DCS Puccini and/or Soulution 740 players? Anyone??

Interesting Cleop, the long-time Meridian dealer here said they could be upgraded...

Comparing can be a tricky thing, isolating only exactly one component with another. Don't you think? You have the 808.2? May I ask what system you run this with?

Hi Mtkhl567,

I do have an 808.2 (and used to have the EMM Labs) running directly into a DartZeel amp, driving Vandy 5A's. I'd like to try the PD, but I need something with a variable output (the Vandy's use a balanced line-level high-pass filter that plugs into the amp, so the DartZeel preamp -- which uses a 50 Ohm BNC connection -- won't really work for me).

Something tells me we deal with the same gentleman in the Pacific Northwest.

The Meridian 808 and 808.2 do look the same, but the inside of the case, the power supply, and the circuit-connection scheme have all been changed (or so I've been told), which is why the old units can't be upgraded.

I agree that changing a component can help you make a comparative evaluation, but not an absolute judgment, because of potential colorations elsewhere in the system. But that said, there are certain tell-tale distortions that, once removed, become somewhat obvious. The 808.2 simply sounds less digital to me than the EMM Labs -- less hard, more natural. I once heard the new DCS Puccini on Vandy 5A's and felt it sounded qualitatively a lot like the EMM Labs, but you can never be sure in someone else's system.

and what about the Soulution 740?

Cleop, thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences. I agree with you on the sound of the Meridian vs EMM/DCS. The PD/DZ pre run very well on normal IC too, I had my PD connected with the Evolution Acoustics SE interconnects before the 50 Ohm BNC Zeel cable and the sound quality can hardly be told apart, if at all. I haven't heard the DZ pre and power amps connected through SE interconnects (my old Valhalla's) for a long time, but I remember that the sound was still extremely impressive. Have fun with the 808.21i as it is a great component! I'm tinkering with the 24/192 high-rez downloads into my PD next, that should be fun.

Where do you get your 24/192 downloads? And what software do you use to play them? I'd like to try that too. I have a Mac computer, but iTunes doesn't seem to support anything more than 16 bit 48KHz files (some people swear it supports 24/96, but Apple couldn't confirm this, and the software itself indicates otherwise).

There are several websites out there:

referencerecordings.com
acousense.com
ultraaudio.com
2L.musiconline.no

just to name few, high-rez downloadable content is rapidly growing. I tried using Mac too, didn't work. You're better off with a asio4all driver on an XP based computer for now.

Good luck!

high-rez downloadable content is rapidly growing

Let's not get crazy; it's improving, but at a glacial pace. There is still a paucity of popular music in high res and it is often unclear if the tracks are simply upsampled or properly remastered into the higher resolution.

Speaking of one box cd player, you should really hear AcousticPlan's Vadi CD player. Its amazing and can go up against anything. It may be unknown but its good.
If you examine the way of how it built, you will see it's true merit!

Yssl (Yujean Kang, Tangram Audio), these forums are not for unsolicited promotion of product lines one distributes or sells. Sorry to play net cop and nothing personal, but someone would say something eventually...usually done by Audiofeil, the resident watchdog here.