I have listened to all the units you have listed. Here is my take: Levinson, beautiful and smooth, but with a somewhat "darkish" nature which I feel almost adds a sort of smoky haze to the music (certain types of music for instance large orchestral pieces which do not lend themselves to the smoke filled nightclub venue don't sound right through the #39 to me). The Wadia 860 (no exp with the 850, but I am sure the sound is not too divergent from the 860 based on what I have read) sounds lighter on its feet than does the #39 in my opinion. I think the Wadia will play more music more accurately while the Levinson will make laid back Jazz ensembles more lovely (think of it this way, Diana Krall would probabaly be more seductive sounding through the Levinson while Patricia Barber would most likely sound more accurate from the 860). Now the Meridian unit is the unit I would buy if I were going to buy a 16/44.1 machine at this stage. It flat out sounds more beautiful than both units to me. Is has a freeness about it which causes me to not think about the hardware playing the plastic disc and just enjoy the music. Also you can find them in mint conditin pre-owned for about $2400-$2800. Now the big question. Why so late in the day for 16/44.1 are you thinking of investing a large sum in this technology? I would advise (if you don't want to go with SACD, DVD-A is a waste of effort and money (I have listened to DVD-A and it is an abomination) IMHO), something like the ARCAM 9 or believe it or not a DVD player with Dual laser pickups, they can sound quite fabulous (sony, philips) for under 3 bills. I sold my $7000.00 Esoteric P2S transport and Meitner Bidat while the market was still good enought to get a good return and bought the Sony SCD1 Super Audio CD Player. It is in another league. I don't sale audio gear so I will tell you strait, the std CD gear Leveinson, Wadia, Spectral, CEC TL0 can't approach SACD. It is the conclusion of many a reviewer and audiophile that SACD sounds better than the best LP systems. Also for the money you would spend on the cd machine you could by a Sony SCD-777ES on the web NEW. Remeber the more prevalent the new formats become (and they also play CD's) the faster the market value of std CD machines drop. This is why the guys which have Levinson or Wadia gear always try to come up with something to disuade you from buying a SACD player, they'd rather sale you a $8000.00 trasnport than a $3500.00 all in one player. I hope my humble insights have helped. Oh, Sony now sales SACD's on the sony site http://thestore.sonymusic.com/thestore/music.asp?viewby=conf&conf_cd=048&index=048#048 Telearc and DMP also have a range of SACDs. There are over 50 titles out now with about 10 more per month being added. Regards, Mike
Lvnson 39,Wadia 850, Merid 508.24 best?
I have narrowed down my choices to one of these three players (I would also consider the 860) I haven't been able to compare them head to head as I sort of live in the boonies and the nearest shops have the players but at diffrent places. Any advice from those in the know would be appreciated.