Meridian 808 or NOT Meridian 808

I own a Meridian 800 Dax v4, and I listen a few times to a 808. And yes this one is a great player. We comparred it to a Esoteric X-01 limited, and the Meridian was superior to the Esoteric. I sold the G08 a few times and for the money it is a great player. But the 808 is from an other leage. But you need equipment of a very high level to understand the differences. At Audiogon you can buy an 808 for about 7800 dollar. For that money you buy a very impressive player. But every part of your system has to be of the same level.

I think I should at least do some traveling to check out the Emmlabs CDSD/DCC2 SE version. The MBL and Zanden stacks require too much work, cost too much, and probably outrun the remainder of my system.

Has anyone made a direct comparison between Emmlabs CDSD/DCC2 SE version and Meridian 808? Thanks.

Secondly, somebody claims the Ayre C5xe actually gives the 808 a run for its money. Any comment?

I do appreciate the comment about AMR. It certainly arouses curiosity from many people. I am just worried if the company will survive. Secondly getting quick service from oversea when needed is not easy.

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...

Svhoang, service on AMR products sold in North America will be done here.

I have had, in my home, Meridan, Ayre CD-5x, Wadia 861, Esoteric X-03, and the Meitner combo. For me, hands down, the Meitner won. The Meridian was a dealer demo, and fully borken in, they asked me to take it home and compare it to the Meitner stack. I found it to be more congested, and be much less accurate than the meitner, as well as more digital sounding. It reminded me of when I compare Linn to almost anything American, it had good pace, but not good soundstaging, not good definition against the meitner. It was better than the Ayre in almost every way IMHO, and the build quality is outstanding, there should be a dealer near you that has both.

Cheers,
C