meridian 861 or Theta Cas.III-which is better

I auditioned both the Meridian 861/800 version 4's and the Theta Casablanca III/Esoteric UX-1 combos in my system and feel the Meridian combo stood shoulders above the Casa III/UX-1 combination in my system and room. I tried the Meridian combo hooked-up two ways, both with their proprietary 3-cable direct digital transfer and with using the analogue outputs/inputs. I thought the Meridian sounded better hooked up either way (much better with the direct digital hook-up) as compared to the Casa III/UX-1 combo hooked-up with the analogue outputs/inputs. I think the Meridian 3-cable direct digital hook-up is tough to beat. If you don't want to spend a fortune, one good alternative you may want to consider is the Meridian G68/G98 combo. I auditioned this also with the above two combo's and feel it sounded very similar to slightly better as compared to the Casa III/UX-1 combo, especially and again with the direct digital connections on the G combo! Beleive me, the Casa III/UX-1 combo is no slouch as it sounded pretty fantastic and if I hadn't listened to it in a direct A/B comparison with the Meridian pieces in my home with my system, I could have easily went with the Casa III! Good luck!
Jim

I had compared Theta CB2 with xtreme DACs to Meridian 861v3 and there was no comparison- 861 was much better wrt soundstage, clarity and overall better sonics. I was actually surprised- with v4 it was a no brainer (if your room is poor in bass coverage then v4 offers even more improvement)

I personally feel Meridian is one of the top pre-pros to beat and once you hear anc play with Trifield- you will not listen to 2 Ch music (provided you have an equal or almost matched center channel with front 2 speakers)

BTW I uses analog speakers not Meridian.

Cheers,
Kishore

861 v4 is the current end of the road

To be fair , the Cas 111 is right there beside it and either choice represents , along with the mark Levinson processor , "the best of the best of the best".... sir!

Another really good one in that price range is Tag McClaren. I would hands down buy Meridian over Theta in any class. Also, I like the G series Meridian. They are just a much more reliable product from what I have heard.