Cary 303 or Meridian 508.24?


I am looking to replace my current cd player and wanted to know if anybody has had experience/opinion about the Cary 303 and the Meridian 508.24. Also, does the HDCD capability of the Cary significantly improve the sound to the level that it is better than what the Meridian, which doesn't have HDCD, could deliver? Thanks.
hughes88

Showing 1 response by bwhite

Anthonyf,

There are many HDCD CD's out there although I think the format is about to croak. Check out the HDCD website: www.hdcd.com for details on the format.

I used to own a Krell 300cd which had HDCD decoding and found that it sounded better than standard redbook CD's on that particular CD player. Today, I use an AudioMeca Mephisto 2 CD player and it plays redbook CD's better than my old Marantz SA-1 played SACD's.

My feeling is that NO ONE should buy a Cd player simply because of the HDCD format. I doubt they will be making it for much longer. There are remasters and formats out there that play on any CD player and honestly sound better than any HDCD I've ever listened to.

I've heard great things about the Cary CD player but mostly from people who just seemed to like Cary in general and were perhaps a little biased. The Meridian is a great player too. Another great player to check out in that range would be the Electrocompaniet EMC-1.

If you want to buy your LAST redbook player try out the Audio Aero Capitole or AudioMeca Mephisto 2. These two players are where its at right now in high end.