That's a really good point, but an amp will hold back a source just as much, no? I've heard meridians used in a few high-end setups at Head-Fi meets and the only memorably good ones were Ray's and Fang's so far. I heard a Gilmore Reference once hooked up to one and, well, it just wasn't the kind of sound I'm into. I also heard one of Mikhail's (sp?) amps through one and that was great, but not quite as good as Ray's B52, IMO. I've also heard Ray's Raptor in two different rigs and the overall tonal signature was nearly identical. I think the amp is definitely a huge factor in how things will sound, most noticably in the high frequencies. My headphones sounded crazy different through the different amps at the NJ meet here, just plugged into my MP3 player! Fang's amp, though, had a noticably smooth sound, and that's what I like. He did admit, of course, that he was "lucky" to have that Meridian.
