I see that the product page for the Audio Core 200 has been removed from the Meridian web site, and that it does not appear in the latest product brochure. So it must have been discontinued. This was hardly a surprise - the unit had been in production for over ten years and was definitely showing its age I always had mixed feelings about the AC200. One the one head, I liked the concept of a compact desktop Meridian setup, consisting of an AC200, a pair of DSP3200s and (for the bold) a DSW subwoofer (to sit under the desk). On the other hand, I thought the AC200 was deficient in several glaring respects. If only it could decode high res audio via USB (it's USB input was limited to 44.1/16). If only it could decode MQA. If only it did wireless streaming. If only it had a full size, Meridan Prime quality headphone jack/output on the front of the unit instead a sad mini headphone jack on the rear of the unit (this particularly annoyed me). If only it had Trifield processing (though I'm probably the only person who cared about this). Meridian certainly had plenty of time to development an AC200 Mk II, but never did so.

With the Audio Core 200 dead and buried, one wonders whether the 200 series offers a suitable replacement. The 218 probably comes closest. No headphone jack or USB input, but it does have an ethernet jack and (for those of you who still use TIDAL) it will decode MQA. And it has a SpeakerLink output, so it can serve as a controller for a pair of Meridian DSP loudspeakers. But it appears that the 218's DSP software is missing some of the features the AC200 had, including the ability to adjust bass and treble and adjust the width of the stereo image. Is this right?

G68, G91, G98, DSP3100C, DSP3100 (x6), M80 (x3)