I own a (beloved) 508.24 and have demoed at home the following other players:
- ML 39: WAY cleaner, proper and high endish sounding but NO emotion - boring
- Accuphase DP55V: detailed and articulated but also a tad souless in my humble opinion; nice but no cigar
- Quad CDP99: very nice unit for the money (actually a real bargain) - awfully close to the 508; remote volume control a nice feature; a tad (and I mean very little more) thicker sounding than the 508; an excellent choice but no real upgrade over a 508
- Consonance 2.2: very refined, airy and musical - actually outdoes the 508 on these factors ... but lacks crually slam and weight in the low end; not enough boogie factor.
- Musical Fidelity Nuvista 3D: perhaps a question of system synergy but in mine, I would give it 3/10: forward soundings, almost brittle, no musicality (really strange considering the rave reviews and the tube construction; perhaps have I tested a defective unit?)
- Wadia 301: nice but also no cigar. a tad mechanical. not enough alpability; quality of timbres not up to par with the 508.
- and finally yes I tested recently the new Meridian G08: which left me wondering, as I had it at home only for 1 evening; clearly outguns the 508 in terms of pace, slam (yes it's possible), rythm, attack, speed sensation and (more marginally) detail/air; but in my system & for my taste it was almost too much excitement, and emotion/musicality were somehow left a bit wanting. Perhaps was it not fully broken in, and by playing around with set up, cables, ... could I have had reached real happiness but didn't have time. I would say lots of potential but jury's still out as far as I am concerned.
Hope that helps - any good advice on clear winners over the 508.24 would be appreciated (Res. Audio Opus 21, AA capitole MKII, Accuphase 67 or 77???).
My system is currently B&W N802, then all Meridian, 508.24 CD, G02 preamp and 559 amp (fantastic units btw), Fadel art interconnect and Audioquest Gibraltar biwire cables.
Thank you!
