Meridian 500 or Squeezebox 3

I'm not knocking the Meridian 500 transport, but another thing to keep in mind is that I don't believe you can get replacement parts for that transport so it could be a paperweight. There is good synergy between Meridian components but if you look at all the big meridian forums they us Squeezeboxes feeding their DSP8000, DSP7000 speakers for the most part. I own a Meridian 568.2 and personally don't find it very musical compared to my old EAD Signature for music. My friends 508.24 CD player is a very nice unit, but even my Compli sounds more natural and refined. If you don't have a modified powersupply on the SB3's then you are missing a lot! This is a manditory upgrade in my opinion if you have full range speakers.

You might even consider getting the analog section of the SB3 modified by Bolder Audio and run it as a preamp/DAC if that is your only source.. that is suppose to be amazing plus you save $$$ on interconnects, power cords, etc..

Any way you cut it you will listen to more music with the Squeezebox than with anything else.....

I agree with Cytocycle on the modified ps for the SB3. It's almost mandatory to make the SB3 sound great.

Nightcountry: Were you listening to a stock or modded SB3 when you did the comparison vs 500?

Thought I chime in again to refer you to an active thread in AC on the whys (& why nots) of the SB/server route
http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/index.php?topic=37203.0