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Cary 303 or Meridian 508.24?

I am looking to replace my current cd player and wanted to know if anybody has had experience/opinion about the Cary 303 and the Meridian 508.24. Also, does the HDCD capability of the Cary significantly improve the sound to the level that it is better than what the Meridian, which doesn't have HDCD, could deliver? Thanks.
hughes88
xmore
15 posts
 
Hughes88,

I can't speak to the Meridian, but I recently bought the Cary 303. It was a big move up from my Arcam. The sound is detailed and smooth. I hear things on my CDs that I never heard before. I should also mention that it is somewhat forgiving on less than stellar recordings. That is important to me. It does me absolutely no good to have great gear that only sounds good with a hand full of CDs.

Ultimately your choice it will depend on the rest of your system. My Cary is hooked up to:

Rogue 99 preamp
Odyssey Stratos Amp
Dynaudio 1.3 Mk II Speakers

Good luck
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anthonyf
21 posts
 
The few HDCD recordings I own all sound excellent, and are perhaps the best in my CD collection. I cannot speak specifically about the Cary 303 (my CD player is Classe). On my system HDCD sounds better.

Can anyone comment on HDCD in general? Is HDCD still a desirable feature now that SACD is available?
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