Meridian 808.2 Auditions ? Impressions ?

Didn't you already purchase the 808.2i?

Hi
I have recently auditioned the Meridian 808.2 against my own Musical Fidelity TriVista SACD player and a Chord Blu/DAc64 in a dealer dem room using Chord amplifier and Wilson Benesch Curve speakers.

I so wanted to like and buy the Meridian because it ticked so many boxes for me (new model, superb look and build, British made, future proof, digital input/outputs, and a impressive technical spec).

Unfortunately I was disappointed and preferred the Chord combo. My thoughts on various tracks I listened to were

lacked detail, cymbols sounded much more life like with shimmer and air to them with the Chord

lacked fullness, bass guiter lacked some thump compared to the Chord

lacked excitment, some of my favourite tracks just sounded lifeless and boring compared to the Chord

I did on a seperate occasion compare the Chord Blu/DAC62 with Chords own Red Standard player and there is nothing between them. Strange this as the Red is the same price but eschews the fancy upsampling that Chord includes in the REd Reference and Blu/DAC64.

04-24-08: Bar81
Didn't you already purchase the 808.2i?

Yes, I did;
Serial Number 808-200379.

However, I wanted to know what every one else had heard !!
I have the Cary CD 306 SACD Professional to compare it to. However, my Gryphon Adagio is sold & the Metronome T1-i is no where close to these 2 players.

Since both the Players are new - I needed some one elses opinion.

Thanks,

Schwinnindia

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.