Meridian 508.20, upgrade or add dac

A good Dac will cost more than the upgrade to 24 bit status. I own the 508.24 and it is a truly great cd player. There are reviews of the 508.20 compared to the 508.24. Obviously the 508.24 prevailed. The .20 was judged to be much mor drier in presentation. The upgrade is around $650. You could not find a Dac for that price that would compliment the 508.24 unless it was Meridian produced but again he price would over-ride the upgrade. Just my opinion from a Meridian 508.24 owner. Good Luck! Steve

Ditto! Go for the upgrade! You'll have to spend over
$1000 to get anything close to the $700 upgrade. Plus
you'll be saving another couple hundred for the digital
cable, or sell the 508.20 and get a used 508.24 I have
Meridian as well, it's an excellent product.

I did the upgrade about a year ago. The .20 was already providing terrific sound but I wanted to try the .24. I paid the equivalent of about $900. here in Holland and the job was done by Meridian's Dutch distributor (My guess a Crystal chipset). What I got in return was slightly more air in the presentation and sizzle in cymbals but I also got a clean-bill-of-health on the inner workings of the unit. The unit is given a through testing. A little extra piece of mind. Jim

Another way to go is have your .20 modified with Blackgates & Schottky's. If you like the sound of the .20 and want to extract all it's capable of this is an option.

Of course the best thing to do would be audition the .20 & .24 together but if that's not a choice I'd suggest going over to the Asylum & reading everything you can about these two players.