Meridian 808.2 Auditions ? Impressions ?

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.