I have 3 SBs, 2 x SB1 and 1 x SB2 I extensively demmed my first SB against a Meridian 200 Transport modded and felt that they were pretty equal. This was using the Meridian 203 DAC (rest of kit at the time was Naim 62/140/Shahinian Arcs)
I then changed to an Arcam AVR200, whose internal DAC for stereo was worse than the SB1's standard DAC!! (IMHO) So I continued to use the 203. However the Arcam was just not up to job of driving the Shahinian Arcs so I replaced it with a Meridian 568.2 into a Meridian 557. Now the 568.2 isn't cheap but its DACs (and DSPs) are astonishing with 2 channel and movie soundtracks (I have a further 557 for some rear speakers) I also purchased another SB1 s/h and mated this with an Ion Obelisk (effecitely Nytech) Amp and a pair of s/h KEF Q15's, this has gone into the kitchen (Internal DACs) I then bought an SB2 and fell over a pair of Meridian D600's, a really interesting pair of active speakers with inbuilt DACs and preamplifiers, however they are currently in standard active mode driven by an SB1. Meridian 203 DAC and a Meridian 541 (pre-amp). This is in my dining room and the SB2 has gone to the main living room system. Meridian have given me information on how to get the DAC/Pre-amp functioning in the D600's and I'm looking forward to trying these with the SB1. I expect they will sound similar to the 203DAC. I haven't done extensive comparisons of the SB2 internal DACs and the Meridian 568.2 but first impressions are that the Meridian is comfortably better. The Meridian makes CDs played in my Denon DVD2910 sound great too! I also have a pile of bits to build a new and improved regulated PSU so exepect some modding soon. I did compare SB2 and SB1 internal DACs in the D600 system, and the SB2 generates a much more acceptable sound, less harsh in the treble. Anyway thats all for now (except that I did once own a Rotel RA-820BX, and a cracking little amp it was too.) Mr Perceptive -- Mr Perceptive _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
