Hi Meridian Folks,

I have yet to own a Meridian piece of equipment so was very pleased to come across this forum. My current system consists of a Mcintosh C2200 Valve pre-amp, a Mcintosh MC2000 Valve power amp and Sonus Faber Guarneri Memento Speakers all deriving their illustrious signal from a Denon DVD 2930 player frown

I have been looking at all sorts of CD players and the Meridian 808 is at the top of my list. I see that it is possible to get a i version with pre-amp capabilities.

My question is, is it worth it to plonk for the i version for future flexibility. Although I have a pre-amp now that could change and having the i version would allow that to be a consideration. How good is the pre-amp of the 808? I understood that whilst many of these high end players have variable outputs and some have pre-amps they are not really designed for it and are not the best way to connect to a power-amp.

I guess the other advantage of the i version is that I can utilise its DAC for things like Sonos players etc.

Any thoughts would be most appreciated.

howiebrou

Avid Acutus, SME V, Benz Micro LP / Van den Hul Colibri XGP, Audio Research Ref 2 Phono
Meridian Sooloos C15 + MD600
CH Precision C1 DAC
Constellation Audio Virgo and Centaur Monoblocks
Sonus Faber Aida