Bryston SP2 vs Meridian 861

Do you have analog sources that you must use? Such might be an SACD player, a turntable, an FM tuner? If not, then I'd go with the Meridian.

Kal

My current CD/DVD player is the Meridian 596 which can be plugged into the 861 nicely to produce some kind of a musical performance and the expected excellent surround sound quality. Or its 192-khz analog output can be plugged into an analog preamp such as the SP2, while its digital output would go into the digital surround sound of the SP2. However I am think of the long term, which is CD-quality music stored on a hard drive. So eventually I would have to buy a DAC capable of wirelessly receiving the musical signal. I am not going to buy any wireless equipment nor any DAC until the technology can achieve "that" level of audiophile performance. But you know the technology is only a few years away. In short, any analog preamp is still needed, unless I don't think straight here.

So, you don't need an analog input, right? So?

Kal

Not thinking straight :), the wireless interface can be plugged into the 861 digitally!!!!, you can do this now! The great thing about ones and zeroes is if you don't lose any then the quality is there already any jitter will be removed by the 861's fifo buffers.....

Might be 5 years from now your speakers will be digital too, so their will be no need for a "DAC" till the speaker drivers.

My speakers are not digital. So are you saying that the DAC inside the 861 would produce analog signal for the amplifier at the 2-channel music performance level better than the straight analog route through the SP2? Basically you can skip a high-quality external DAC/SP2 combo because the 861 DAC would be better sound-wise anyway?