Ayre CX-7 vs. Meridian G08 ?

My G08 went back to the importer and I don't recommend this player...
I had picked up this machine after an extensive market review and listening (didn't have chance to listen to Ayre though). The sound stage is huge, and it is really musical, clear and extended in the highs.
The problem I faced is that with around 10% of my CD collection (they're all originals) the transport was noisy, vibrating, sometimes shaking my stands...
I returned the unit with one of the defective CDs for Meridan to study. They said that using this CD the behaviour could be reproduced on all their G08 in stock. I had tested the CD in many other players (Copland, Samsung DVD, Electrocompaniet, some esoteric player using Philips drive, my computer CD-rom...) and never had any issue.

I quote Meridian anwser :"The complaint regarding the vibration coming from the G08 is due to the following problems. The disc appears to be badly manufactured in that possibly the hole and data are not completely centered on the disc, or the disc is slightly warped.This results in the disc spinning not occurring smoothly causing air turbulence and resulting in the low rumbling noise. The reason that this isnot a problem with most CD players is that they spin the disc at 1X speed which is around 200rpm to 500rpm, depending on where the head is positioned on the disc, where as we spin the disc at 4X which results in the disc spinning at around 800rpm to 2000rpm. We can do this because we read the audio data digitally from the disc whereas most players read audio in an analogue form which the drive generates, which enforces 1X. Spinning the disc at the greater speed allows for the drive to re-read bad sectors on the disc if a problem is encountered. It also allows for buffering of the audio to ensure no dropouts. The reason the customer complains that the noise goes away after track 6 is because the drive uses Constant Liner Velocity where the disc spins faster when reading the inner tracks, then slows down for the outer tracks so slowing the disc down. This then causes a lower rpm on high track numbers making the noise quieter. (...)

My solution would be for the customer to back up the disc onto a CDR and use this disc which will not have the manufacturing issues."

To me this is a major design weakness if your player cannot accept CDs that are not 100% perfect, and none are given the industrial process variations (except maybe XRCDs) !

I could stand with this and worry everytiem I buy a CD that I will have to back it up on a CDR to listen to it in my high end player...

I have not seen the problem reported by Chinanico. The G08 seems to be wokring very nicely. One thing I have noticed is the following: when I use the volume up/down and mute keys on my conrad-johnson premier 16LS Series 2 preamp remote control and don't point the remote directly at the preamp, the G08 will shut down, just quit and go into stand-by mode. If I point the remote directly at the preamp, all is fine. I emailed Meridian about this but their answer wasn't very clear or helpful. FYI...

I've owned Meridians (506, 508, 588) for over seven years and have never experienced what Chinanico or what CJ relate above. On occasion I have experienced long read times when I load a hybrid disc but the platform ultimately accepts and plays these discs without a hitch. Just out of curiosity, Chinanico, what was the CD(s) that your G08 was having problems with?

Anyone heard the G07, which is less money? This one does not use a ROM drive, so it doesn't spin at the high speeds of the G08. Hence, it wouldn't have this 'problem'.

Cjlundgren...I used to listen to Meridian CD players at my dealer extensively and for some reason almost every remote in the store would control them. I'm not talking the "play" button on the Sim remote would play the Merdian, I'm talking the "play" on the Sim remote would turn the 508.24 on and off or try to jump to another track. It was really strange but it seems to me Meridian's remote codes need to be changed on the equipment(as opposed to the remote itself).

BTW, the 508.24 was the best player I heard at the time and the G08 would certainly be my first listen if I was in the mkt for a $4000 player. I feel one of the problems(problem for audiophiles, good thing for Meridian) with Merdian is it is sold at home theater type of places that have little equipment similar to what many of us own. There is one dealer in NYC that carries it and besides Rowland(which they don't pair with Merdian players) they are nothing more than a step above Best Buy.