Meridian 808.2 Auditions ? Impressions ?

Didn't you already purchase the 808.2i?

Hi
I have recently auditioned the Meridian 808.2 against my own Musical Fidelity TriVista SACD player and a Chord Blu/DAc64 in a dealer dem room using Chord amplifier and Wilson Benesch Curve speakers.

I so wanted to like and buy the Meridian because it ticked so many boxes for me (new model, superb look and build, British made, future proof, digital input/outputs, and a impressive technical spec).

Unfortunately I was disappointed and preferred the Chord combo. My thoughts on various tracks I listened to were

lacked detail, cymbols sounded much more life like with shimmer and air to them with the Chord

lacked fullness, bass guiter lacked some thump compared to the Chord

lacked excitment, some of my favourite tracks just sounded lifeless and boring compared to the Chord

I did on a seperate occasion compare the Chord Blu/DAC62 with Chords own Red Standard player and there is nothing between them. Strange this as the Red is the same price but eschews the fancy upsampling that Chord includes in the REd Reference and Blu/DAC64.

04-24-08: Bar81
Didn't you already purchase the 808.2i?

Yes, I did;
Serial Number 808-200379.

However, I wanted to know what every one else had heard !!
I have the Cary CD 306 SACD Professional to compare it to. However, my Gryphon Adagio is sold & the Metronome T1-i is no where close to these 2 players.

Since both the Players are new - I needed some one elses opinion.

Thanks,

Schwinnindia

I just spent a night comparing with some friends my old 808 against new 808.2. For me, 808.2 is different world, I am amazed. First few minutes of the session we spent checking why 808.2 plays much louder than 808. It doesn't, it simply has much more detail so it seems it is louder... My first impression is that almost everything improved, mainly the bass is tighter and more defined, color of all instruments is more realistic and pleasurable (we listened to classical music only), CD harsh quite decreased. It was a pleasure to listen to CD's for hours what I didn't experienced before with my old 808, in fact. All session members have similar feeling.

Synergy once again rears its ugly head....

dave_ptr - could you expound on the differences between the Chord Blu/Dac and the Red Standard? i'm also interested in hearing from anyone regarding the Chord Red Reference.
thanks

Maxx2man

RE Chord DAC64/Blu v Red Standard
I listened to many tracks, switching between machines in the dealers dem room. The sonic differences are minimal and I could not describe them.
The Chord line up confuses me as the Red Ref and DAC64/Blu include upsampling and this is expounded by Chord as a key performance aspect. However, the Red Standard samples only at the standard 44 rate but is priced comparable to the DAC64/Blu.
I have not made up my mind about what to buy and wish to listen to the Dcs Puccini first and possibly the Red Reference
I prefer the look and build of the Red but the DAC combo is more flexible and has more connection options to servers etc. Incidently I understand that the DAC64 is to be replaced/ updated later this year so I may wait.