Albert, it is a *test*, for that is what AudioScience review does
To my mind it's not a very fair test test taking a c.15 year old piece of electronic equipment and comparing it to new, or nearly new gear, including the inherent assumption it's performing to spec, as it did out of the factory, after all that time. Not a fair conclusion either if, as stated, the purpose was to find out whether the high-end ever made a good processor - why not test a G65, or 861v8, rather than concluding 'we will never know' whether Meridian could have done any better with newer DAC ICs? Why not even measure an 861v4, which at least was Meridian's state of the art back at that time, not their mid-range component? Outside Meridian, why not measure something like a Trinnov Altitude 32, possibly today's state of the art?
The above notwithstanding I can't help wondering whether the whole premise is perhaps a bit flawed? Can how 'good' a processor is really be evaluated just in terms of measuring 2-channel DAC output, when the whole point of a processor is to process, i.e. change, the sound? Past a certain point, doesn't the quality of the processing algorithms and how well things like, e.g., digital attenuation to compensate for speaker distances, headroom required for different processing modes (e.g. Trifield), bass management, proprietary decoding of different audio codecs, filters, RC, etc., are implemented define to a greater degree how a processor actually sounds? Might they account for effects far bigger than small differences in measured 2-channel DAC performance? Also the extra processing circuitry in a multichannel unit is inherently 'noisy' - iirc, Richard Hollinshead once mentioned that the 861v8 would sound the same as an 818v2
if one removed all the multichannel processing circuits, etc.
I do not wish to get involved in a discussion on subjective opinions, but am always willing to listen. Do you have any data based rigorous level matched blind tests showing that the 818 is 'better' than, say, the Oppo?
Psychoacoustics places doubt upon whether blind testing is a valid approach to evaluating audio performance. Bob has talked about this -
http://www.theabsolutesound.com/art...s-bob-stuart-talks-with-robert-harley-1/I also find it an interesting article in terms of how much value should be placed on measurements vs. perceived audio quality.
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