Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Worthwhile trading-in 808.2 for 808.3?

Hi Dom,

I'm not sure this is the right thread for this, but I will give you my reasoning for the change from Kaleidescape to Sooloos for music. I've had the Kaleidescape system for a few years now and in my current primary residence it is used strictly for DVD. It is GREAT! It's one of the best, most enjoyable AV products I've owned and used. In designing our future retirement residence I was trying to decide on a distributed audio system and as I already owned a K system and would eventually integrate it into the new residence, it made sense to buy a small server to suit my music needs. It works well, but really needs to be connected to a TV display to take full advantage of its interface. I have an iPhone app that also controls it, but neither it, nor Crestron, are nearly the match as far as interfaces go. The AMG guide can be hit and miss (10% wrong in my case) and the K software makes it difficult to correct some aspects of these errors without inputing everything manually. Some discs of a multiple disc set may not be recognized properly and there is no way to get them together, even manually. I hope that the same AMG guide in Sooloos is somehow better. I have also noticed that with 2300 albums (a number are multiple disc) the response can be slow. I am not sure if this is a result of the # of albums or a network issue. The K system at my other home is loaded with 1500 DVD's and is fast and reliable.

In the new residence I later (after distributed audio was all set up) made the decision to make a loft area into a 2 channel listening room and make the leap to the 808i.2 and the 7200's. Great system! I was a little disappointed that the 808i.2 was superseded so quickly but I did manage a great deal to make the upgrade. That was when I felt it would be worth the effort to change to the Sooloos. It will go directly into the 808.3 at the top quality level and will eventually integrate into my distributed audio system. I will eventually convert the K server into a DVD server and consolidate that server with the others from my other residence. The advantage of the K system is that it can do both. It really is the music system software that got me to look at other systems.

I do look forward to a side by side as both music servers will be up and running for quite a while. One is a bit for bit copy of the CD, the other is lossless compression.They both should be apodised in the 808.3, one via network input into ID40, the other into a coax digital input. It will likely be a number of months before I can report on this as I will be loading the Sooloos ensemble in my older residence and hopefully bringing it to the newer residence in the summer.

Regards,

Wayne