Having owned both variants of 5200 you mention, I currently have the 5200.2 and I’m very happy with them.

The SE for me really sparkled in the treble.. yes they are better, yes I would love a pair of SE speakers again but I’m not busting a gut to replace the 5200.2. They are a very very capable speaker and being feed from my 210 sound fabulous.

We have a 2 year old and I needed to replace the car to accommodate this hence the SE sale, I was lucky to pick up a pair of 5200.2 at a price I could complete both the car a speakers and have lived very happily with them for the last year.

My understanding is that firmware 3.16 is safe and tested by Meridian to load onto a 5200.2 giving you the MQA rendering in the speakers (hope I have this right?) this is something I need to check for myself as I’m not 100% sure what firmware mine are running as I write this

All Meridian SE speakers are limited to 24/96 as well and Meridian speakers do not accept 192 signals to the best of my knowledge?

As we look to progress up the Meridian tree I would not be in a rush to get rid of my 5200.2 and most likely would actually look to go up to a 7200.2/SE as I feel that would be a bigger upgrade for the money…

The question is can you live with a .2 model.. for me it was a yes and although I’d pick the SE if I had a choice side by side, I think part of that is knowing the SE exists and that peace of mind I had the best option there was in a 5200 cabinet.

Kind regards
David

G65, 210, HD621, DSP5200.2, DSP3300C, DSP3200,

NUC 7i5 Roon Core, Apple TV 4K, Blustream SW41AB-V2, Panasonic TX55fx802, EE8 switch

Multiroom - Ms200, Nile’s ZR4
Bedroom - 251