Bryston SP2 vs Meridian 861

Absolutely, the 861 is Meridians best 2 channel DAC, it just comes standard with bonus channels.

I know your speakers are not digital yet, one day soon they may be. My new ones have a digital crossover, so my signal is digital through my Meridian all the way to the speakers crossover.

"So are you saying that the DAC inside the 861 would produce analog signal for the amplifier at the 2-channel music performance level better than the straight analog route through the SP2?"

Yes!, shorter analog signal path = BETTER!!!!, no interconnects and minimum 8 extra contact points eliminated and op amps and impedance matching stages eliminated etc= BETTER.

Why do audiophiles ignore the fact that most companies like Meridian, bryston, Theta, Burmester and Halcro for example put their best DAC technology in their Prepros! and everyone wants to skip the efficient proper route and run an analog signal into a DIGITAL PROCESSOR. Instead of using the prepro how it is designed to be used! To me if you don't have a tt, worrying about an analog pass thru is like not buying a computer because it doesn't have a 5 1/4" floppy drive. What's the point to split valuable funds simply to buy 2 DACs? I cannot make sense of this other than it is a habit or conditioning based on ritualistic system design based in the two channel tradition. Maybe you could tell me where the disconnect is for you?

Basically you can skip a high-quality external DAC/SP2 combo because the 861 DAC would be better sound-wise anyway?

Let me tell you an even more relevant story, you'd be hard pressed to find an external DAC that run analog through the SP2 would sound better than the SP2 used a s a two channel dac! The 861 would sound better yes, easily.

I'll speak for myself, 2 channel is a joke compared to surround, with the 861 2 channel CD's surpass the best LP has to offer with an ease that is downright frightening to the analog protagonists who often believe multichannel is incapable of high fidelity. I will tell you that the 861 playing two channel is not as good as LP has to offer. Interesting no?

I have the 861 in my home theater and the AudioNote M10 (tube preamp) and EMMlabe DCC2 (DAC and SS preamp) in my 2ch system. I am consistently amazed at the excellent musicality of the Meridian (I use a Denon 5901ci for digital source in the HT ) compared to my other preamps. If I had one system for HT and music, and no analog sources as stated above, I would, without a doubt, buy the Meridian.

If your main player is the 596 than go for the Meridian. The DAC's in the 861 and G68 are the same if not better.

I had a G68 which was the best sounding digital pre-amp for music I have ever owned. Movies were also the best with the G68.

D_Edwards can answer this better than me but I believe the G68 sounds very close to the 861 but will save you a ton of money.

I recently sold my G68 but not to upgrade but rather downgrade. There is just not enough time in the day to fully enjoy it and felt it was going to waste as a glorified football watching sound system.
If I had more time to spend watching movies and listening to music I would have kept the G68 without question.

Hope this helps.

Mike

This is probably a silly question, considering that Meridian is known for digital technology, and the price difference between the 861 and SP2 has to speak for something. But I just have to ask. Has anybody compared the SP2 and 861 when a digital source (preferably a CD player) is plugged into their respective digital input. I am still talking about 2-channel music listening. However we are now using a digital source and the direct comparison between the 2 pieces of equipment.

Apparently Stereophile praises the digital side of SP2 so much that I am wondering if the 861 is really worth the money. The remainder of my system is the Ayre V5xe driving the Infinity Prelude MTS on the stereo side. So from the absolute sense, does 861 really outperform SP2 on 2-channel digital? And from the relative sense, in order to hear the difference between 861 and SP2 digitally, does it take much better equipment than what I have?

I prefer the sound of the 861 to the SP2 with digital input but I rarely listened to either in stereo. I suspect it's the same as with MCH. However, the 861 has MRC and the SP2 doesn't so that may make some difference.

Kal