long time. I bought this CD player used, and paid less than 1/2 of the list- with no regrets. Features a sublime sense of self which enrichens the experience. Grain free, nice bass and fine throughout the rest of the frequency range. Best used with balanced interconnect cables, though, to get the most this player has to offer. Meridan recommends Van Den Hul D102 III for this machine, which yields snappy results. I've also tried HT Pro-SilwayII, which while not as snappy as the D102 III, is adept at bringing out a lush and transparent vista.

Similar Products Used:

Mark Levinson 39