As a DVD player the 800v4 is a brilliant unit. The picture quality is excellent for DVD resolution and certainly better DVD output than my blu-ray player.

When it comes to CD playback, again the 800v4 is very good. I have an OA23 (192K/24bit analogue audio output card) in mine and that, connected to a 557 power amplifier, was the best I'd heard until I tried an 808...
The original 808 was the same a 800v4 without the video hardware, and I believe that placed less of a demand on the backplane, so had a slightly better sound.
Meridian have improved over the years with the .2, .3, .5 and .6, each improving and extracting the extra details from the CDs.
I now run an 808.5 directly into a pair of DSP6000's and that is all I could ever desire from CD playback. I still hear things I'd never heard before on some tracks! Its a bit like re-discovering your CD collection...

Before all of this I used to run a 568.2mm and 598 combination, so can definitely guarantee that you'll get a lot more out of the 800. It is very similar to the 598 but just more - more bass, more detail, better, smoother top end - basically better engineered.

I've had G-Series - G98, G68, G61, etc and I still think the 500 series is the absolute bargain. Most used linear power supplies (the 596, 598 and latter CD spinners used SMPS power supplies) but had a more engaging sound than the colder G-Series kit.
The 800-series just expands on the 500 series and is bigger and better in pretty much all respects.

Cheers,

Steve

Main: 861v6 (LPS), 808v6, UHD722, DSP8000SE Anniversaries, DSP5200.2HC, DSP7200.2, SW1600, Sky Q, Cambridge Audio BD, Roon, M80
Office: 861v4 (LPS), 818v3, 800v4, HD621, M&K S150P, DSP5500HC, M&K MPS2810 sub x2
Son's system: 861v4, HD621, DSP6000.2, DSP5200HC, DSP33
Spare: MCD, 100 Series, 200 Series, 500 Series, F80s, C15s.