Meridian 808 Signature Reference CD Player

From the company that made the first-ever musical-sounding CD player—a new reference model to dream about

Talk about the mother of all dream assignments. Ten years ago, as an audiophile civilian, I had to literally beg the local hi-fi dealer for a brief, in-home audition of the now classic Meridian 508.24 CD player. The store owner cautioned he’d have to stand in my living room and wait for me to finish during the demo, but changed his mind when I (jokingly) mentioned how I sometimes preferred the uninhibited freedom of listening au naturel. (Trust me folks, this is a near foolproof tactic to discourage pesky hifi dealers and manufacturers from hanging around to watch while you listen.

Today, in a particularly delightful reversal of fortune, TAS Editor Wayne Garcia nonchalantly dropped me an e-bomb wondering if I might be interested in reviewing none other than the Meridian 808 Signature Reference, which just happens to be the best CD-only playback system ever offered by the world leader in digital technology. Could anyone with more than a single brain cell possibly say no?

The Meridian 808 couldn’t be more perfect for someone like me, who has no need for a player with video capabilities and two decades worth of compact discs sardined into every nook and cranny of her house. I jumped on the SACD bandwagon early when the Sony SCD-1 was first introduced, only to be sorely disappointed a year or two later when there were still only a few hundred SACD titles available. Next time around, I’ll keep a tighter grip on my wallet until there’s sufficient music to go along with the new high-resolution formats.

At present, with SACD as well as DVD-Audio nearly defunct, the 808’s only mission in life is to extract every last bit of information possible from the millions of titles that are available now—and for many years to come—on CD. Celebrating its 20th anniversary as the inventor of the very first audiophile-quality CD player, Meridian has marketed the limited edition as the finest CD playback it presently has to offer. Every component of this precision-built dream-machine has been handpicked for its sonic merits, right down to the last capacitor and resistor.

For comparative purposes, it would’ve been nice had I been able to conduct a shootout of all the top-flight players currently available. But then in a perfect world, I’d be 30 years younger and in a bikini on the cover of Sports Illustrated, instead of bent over a keyboard trying to describe the indescribable. (If you’re going to dream, you might as well dream big.) I’ve had the opportunity to experience a number of upper-echelon CD players in recent years, and although I wouldn’t complain if I had to live with any one of them, overall, I’d easily rate the 808 as the best I’ve heard to date.

The toughest part of this review has been trying to decide which of the 808’s qualities impressed me the most. There were several that just plain skyrocketed off the charts. The first is a spaciousness and three-dimensionality that I can’t imagine getting any better. The 808 has an eerily realistic soundspace that can fool you into thinking you’re a fly on the wall in the recording studio. I say “fly on the wall” because, depending on the recording venue, you can hear the walls, including the ofttimes elusive backwall. As far as depth of soundstage is concerned, you can’t get any deeper than that. Spatial cues and boundaries are so clearly defined that you’ll sense air and (in live recordings) bodies in front of you. It’s rather uncanny at first, as I initially thought my listening abilities had finally become so well honed I could predict notes before they were played. What I was hearing was the 808’s astonishing level of infinitesimal inner detail tipping me off with the slightest bit of air or body movement that a note was about to be played. I also thought I heard musical notes (some kind of percussive instrument) traveling down the side wall in my listening room. One time it was so distinct, I turned my head to follow it past where I was seated. Like I said, uncanny. (Or perhaps, I’m finally ready for the rubber room.)

Next, but no less impressive, is the startling speed and supremely powerful yet superbly effortless dynamics of the 808. In last issue’s review of the Credo loudspeaker, I attributed nearly jumping out of my skin while listening to Stanton Moore’s Flyin’ the Koop [Blue Thumb] to the McCormack DNA-500 amplifier. Though 500W of power is certainly capable of turning your bass driver into a sledgehammer, the 808 deserves the credit for turning that sledgehammer into a wrecking ball. It isn’t the loudness that makes you jump, but the lightning fast contrast between soft and loud. It’s like someone sneaking up behind you in the dead of night and setting off a firecracker. These stunningly natural dynamic contrasts were also evident in the quietest passages—you didn’t need to be blasting off cannons to hear the force, speed, and precision of every last note. (To clarify, the use of the word “force” here doesn’t mean the music is forward or in your face. I am referring to the way a note is naturally propelled from an instrument.)