Originally Posted by LeeRankin
Originally Posted by Longitude0
Don't worry at all about the rears being 18 bit. You will not be able to hear any difference (in a cinema one's brain is entirely distracted by the screen and the audio from the front).

Studios doing multiple copies and mixes demanded 24 bit so Meridian (like so many) could not buy 18 bit chips any more, and the listener demanded 24 bit anyway. Hence the change.
Interested in this quote, given the main change on the 568.2 was high res on the rears, is that model therefore a redundant option if moving on from vanilla 568 in the future?
I thought as soon as you has an 18bit speakers on the end of a processor it only output 18bit on all channels?


Anyway, in regard to the 568 vs 568.2 you can load the later software on it, V2.5b which gives it a more 'open' sound, but loses a bit of warmth, not as much as the G series but somewhere in between the two.

I actually really like the sonic signature of the 568.1, it has a real warmth to it which certainly helped with some early CDs etc.
However.... now we are moving into hi res and often paired with apodising filters on the speakers, both of which tends smooth early recordings nicely, the extra bit of bite from the 2.5b and of course the G series could be a good thing.

To me the 568 always sounded more like the 861, when I A-B'd them back in the day, they sounded really similar, the 861 just had a bigger soundstage, just sounded like a more grown up version of the 568. The G68 in comparison lost some of that 'liquidy' sound.

I think the 568.2 is definitely worth trying after a 568.

No Darling, I've had it months!