Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems 818v3 vs. Trinnov Altitude 32

Did you listen to the 5200SE or 5200 when comparing to the 3200? Because I find that the SE version is a very good well balanced speaker, where as the 5200 could be a little disjointed with certain material.

Hmmmm....

The label on the display at the front had 5200 but the dealer said it had been upgraded and it was showing as 5200SE in Roon.

The 7200 definitely had SE written on the display so I don’t know whether the label is also changed when upgraded.

In my honest opinion the 818v3 is far superior to the 218 on any parameter. I have had Meridian equipment for more than 20 years and the 818v3 beats anything else by far. I am using it with my 8000's (SE upgraded) and a Roon Rock/Tidal as source, the 818 took the place of my 218 which I have been using with pleasure for a couple of years, its sounds good but I have always missed more precision and better imaging.

Getting the 818 in place was a revelation, voices are extremely precise and like objects in front of me, listening to Leonard Cohen's post mortem release is almost scary, he is right there between the speakers, his deep bass voice is tight and controlled and the recording just sounds incredible. I also found an MQA encoded recording from Mozart's "Magic Flute", the arie "Der Hölle Rache..." sounds unbelievably good, I compared with 218 - not a match for 818 sorry to say, and this goes for all other MQA material also.

I know some of you claim that for MQA there is no difference since it's authenticated, to me the difference is obvious... listen to Rihanna "Love on the Brain" - it's marvelous in MQA... or try Jenny Lewis "Heads Gonna Roll", I have become crazy with Janelle Monae's "Make Me Feel". The 818v3 is without a doubt the best thing I have done to my setup since I got the 8000's, the combo of 8000's and 818 is absolutely top of high end, and combined with Roon's ROCK, MQA, SpeakerLink cabling I doubt that there is anything better out there. Is it worth 10 times the price of the 218, if you got the money - absolutely yes. I tested it today with my 5200's non-SE, also here the 818 excelled making the 5200's shine. That made me think I should have bought the 818 before the 8000's.

Keywords to me for the 818v3 are:

Precise and relaxed especially on voices, tight and controlled bass, imaging and instrument placement in a three dimensional way I have never experienced with any other high-end equipment.

My next 2 improvements will be some room correction and room treatment, I am rebuilding part of our house and there will be a room where I can built in some bass traps in the walls and use sound absorbing ceilings. Can't wait - the ceilings are also prepared for Atmos with 4 DSP320s...

An amazing machine, I see there are some for sale used at less than half price...
To bad M is not doing any of this incredible stuff anymore...I must say it worries me a bit that there is so little happening from M...

/lars

I disagree on this, Steve. I actually think that the 5200's, even non SE's, benefits from being fed by an 818v3. At least I hear a clear difference between using the 818v3 and the 218 with my 5200's...

/lars

It will be extremely painful for me to go back to 218 which will happen, because the 818 was borrowed from my local friend.

I image if you’ve made the buying decision, you’re going to defend it. Human nature. It’s an awful lot of engineering for a single endpoint if that’s all you’re using.

I recent got a 218 an I’m quite astounded by the performance, significantly exceeded my expectations. I can now see how some people are using this in their 8k SEs.

Out of curiosity, 818 is LPS, 218 SMPS. Did anyone get round to pimping up the PS on the 218? I know you shouldn’t...

Agree that there is a risk of being biased when you have bought some really expensive, however, I had the 818 on trial and tested it extensively comparing to the 218, my MS200 and my G68 - the 818 comes out as the clear winner. Based on that I made my buying decision.

I agree that the 218 is a very good product and much better than most of the DAC's and streamers out there. I recently heard a Hegel DAC and though much more expensive than the 218, Meridian clearly wins.

I agree that having the 818v3 for my use is somewhat overkill since I mostly make use of the ID41 card, however, since you mention it, the PSU may be one of the important differences and then the overall quality of components, build and chassis, calibration etc. The high end M products are unique, the 218 is not real high-end - though still very, very good... I have been really happy with mine and still is, it will be running my 2nd system with my 5200's - which I think I will upgrade to SE's while still possible...

Yes, it's a real pity that they didn't choose to use a brick PSU a la AC200 and Prime. There would then have been an upgrade path readily available in the Prime PSU.

But then that was never the aim for the (new) 200 series I guess.

Maybe when the warranty has expired...

Interesting... I can clearly hear a difference between MQA and non MQA even on my 3200' so I would therefore love to compare the 218 against the 818. With MQA the sound is more elastic and there is clearly more vibrato in singers voices and instruments...

I'm constrained in terms of budget and room size and an upgrade from even 3200's to 5200's would require more money and space than an upgrade from 218 to 818. The only difficulty will be finding an 818 in Australia that I can listen too.

Maybe a combo of the 3200’s and a DSW.2 would work in your room?

Sigh, I use the 218 with my 8kSEUP and Roon Nucleus and I don’t know when I’m going to get back to work.
Fact is a guy with my income shouldn’t even have what I do and it will probably take another 5 years before the 818v3 comes down to a price I can afford.
That said the 218 does a decent job translating MQA and while there’s been times I questioned Meridian’s choice of tweeter with the average recordings the good ones say it all.

Does the 818 do anything for the majority of the songs we stream or is MQA and analog where it shines?

A guy with my income probably shouldn't have what I have either - I guess we all spend more than we should on our hobbies/passions!

To answer your question - resoundingly, yes, the 818v3 absolutely works its magic on non-MQA material and, as others have posted here, I do not at all find its benefit only to be in the analogue domain. On the contrary, it was and is a sublime upgrade from even the 818v2 I had before, it really is that good.

It is considerably sweeter and smoother, in fact more forgiving of recordings all round, than the v2, while at the same time digging deeper and painting a much more realistic performance all round - a rare combination of talents, in my experience. With DSPs (of which you have the best) you start to forget about hi-fi completely and focus on the nuances of how the performers are conveying the emotion of the piece, without even having to concentrate - it's just there.

You might find you are less bothered by the 'tweeter' on less than stellar recordings with an 818v3 in place before the 8KSEs. I know what you mean, the Be tweeter and extra resolution of the SEs are potentially a double-edged sword, like any high resolution speakers, they can only convey what the source material contains, which is one reason why I chose s/h 7200.2 over new 52KSE back when I had the choice. However, I've found the 818v3 considerably smoother as a source than anything else I've tried, which would help quite a bit at the top end, I would say.