Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems 861/800 Why no 808 or 808.2?

So who here would pay for a lower cost 808i.2 without the CD spinner or analogue section? Oh, hang on, isn't that the apodizing update for the processors?

There's an interesting point here. Dare Meridian put lower quality stereo apodizing into, for sake of argument, the 861? If it does, it will certainly cannibalize 808(i).2 sales even if the 808.2 is (for early-in-chain upsampling/apodizing reasons) the ultimate in CD replay. If M doesn't, well that doesn't even bear thinking about.

My own opinion on this is that the processors will eventually get a stereo apodizing filter which is equal in quality to that in the 808.2, but that there is more than "testing" to the delay in releasing these filters. It's all about 808.2 sales.

I could imagine a scenario whereby the new filters worked on the front 3 channels only much as the early upsampling did.

If MIPS are tight, sure. Are you thinking of another reason?

I agree with you all and Im actually thinking of selling my 800 just to free up some rack space. Its (sadly) become redundant with the Oppo player in my system.

Having had the 808.2i on an extended home trial a while back, and comparing Redbook CD Replay on my 800 with the 808.2i, it is obvious that Apodizing represents a noticeable step forward when it comes to replaying 16/44 CD Discs. And I agree with Meridian when they say that it is now their best player for Redbook CD`s

However, in comparing CD`s played on the 808.2 with their TWO-CHANNEL 24/96 equivalents from DVD-A and DVD-V, I find that the High Res tracks still offer a superior music presentation than even the Apodized 16/44 tracks. (I have quite a number of (both old and newish) recordings on both Redbook and High Res 24/96 that I can use for comparison)

While Apodizing does a superlative job of manipulating the 1,411kbps bitrate from Redbook CD and presenting it in a very pleasing manner, I simply don`t think it can compete with the native bitrate of 4,608kbps from 2-ch 24/96 recordings. (FWIW, just compare those numbers to 128, 256 and 320kbps MP3!!!)

Having said this, I don`t think that Meridian would claim otherwise. Certainly their preference would have been for DVD-A to have become a major success as I know they believe that would have allowed them to offer even greater superiority and differentiation over their major rivals. Who else could offer the lower jitter MHR (non-HDMI) Digital Interface between Player and Processor and then take that still high-res Digital signal (with no Analogue losses etc.) all the way out to each of the speakers

Apodizing is a great advance for CD replay. But IMHO, High Res still rules the roost. Just hope that Bluray Music begins to take off

I remember at HH2 during the session in the listening room (808.2, DSP7200 and iPod) that the presenter (sorry, I can't remember his name - curly dark hair, glasses and, I think, head of research) described the effect of the upgrade to the 808 as about 90% of the way to bridging the gap between CD and DVDA performance. I assume he was talking about Meridian's CD performance...

We were fortunate to hear the 808.2 with both DSK 7.2k and 8k at HH2 - stunning set-ups.
Cheers,

Ed.

Ronnie,

I have no doubt that you are correct about the superiority of higher bit-rate recordings but Meridian (well, Bob) has repeatedly said that the repertoire is king. This implies that making the huge range of CD material as good as possible takes precedence over marginal high res. formats.

Hence the 808.2 is at the top of the range.

However, I actually think that Meridian is better known for its digital theatre multichannel systems.

Richard Hollinshead, Director of Engineering

Malcolm
Agreed, but as discussed here this week, would Bob or Meridian be saying this if DVD-A had become even a minor niche success, with the kind of Unit Sales Volumes currently enjoyed by Bluray??

I think not!!!

A possible analogy might be Ulrich Bez declaring that the "new" Aston Martin Hybrid is the best Car for the world we live in today.

Does that make it a better car than e.g. the DB9, DBS or Vantage V12?? I think not!!!

Bob is doing exactly what I would do, putting the best "spin" on the situation.

The 808.2 is certainly Meridian's best CD Player, but in a pinch, even Meridian would admit that their current PINNACLE of Music Reproduction remains the 800 playing High-Res 24/96 discs, preferably with the Digital 24/96 stream going all the way to a Pair (or more) of DSP's

Bob makes a very good spinner, or two

Thanks, VK.

Apologies to Richard if he's reading this!

[quote=VirusKiller]So who here would pay for a lower cost 808i.2 without the CD spinner or analogue section? Oh, hang on, isn't that the apodizing update for the processors? [quote]

Oh please don't get my heart over exited! Please!!!

But one point of clarification that I have asked before, my understanding is that apodizing is most of it but not all. There is also some secret Meridian magic in the 808.2 above and beyond the apodizing. In that case your first alternative is the more desirable one for me.

I wish Meridian would clear that up for me so I could be enlightened to drool correctly for the right fantasy.