The player was considered Philips entry into "higher-end" players. I had a Philips CD960 for many years, kept until it could no longer be repaired (drawer loading switch cable). I suppose the difference between the cd 94 and the meridian is the cd 94 would run to the shop shouting words of encouragement returning a little out of breath where the meridian would stroll casually taking in all the sights and return without incident or any sign of breathlessness Over all the model 4's are a better speaker I miss that true deep detail the 107's gave me but over all i have gained a tighter bass with a good level of depth and detail and the mid and top end is definitely improved The voices are now as forward as i want them to be with a very detailed open top end The model 4's still retain the detail in the bass but is no where near as rich or deep what i mean by that is true bass not the usual room shaking stuff that just thumps along with no clue with whats going on within The 107's weakness was within the midrange voices could sound a little thin and to be honest was quite noticeable The higher end of the frequency spectrum was open, detailed with a sweetness only soft domed tweeters can produce The difference in the speakers was another story the 107's could produce very detailed and rich lower bass and it's something i don't hear very often I like the meridian and havn't really found anything i don't like about it i remember when i first started to listen to familiar tracks of music the difference could be quite alarming but when you listened to the music again you realized that the meridian was getting it just right where the cd 94 could sometimes be overbearing I havn't really done much A / B comparisons to give a really detailed encounter of each player but with owning the cd 94 for so long the players i had compared to it to on my system over the years none of them really got my attention the meridian on the other hand didĪnother point that makes comparisons a little more difficult is not long before i purchased the meridian cd player i had a change of speakers from the KEF Reference 107's to the KEF Reference model 4's although i did spend a few months listening to the cd 94 on the model 4's it was a new experience and when the meridian came along i wasn't fully familiar with the model 4's although the difference between the two cd players was pretty noticeable The sound i would say is more refined nothing sounds to complicated which could happen with the cd 94
The meridian just plays the music effortlessly making long listening sessions more enjoyable I have owned the cd 94 since 1987 ( ish ) and have always liked the sound it produced but always had a sense of urgency to the music the dpa dac tamed it to a degree It makes you wonder if we would be still listening to the original Philips crisp,clear analogue sound had reviewers not made their subjective preferences known? On Rubber Soul, by the Beatles the track 'Nowhere man', has a cock up in the studio recording where one channel stops for a second or two, and the drummer.who may not have been Ringo, cocks up the beat for a few seconds.īut, this was a single session, as it was recording, pressed and release.warts and all.Īuthentic, the real thing, and for me a better listen.
So, not only do reviewers have the power to increase sales of hifi equipment, it appears they also have the power to override how the CD was mixed and laid down by the recording engineers. This is backed up by references to Violin playing being harsh, and musicians used on some recordings having flaws in performance, which were highlighted on the Philips players. One intersting reason the reviewers gave for liking the Japanese sound was the fact that the Philips players gave too much information to the listener! I for one think this was a very bad judgement by Philips, as today vintage CD players are sought after because of the analoge sounding reproduction, and the fact that it is nearer to the actual musicians recording. One of the articles makes a note that when a technical insider at Philips was asked why they had changed the sound on the next range, to emulate,this Japanese smooth sound, he was told that because the competition were being rated very highly by the reviews, that a decission was made to follow them down that road. Reviewers of these machines built in Japan praised the performance and sound quality. When japan started to compete in building CD players, it was noted by Philips that these players had the top end sounds tailed off, making this, so called, smoother sound. I have been reading about the early CD players and found that the 1985 ish players from Philips gave a near analoge sounding reproduction.
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