I cannot describe the technical reasons why different cdp sound different ,but they do.I have meridian 861 and I find HUGE differences.I connect both my redbook player(reimyo 777) and sacd player(accuphase85) to the Analogue inputs and use the trifield mode for multichannel playback. The reimyo sounds better for redbook than the meridian 800. When I use the sonyxa9000es in multichannel input which is not compatible with trifield the sound is mediocre,when I input the two channel sony into the digital inputs of the 861 the sound is definitly not good as the other cd players.
High end cdp with Meridian equip
Just wondering what's the benefit of a high end/price cdp or transport with my meridian 568? It is all digital so I cannot use analog for any benefit and it upsamples and has jitter reduction. Am I not as well off with a $400 sony mulitdisc or universal as meridian's own 508.24?