Review: Meier Audio RCA-RCA Interconnects

[john_jcb]

Meier Audio RCA-RCA Interconnects




I recently had the pleasure of reviewing the Meier Audio Headphone Amplifier HA-2. I was tempted to use these cables during that review but resisted. I am glad I did as they deserve a review of their own.

I installed these cables and listened to them for a little over two weeks using my reference system. I like to do that so that my ears become totally accustomed to the sound and I clear any residual memories of other equipment. I find that if I do not do this my impressions are influenced by what I listened to last. For example if I had a setup that was in fact a little dark and I inserted a neutral component it might immediately sound bright to me based on what I was use to hearing. I think this happens at meets quite often as we jump from setup to setup. I also avoid listening to the music listed below. Instead I try and find a wide variety from my collection.

When I first received these cables they were not available for purchase. They are now available from Meier Audio and can be viewed here:

http://home.t-online.de/home/meier-audio/cables.htm

These interconnects are constructed from from Belden 8412 microphone cable and use Neutrik RCA connectors. I did not do any dissection, however, you can read about the construction at the link above.

The following is the equipment and music I used for this review:

Sources:
Meridian 507 (Redbook) (Ref)
Philips DVD963SA (Redbook/SACD)
Sony DVP-NS500V (Redbook/SACD)

Phones:
Sennheiser HD600/Cardas Cable (Ref)
Sony CD-3000

Amp:
Ray Samuels Audio Emmeline HR-2 with LT1028 Op Amp (Ref)

Interconnects:

DH Labs Silver Sonic, 1m (Ref)
Radio Shack Gold 2M
Stock RCA Interconnects from Sony Player

Music:

Aimee Mann "Lost in Space" Tracks 2,3
Gladiator Soundtrack Tracks 3 and 10
Diana Krall SACD "When I Look In Your Eyes" Tracks 1,2,5 and 12
Mark Knopfler “Ragpicker’s Dream” Tracks 3, 4, and 9
Holly Cole "Temptation" Tracks 2,6,7 and 11
Led Zeppelin I Tracks 2, 7 and 8
Jennifer Warnes “Famous Blue Raincoat” Track 3
Jim Hall & Pat Metheny Tracks 4, 7,8 and 10
Hiromi "Another Mind" Tracks 1 and 2

My impressions of the Meier cable

These cables are very well built and the workmanship is outstanding. After reviewing the Meier Audio Corda Cross-1 and the HA-2 I would have been bitterly disappointed with anything less. Every item I have had the pleasure of reviewing from Meier Audio has had excellent build quality. If you read my other reviews of Meier Audio's equipment you may get the impression that I like everything. In fact I don't like everything I hear but I am not going to fabricate issues where they do not exist.

I would describe these cables as very open and transparent. At no time did I feel that they were coloring or shifting the sound. Compared to the cables that I had on hand I would say they came out on top. The DH Lab Interconnects were close but I did not think they had quite the extension at the high and low ends of our listening frequencies. When I replaced the Meier cables with the stock ones that came with my Sony player it was if I put an attenuator in the line. You could immediately tell that the sound was muted somewhat. The Radio shack cables were better than the stock ones from Sony but behind the DH Labs. Between the top and bottom there was a easily heard difference. Between the DH Labs and the Meier cables the differences were far smaller but relatively easy to hear.

If I were putting together a system the cables would be the last piece of the puzzle and these would be a good fit. I listen to my music at fairly low levels so transparency and low level details are very important to me. I cannot say how these cables will work between every amp and source but with the three sources and the Emmeline HR-2 they sounded great. I would recommend these cables without reservation.