Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems 808i compared to G08

Hi All,

I too was told by M that the ROM drives in the 808 and the G08 were the same and are of a DVD ROM type. Whilst I love the sound of my G08 through my Bryston system, the "little darling" is on it's THIRD ROM drive due to some of my CD's rattling on start up (you can hear them 10 feet away). The rattle reduces as the tracks are read and the speed of the drive slows towards the end of the disc.
I am also getting random drop outs during playback of pristine discs.

The rattle can be sorted by burning the offending disc to CD-R (but why should you have to).
The drop outs are supposed to be dealt with by the CDP's buffer circuit??

M's response was that the rattle was caused by "out of tolerance" CD's ie out of balance being exaggerated by the high speed drive. The drop out's, I am using SPDIF to the DAC input on my Bryston BP25DA pre-amp and I couldn't get a reasonable reply from either M or Bryston regarding the possible cause. The analogue output sounds the same as the digital to me - so 1 less cable to deal with.
It was also explained that you are paying for the electronics in the greater part, not the drive as that just reads the bits.

You don't expect a �2.5K player to rattle at the slightest hint of an out of tolerance disc or to get random drop outs either.
But I'm having to stick with it as I've spent my money and I haven't heard anything better at the price I paid for it - �1.4K second user.

I would be very upset if I purchased an 808 and it rattled as soon as I put in one of my favourite CD's (my old Arcam CD9 doesn't rattle or drop out with any of my CD's, but then it has a CD drive. It just can't match the G08 for sound reproduction!!).

Regards,

Barry.B

I would also believe what VirusKiller says. The Drive is getting the bits and it's the chip that is doing the decoder job. Just like how computer works. The driver is a "reader".


I do hope the 808.2 will improve over this, otherwise it means the money is not well (or worth) spent. This should be a very basic task. Isn't every manufactures trying to say they have the best reading mechanism? For example the VRDS-NEO mechanism from Esoteric, which claims vibration free, rigid disc clamping. If a player cannot hold a disc stable, how can u extract every bit out of it?

So far I have never experience any problem with my Toshiba SD-9200. It reads disc even with severe scratch on it. Bear in mind that Toshiba used to produce legendary PC DVD-ROM drive so I have no surprise my 9200 performs the "reading" job well.

Hi 'Addict,
Just to go back to your original question - "Crion" is spot on with his comments.
I HAVE an 808i. I looked long and hard at the upgrade path. I HAD a g08 at home when looking to upgrade from 600 series drive. Sent it back - hated it. I've listened to the 808i thru 7000's and 5500's in direct comparison with the go8. It knocks spots off the go8 in terms of detail, clarity and the amount of information it appears to get off the disc. I wasn't convinced that it would - basically driven by the same sort of assumptions that appear to abound in the forum right now. But I was wrong - and the difference was such that it made me prepared to part with the ���'s. And I've not regretted it for a moment.
So my advice to you is to trust your own ears - NOT someone elses. And for the sort of upgrade costs you are looking at.... well you have a head start!!
Hope this helps...

Thanks all for the input. This 808.2 hanging out there is a big unknown. I really don't like the fact the 808i would not be upgradeable to the latest version. To me it seems like they really aren't as interested in the customer. People purchasing this level of product should not feel they have to start over. I would think the customer would be the number one priority at this level. However, I am not sure Meridian is as customer focus as they should be. When I was recently talking with a dealer, not once did he mention their customer service, just their engineering ability.

I just wanted to pass along that I heard back from a recent inquiry to Meridian-America. Basically it looks like the 808.2 will be released in January. They suggested I should be able to hear significant improvement over the G08 through DSP 5200s. They have spent a lot of time auditioning the 808.2 as well as "competitors". They confirmed the current 808 is not upgradeable to the new version since it was designed to be the best as a whole rather than as just a sum of their parts. Changing a part would not necessarily give you better performance.

Knowing of this substantial upgrade makes the decisions all the more difficult. We're starting a bathroom remodel and I pretty sure the better half would not be too pleased if I went the 808.2 route.

AA, it all comes down to the value we place on such things and what they contribute to quality of life. I chose 8k's instead of a new kitchen

Good one Nick. LOL

It's just a pity that the back of them never get quite hot enough to fry an egg (like some Amps I've had previously)

Much prettier and more practical than any kitchen anyways.

You may die from malnutrition but at least you'll die happy (God forbid!!)