Tubegroover, don't mean to suggest that the Havana isn't fantastic, 'cause
I think it is and thrilled that it scratches your itch. Listened to mine all the
time for a year, and was perfectly happy. What ultimately sent me looking
for more (at admittedly three times the price) was a comparison with my
old CDP (Meridian 508.24). In particular, friend brought over the full Miles
Davis live at the Plugged Nickel set and we spent a fine afternoon
switching back and forth between the (upsampling) Meridian and the
(NOS) Havana. Through the Havana, it sounded great. On the Meridian,
it sounded like you were in the audience in the club. And it was all in the
smallest ambient details: glasses on tables, murmurs among the crowd,
the scrape of a chair, a sense of space created by the hint of an echo.
Once you knew it was there and listened for it, with enough volume, you
could make out all of this info through the Havana; but with the Meridian it
was just there, effortless like.
It was this one afternoon that spun me out of the NOS camp and off on a
frolic that ended with the Ayre. But, definitely, an entirely system-
dependant, subjective thing. Given the rest of my gear (largely Rowland
and Thiel), I'm (self-diagnosed) prone to come out on the side of detail
when given the old "detail v. musicality" tipping point choice
with gear. All my idiosyncrasies -- well, not actually all, not by a long shot
-- confessed, this was just one of those times.
I think it is and thrilled that it scratches your itch. Listened to mine all the
time for a year, and was perfectly happy. What ultimately sent me looking
for more (at admittedly three times the price) was a comparison with my
old CDP (Meridian 508.24). In particular, friend brought over the full Miles
Davis live at the Plugged Nickel set and we spent a fine afternoon
switching back and forth between the (upsampling) Meridian and the
(NOS) Havana. Through the Havana, it sounded great. On the Meridian,
it sounded like you were in the audience in the club. And it was all in the
smallest ambient details: glasses on tables, murmurs among the crowd,
the scrape of a chair, a sense of space created by the hint of an echo.
Once you knew it was there and listened for it, with enough volume, you
could make out all of this info through the Havana; but with the Meridian it
was just there, effortless like.
It was this one afternoon that spun me out of the NOS camp and off on a
frolic that ended with the Ayre. But, definitely, an entirely system-
dependant, subjective thing. Given the rest of my gear (largely Rowland
and Thiel), I'm (self-diagnosed) prone to come out on the side of detail
when given the old "detail v. musicality" tipping point choice
with gear. All my idiosyncrasies -- well, not actually all, not by a long shot
-- confessed, this was just one of those times.