Meridian 808.3 vs Concert Fidelity 040

I have heard the Meridian and it is quite good, personally I would stay away from the Concert Fidelity, the company doesn't have a long term track record in the US and if you have problems you may have an expensive boat anchor.

I would recommend you listen to the new EMM Labs Dac 2X SE we demonstrated this DAC at the New York Audio Show and Alan Taffel wad blown away by the dac, it is extraordinary sounding.

Dealer disclaimer

Sorry Audiooracle,

I think your suggestion that the Concert Fidelity DAC would be risky to purchase is based on your desire to push your product. Concert Fidelity has been around for close to twenty years, Mr. Tusada is one of the finest designers and builders in the world and the company has a great importer here in the US and retailers offer excellent support to their customers.

I own the CF 040 DAC and find its performance on redbook CD still to be the finest I have heard up to the present time. A dear friend has the EMM Labs DAC 2X and thinks its terrific on high rez formats, but we don't know how it compares with the CF 040. He will be coming to my house in the near future so we can make the comparsion. Based on my own experience I find the Cf 040 to be at a much higher sonic level then the Meridian piece.

I preferred the Ayon CD5s to the Meridian 808.3 in my system though the Meridian was very nice.

Hi Cyrus,

the Meridian is a reference CDP but the CF (with a good CDT) is much better. Briefly: 1- more analog; 2 - more life-like.

Best regards,

I agree with Teejay concerning build quality, reliability and sound quality of the Concert Fidelity line of electronics. I recently had my CF line stage and amps upgraded by The designer. Turnaround from my house to Japan and back was one month and both upgrades were quite empirical. The DAC is non upsampling one bit technology. This makes for a lush, vivid, incredibly musical presentation with a mid-range to really "stop you in your tracks" and just listen and smile! Top notch gear from a Japanese master! Before you buy any DAC-listen to the 040!