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Meridian Debuts Flagship 808.2 Signature Reference CD Player (25/3/2008)

The latest CD player from Meridian Audio Limited, the British firm that created the world's first audiophile CD player some 25 years ago, debuted to the public at the 2008 Sound & Vision Show in Bristol, UK. The new 808.2 Signature Reference is the company's latest benchmark CD design, featuring important advancements to both its digital and analogue sections.

"The 808 Signature Reference was the best compact disc player we had ever produced - until this new 808.2," says company co-founder and lead designer Bob Stuart. "The 808.2 is an evolutionary design, yet its refinements add up to what is in fact an almost entirely new piece of engineering. We're confident that it will unequivocally retain Meridian's position as the source of the world's finest audio CD player, bar none." Stuart continues, "This is very important to us, because the compact disc remains the primary music source for countless serious music and audio devotees, and at its best remains capable of remarkable sonic performance."

The 808.2 Signature Reference features improved clocking and buffering systems that together reduce coloration-inducing time-base errors or "jitter" to very nearly immeasurable levels - the lowest Meridian's widely experienced engineers have ever observed on any player. An improved analogue section, built to audio engineering's very highest standards and exploiting the finest components available regardless of cost, ensures full performance is maintained at its analogue audio outputs.

Significantly, the 808.2 employs an exquisite new digital filter developed by Meridian's research team. Bob Stuart, who is a fellow of the Audio Engineering Society, authored an AES paper in 2004 in which he recommended the development of 'apodizing' filters - filters that were minimum phase, with no ripple, causing no pre-echo: and thus offering perfect timing. He predicted that such a filter design would even be able to correct errors in the digital recording and mastering process itself. Indeed, CDs played back on the 808.2 Signature Reference can sound even better than they did in the studio! The new filter requires significant digital signal processing (DSP) capability, using much of the power of the 808.2's 150MIPS main processor.

Furthermore the 808.2 is the first source component to feature Meridian's new RJ45-based digital interfacing system dubbed SpeakerLink, allowing a direct, single-cable link from the 808.2 to any of Meridian's unique DSP Loudspeakers (or to a Meridian digital preamp/controller) via convenient, widely available CAT-5 'Ethernet' cabling. The first DSP Loudspeaker model to feature the new SpeakerLink connectivity is the brand new DSP7200, also launched at the 2008 Bristol Sound & Vision show. All Meridian models will soon feature this elegant new digital interface.

As with earlier flagship Meridian CD designs, the 808.2 employs a professional-component ROM optical-drive mechanism. In combination with Meridian's proprietary disc navigation and buffering software and hardware, this latest-generation assembly contributes substantially more accurate and reliable data reading and error correction than has ever been possible previously. Also on board is Meridian's proprietary Resolution Enhancement system, which upsamples 44.1/16-bit CD data to 176.4/24-bit with 48-bit internal precision, along with a newly refined delta-sigma digital-to-analogue converter system of reference accuracy, that can together extract from the finest CD recordings a degree of transparency, detail, and musical realism that simply must be heard to be appreciated.

Like its 808 predecessor, the 808.2 is engineered with separate high-current, 'over-built' power supplies for each individual circuit section or subsystem, and is assembled on a motherboard / daughter-card structural layout for maximum reliability, serviceability, and upgradeability.

Also like the original 808, the 808.2 Signature Reference is available in two variants. The standard 808.2 provides digital outputs in two formats including an upsampled 88.2 kHz output to exploit Meridian's proprietary MHR resolution-enhancement system when connected to a Meridian DSP Loudspeaker or surround processor, and analogue outputs that can be set for fixed- or variable-level, the latter permitting direct connection to power amplifiers.

The Meridian 808.2i is identical, but adds analogue and digital audio inputs, permitting it to function as a preamplifier/controller in a simple, but extremely high-performance two-channel system in conjunction with a power amplifier and passive speakers, powered speakers, or DSP Loudspeakers.

Availability: March

Suggested UK retail prices (Inc VAT):
808.2 £7,195.00
808.2i £8,250.00

www.meridian-audio.com