looking for good detailed and warm player


Hi all,

I'm in "UPGRADE" season :)
RIght now im running Sonus Faber Extrema with Meridian 557 and PRE 502(also Meridian).
The PRE and Power hooked by XLR (both Balanced).
My previous CD was Arcam (A9) but I felt my sys needs more.
The meridian 557 has a great power , and there's great details from the PRE but somehow some warm and more "round" sound is missing,I also thought about change the PRE to some nice tube PRE like Audio Research (LS17 or SO16),
but I'd like to start from the source.
any idea?
Thanks in advance
avico
If you can stretch your budget just a little bit, you can get a used Marantz SA-11S1. This will be just the ticket. A wonderful, non-fatiguing player with all the details of natural instruments present.
i owned a raysonic player. it resolves well but is not warm. it reminds me of many other 24/192 players. i swapped out tubes. it didn't help.

i am looking for a warm sounding player myself. i am considering the amr 77 and possibly the audio research cd7.
Meridian 508.24 is a very analog sounding player and had one of the lowest jitter measurements--(144 picoseconds)- ever measured by Stereophile at the time. An excellent player for the money, if you can find one used. Excellent low level detail retrieval as well.
neutral and warmth are mot the same. thus, if a stereo system is considered "neutral" it is not considered "warm". if a stereo system is considered "warm" it is not considered "neutral". thus if neutral is a term denoting no coloration and warm is not neutral, it follows that warm is a coloration.

warm is used to indicate an emphasis upon a certain aspect of frequency response. if a cd is warm it doesn't mean the stereo system is warm. not all cds are warm, so that if the stereo system is warm all the times, it is a coloration.

if one cd is warm and another is not , the one that is not will probably sound more resolving of musical information.
Thanks people.

Sorry i forgot to mention my budget is lil low.
about 1200-1500 $.
I hope it's enough for satisfying results ...
Any ideas?

Thanks in advance !!!
Mr Tennis
I respectfully disagree. Warmth does not necessarily mean a loss of detail. It does however mean no detail at all. Rather good resolution. In other words, if you are hearing details, you are in that "analytical mode". I enjoy the "musical mode" so I prefer equipment that has good resolution but warmth.

So I maintain, ditch the solid state!!!! Try a really good single ended amp.
you can't have both. by definition, warmth is a subtractive, meaning a loss in detail.

there is a balance between some loss in detail and the presence of warmth. the listener must decide what an ideal mix is.

in my opinion all 24 bit players have enough detail. thus, i would try to find a player as warm as possible.

consider audio research cd7 or amr 77.
I am not sure. Has anyone ever accused the Sonus Faber Extrema's of being warm. I would suggest you stop looking for a patch to fix your problem and just get a nice tube amp and preamp. Then not only will you have some warmth but also a more relaxed yet totally involving listening experience (with the right amplifier & preamplifier).
Please audition some of the Cayin players. I have heard them all, including the new sp-cd300. Very sweet. That should keep you until the rush of audio blu-ray disc's are upon us. If you don't have a PS3, plan on getting one, if only for the audio aspect.
I agree with Thorman and have owned a 508.24 since 1997, great warm round player. Also I auditioned extensively a new Parasound D3 player and must say I was very impressed with its warmth and dynamic range. The highs were spectacular and detailed without any fatigue whatsoever. Head to head with the Meridian it wasn't quite as extended in the lows but I believe this will improve with time/breakin. But the high end was something to behold; I had no idea that CDs could sound that good. Plus this player also plays SACD and DVD Audio.