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Meridian 808 or NOT Meridian 808

For sometimes I've been eyeing on the Meridian 808 - very nice sound, expensive nevertheless. I just don't know if it's worth the money. There are too many CD players out there, making it difficult to really know which one is the cream of the crop. Does anybody find considerably better player for red book CDs than Meridian 808? Thanks.
svhoang

Showing 2 responses by islandear

islandear
208 posts
 
The Ayre c5xe is a great platform. It is a dedicated 2 channel CD/SACD player that costs well under $7K. It's SACD performance is outstanding, as is its Redbook reproduction. Having said that, as a Redbook player it is not in the same league as the 808. But at half the retail...
islandear
208 posts
 
I agree with Pardales, once you're looking at spending that kind of money you have to hear the cdp in your system before taking the plunge. However, my experience with the 808 was the opposite, it was vastly superior to the G08. That is, (looking at my notes), the soundstage was only slightly larger but there was much greater detail and LF and HF extremes were reproduced with greater ease. While the G08 is an excellent platform, the 808 is one of the best redbook players available. But, it costs three times as much as the G08, so the bang for the buck award would have to go to the G08.

And there are several other players out there now which rival the 808's performance. Many for a few thousand less. Take your time, and insist on in-system auditions.
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