Some people will think it’s great some won’t,that’s the way it is

Nice set up! Great video!

I'm sorry, what kind of noise are your isolating/shielding from in a digital signal ?

I use toslink from my Imac playing .flac via Foobar. Sound is nice without any distortions or dropouts. A big influence seems to have the USB to 5V power supply. From SMSL I go directly into a active Dali Zensor via 3.5 mm stereo jack plug. Parallel I listen to an old Onkyo DV 503 CD-Player which uses directly toslink. This sounds not so good...more flat and less dynamically.

Great set up. I've had my 590 for a couple of years now. I use a PL 518x and it sounds fantastic. But because of the 20 WPC I feel limited to what speakers I can use. I'm currently set up using a Chinese pair of Castle Knight 4s and they're surprisingly very well suited, but I'd like to invest in better floor standers if you can recommend any? Thanks

This takes me back.😊I remember listening to 1 and loving it but buying a Karik/ Numerik simply because the rest of my system was Linn. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Thanks for your opinion in concurred with mine. BTW a 2mm spacer will put it at the ideal height on Rega turntables.

IMO THE BOTTOM PF THE LINE NAGAOKA M110, sounds better than anything be low the blue most grades and all but the MC AUDIO TECHNIC

If you were around then, as I was...Meridian got tons of hype as digital leaders into the 2000's.

Firstly, the SU-1 needs a 5V audiophile power supply, like the Ifi Xpower. Secondly the optical cable has the advantage of electrically shielding it from the other equipment. These two factors is all that is needed to make the SU-1 really shine.

I’m doing a/b listening tests with an SMSL SU-1 and the new SMSL PS200. The PS200 has a new ESS9039Q2M dac chip. The SU-1 has an AKM4493S chip. So far I’m favoring the PS200. Just as punchy as the SU-1 but a little clearer up top w/o sibilance.

I am currently using the Cambridge Audio CXC CD transport into the SU-1 dac. Very happy with the sound. That Meridian looks amazing!!

Meh. Obviously you have better sound using DDC between laptop and DAC. It is not Toslink that good, rather DDC clean up all the noise from laptop and (maybe) reclock. If your CD player had usb output you could hear even better sound passing it thru your DoukAudio DDC, regardless of used DAC input....

Very interesting. Just more proof of the overall improvements in toslink connections. Typically, coax would win hands down in the past. Early optical wasnt that great, but im glad optical has caught up and in some cases surpassed coax...😊

I found the same with the SU 1 DAC. Optical was generally better sounding than coax. Thanks again for a most informative video.

I use optical for my SMSL SU-1 from my Bluesound Node (N130). I used coax initially but got random dropouts with it; the dropouts stopped when I switched to optical. FWIW.

Can anyone tell me if I can use my iPhone with this?

What a well considered, probative and informative video! Thank you sir.

So what is the conclusion ? That a DAC released in 2022, the very well regarded AK4493S is only marginally better than a DAC from ~35 years ago ?

One of these turntables is coming up in Piers Motley Auction s Sale ( Exmouth) . Lot 1317. 10th September..

Very informative. Thanks

I had this CD player and the 508.24. One thing you want to keep in mind with these older players, is the early 90's was a time when they finding out what the effects of jitter were, and they weren't sure what to do about it. This is when the Genesis Time Lens came out and Sonic Frontiers & Audio Alchemy had they're jitter reduction devices, as well. They were all very popular. However, back then, the best way to deal with jitter, was to use a single box CD player over separates. So, if you are going to use one of these as a CD player, I would say that's fine, but if you just want it for a transport, I wouldn't do it. I would buy something newer. I know the transport itself is made better than most of what's currently out there, but they didn't have the connections sorted out until later on. Wadia came up with their clock link system, dCS has their system, etc.... I would be looking for something more modern to use with a separate dac.

Thanks for the good info )

The meridian 208 24bit cd player was even better than 206.

I power my SU-1 with the Ifi iPowerX, and optical sound from my laptop trough a 3,5mm minijack toslink plug. This give me the best sonic performance and I truly love it! Thank you for pointing out the importance of a good power supply for the SU-1, it is really the key to make it shine.

I connect this dac to my receiver in optical. But the optical light in the dac is always blinking.

Brings me memories back in the days. I also remember Meridien made digital speakers.

Why does anybody bother with a CD transport these days? Modern DACs have USB and will operate in 'pull' mode, using the clock in the DAC. This will be much less jitter prone than using coax or toslink and doing clock recovery, and if you are concerned about the ground and power lines transmitting noise then an isolator is not hard to find. Ripping software is pretty good, FLAC is lossless, playback is way more convenient than swapping disks, and the ripped data will outlive the silver and plastic.

Good review but a note of caution. When buying a used player ask the seller how much use it's had. I've had high end Denon & NAD CD players that lasted ten years, at approx 1000 discs/year usage, that eventually started skipping due to a weak laser, fair enough. Replacement mechanisms may no longer be available & finding a competant repair shop is difficult & expensive. I've had a couple of less expensive players that only lasted a couple of years due to their cheap Chinese mechanisms. I presently use a Panasonic A110 DVDA player that is >25 years old, sounds really nice & I bought a used A110 as backup in case of failure, cheap insurance. Good luck & cheers!

What is the minimum watts recommended. I have two, a 100 RMS WPC and a 250 RMS WPC setup?

Those speakers are beasts and that's a hell of a system. Obviously the monobloc amps are superfluous to requirements now. Is he going to sell them?

I love ATC speakers, but prefer their active models.

try Nagaoka MP-500

How about LVB 250? Is it worth the price difference between the 2m black? Thanks

Great video. I love these units. Restored a few CD207 units which are very similar.

I modified and upgraded the clock in my thirty years old CDP.........NO SS , directly into a triode and opt.........far better music from CD and more analog sounding than many so called very nexpensive high end ....and no longer listening fatigue...... The 206 was the first CDP I could listen to without wanting to run out of the room........

Boring.

I remember this one. Meridian is a really expensive brand, but the design was cool. Linn almost.. This must sound good even today.

$800 in 1990 about $1400 today. Smsl SU-1 is an $80 DAC. Not sure what the point is. You could get about equal sound with a used $10 dvd player as transport and probably a remote too.

I use it with a Yamaha Streamer, WXC 50 and it sounds good.

Is a good cartridge but not the best moving magnet, IGD is good but not excellent, Audio Technica 740ML and 760ML are better than the black in overall sound

I dislike modern dacs as i find them irritating. The classic R2R ladder dacs like the tda1541A and tda 1543 sound way better to me. The new dacs dazzle you with high SNR and miniscule distortion numbers etc compared to the analogue sounding ladder dacs. I think Phillips made the best dacs and nothing has ever come close to their authentic rendition.

I've heard this back then! Signature Audio was a great Meridian dealer. If one person touts Meridian and craps on MQA, shame! And spend some more please, on the SU-10 or the X.. sheesh. $100 for a DAC is great, but there is better for that CDP.

I have one get in touch meridian fans immaculate

The basic performance of MERIDIAN is excellent, so I think the sound quality will be even better if you replace it with a high precision clock. Sound Den in Japan sells and replaces high precision clocks.

I had a similair experience with an old (1999) Denon 5000 dvd/cd player, what a nice natural sounding dac is in inside this unit (4 × pcm 1704 Burr Brown dac chips). I like it better than the modern dacs I own. Also a litle less forward and maybe slightly less detail but so smooth sounding, no harshness like a lot of the modern stuff. These old r2r dacs only 24 bits but sound much more analogue and you can listen to them for hours.

Can you explain how adapting USB to coaxial improved sound quality? I thought it would be identical because they are both digital.

Me gusta que no solo se haga una reseña de un producto, sino que se hable de sus distintas posibilidades de conexión. Es la primera vez que veo tu canal, porque mi SMSL SU-1 llega este próximo lunes. Felicidades desde Ciudad de México!!!

Try this cd-player with much more advanced modern DAC from Topping, SMSL or Denafrips. It deserves it and you wil be amazed. :)

I can't tell the difference between a mid-rate mp3 and a CD. But this is still a fascinating video.