A bunch of stuff to report.
I've finally decided after much internal debate to keep the Creek OBH-22 and the Meridian 500 cd transport. The Creek, being passive, does not have some of the dynamics present in the Acurus ActIII, which is what I guess I was missing, but transparency and clarity are definitely improved. Credit for that realization goes to Mike from AudioLab in Harvard Sq. I guess he also uses a Creek passive with Creek amps at home. I auditioned the Siltech Paris interconnects from Spearit Sound for about a week and they were nice, but I couldn't justify replacing the AVT-1 MIT's for them at around the same price ($170). They were quieter and a little smoother, but I still can't knock the MIT's, which have so much detail and clarity. However, they did offer me a great deal ($150 tax included) on an XLR AES/EBU digital interconnect from StraightWire, the InfoLink, which so far is better than the VDM-5 coax from Audioquest. I think it is still breaking in (used for about a week) so hopefully it's getting better, but AES/EBU is supposed to be better anyway and I have no other AES/EBU to compare it to, so it may not mean much. Regardless, the setup is amazing and simple now, sound is better than ever and I'm driving Tonya crazy with my constant music, but I can't help it. I also spent some time getting details about the Meridian 500 transport...
I discovered, in my research, that there are actually 2 (I thought 3) versions of the 500 transport from Meridian. I checked the cool bboard "Hitchhikers Guide to Meridian" and asked there, but only got a partial response. I emailed meridian tech support, and didn't get a response in about a week, so I called them and spoke to someone who told me that there are only 2 versions and you can tell by the serial number which starts either with 1 or 2. I then found out that some start with a 3 (mine starts with 2) so I started to worry. I knew from the start that mine was not the original since it had a curved laser track and no AES/EBU output, but wasn't sure of the difference between 2 and 3. So Dave Hall from meridian UK finally emailed me back and we had a short exchange which basically confirmed that my hardware and software were up to date, as well as the fact that the 500 transport was the best in the 500 series to use as a dedicated transport (w/external DAC) since it doesn't have any audio cards and reclocks the digital signal to reduce jitter, unlike any of their cd players with onboard dacs. Stereophile also confimed in lab readings that the 500 has "amazingly" low jitter through the AES/EBU (something like 134pps).
What it comes down to is that I got what I wanted, it has been working flawlessly since that first "no disc" scare, and sounds great. I may have paid a little too much, but I haven't seen a 2nd generation one up for sale anywhere at anytime (which probably says something) and even the 1st generations are snatched up for at least $500 or so. I'm getting a very pure signal through the passive preamp to the mccormack and I'm upsampling with the MSB to 132.5kHz. It sounds amazing and seems to be getting better as the days go by. I think it may be slightly less forgiving than the previous setup, but I can't complain because the sound is so delicately rich that I really look forward to listening to music pretty much all day. I've bought about $400 worth of new cds in the last few weeks, which may prove the point.
The 2 channel music setup is now very simple:
Meridian 500 transport [StraightWire InfoLink AES/EBU XLR] ->
MSB Link DAC III (Full Nelson with PowerBase 1000) [MIT AVT-1 single ended]->
Creek OBH-22 [MIT AVT-1 single ended] ->
McCormack DNA-125 [MIT AVT-1 biwire] ->
Monitor Audio Silver 7
The only difference in the 5-channel setup is that the Act-III front mains go through the Creek OBH-22, then to the McCormack. Complete new specs coming soon...
Maybe I'm a total glutten, but I got a Meridian 500 cd transport yesterday from Natural Sound, used for $850. It's a revision 2 with aes/ebu output and I just couldn't resist getting the best transport I know about at a deal. It is a pure transport, no processing, which is just what I wanted; the best pure transport available, no frills.
It is now hooked up to the MSB Link III via the AQ silver coax digital (straightwire infolink aes/ebu cable coming from spearit sound this week).
All I can say is that it is vastly better than the acurus acd-11 in every way, the most apparant of which is a smooth silkiness that encompasses all the sounds. It has a smooth and detailed richness to it that is more than what I could have wanted. The whole system sounds incredibly refined and detailed now, without being bright or harsh that I just wish I could sit in front of it all the time.
The synergy of the system is starting to show through, even some much more expensive setups (mccormack cd+pre+amp with B&W 803) at the stores sound less refined for one reason or another that I can notice right away. I'm slowly getting closer to the audio nirvana that is always the ultimate goal.
It freaked me out at first because the first disc I put in (Dire Straits Brothers In Arms) showed "No Disc" on the display even after multiple tries. After a few minutes, every disc played flawlessly so I'm going to chalk it up to the cold player needing to warm up. I haven't had a single problem since, and I'm very impressed at the quality of the transport. It's heavy (14 lb transport mechanism), the drawer is super smooth and quiet, and it is totally silent while spinning, even with my ear up against it.