I heard them both at a HI-FI Shop here in Puerto Rico and the difference consist in the amount of power, but in terms of sonics both are awesome! Much better than Krell, Mark Levinson, Pass, Lamm, and the rest of the Heavy Weights!
I auditioned several discs ranging from Metal to Cool Jazz, Bebop, Pop, Prog Rock, Salsa, Blues, Alt, Fusion Rock, Latin Jazz, Classical, Opera, and eclectic, and they played the discs with the highest resolution and realism yet heard in the others!
I usually like Krell and Levinson for everything (versatility), but these are much more amazing! For instance, I played a CD of the greatest "Sonero" of all time, Ismael Rivera, and his recordings weren't well mastered, and despite all possible sonic shortcomings, his vocals at a Live Performance were so full of body, his timber had more tonal layers which I knew he had in Live Performances but that I never captured in recordings! The Guiro, which is a wooden percussive instrument that you easily can confuse with the Metal one used in Merengue, or the Cuban one which is a bigger one with a fatter/rounder sound with sort of scatting scratchings sounded genuine as if you were hearing it next to your ears! With either the 201 or 501, the sound was authentic and earthly, as if you were in the quietest forest and you heard every single movement by the tiniest insect!
I wish the guy at the sore could have taken my Krell for a trade-in! I wouln't have hesitated! It is like comparing the Wadias with the Meridians, or anything else, the Wadias regardless of price sound better than anything Meridian make, that much of a difference!
Best Regards,
Igor Igoroysky
I auditioned several discs ranging from Metal to Cool Jazz, Bebop, Pop, Prog Rock, Salsa, Blues, Alt, Fusion Rock, Latin Jazz, Classical, Opera, and eclectic, and they played the discs with the highest resolution and realism yet heard in the others!
I usually like Krell and Levinson for everything (versatility), but these are much more amazing! For instance, I played a CD of the greatest "Sonero" of all time, Ismael Rivera, and his recordings weren't well mastered, and despite all possible sonic shortcomings, his vocals at a Live Performance were so full of body, his timber had more tonal layers which I knew he had in Live Performances but that I never captured in recordings! The Guiro, which is a wooden percussive instrument that you easily can confuse with the Metal one used in Merengue, or the Cuban one which is a bigger one with a fatter/rounder sound with sort of scatting scratchings sounded genuine as if you were hearing it next to your ears! With either the 201 or 501, the sound was authentic and earthly, as if you were in the quietest forest and you heard every single movement by the tiniest insect!
I wish the guy at the sore could have taken my Krell for a trade-in! I wouln't have hesitated! It is like comparing the Wadias with the Meridians, or anything else, the Wadias regardless of price sound better than anything Meridian make, that much of a difference!
Best Regards,
Igor Igoroysky