Reference Upgrades

[Crion]

My dealer performed the 861v8/ID41 upgrade this weekend. Initial impression is very favorable and I already had one fantastic listening session with Depeche mode Violator highres multichannel. It's been running for about 20 hours so far.

[JSCC]

Originally Posted by Crion

My dealer performed the 861v8/ID41 upgrade this weekend. Initial impression is very favorable and I already had one fantastic listening session with Depeche mode Violator highres multichannel. It's been running for about 20 hours so far.

Hi Crion, care to share the "sound experience" vs "before the upgrade". Of course, I am referring to stereo as don't have the "surround" setup you have. That will be a long way to go for me. Still a dream as of now. Cheers!

[Crion]

Certainly, these are my initial findings.

The scale and dynamics have been extended, the difference between soft and strong sounds are more heard. I found myself raising the volume because I could hear more and more into the music.

More clear, as in better glasses. Bass seems better extended and with better definition, highs better with better definition, same with mids. Speakers disappear even more, instruments are each heard with their specific ambience. Better depth.

A worthwhile upgrade as I think it sounds like a v8 "should" sound compared to the previous 861v6; - fantastic!

[tdavism3]

My dealer upgraded the 808.3 I purchased from him and, in my opinion, the upgraded is very worthwhile and represents a noticeable improvement in performance. To me, the big driver in deciding to upgrade was the USB input for streaming from our mac. Originally, I bought an Esoteric K-03 over the Meridian due to the lack of 24/192 streaming on the Meridian. As soon as I heard that the 808.3 could be upgraded to incorporate the 24/192 streaming functionality the decision was surprisingly easy for me.

[Crion]

Cool, I haven't tried the new 24/192 USB input yet.

[tunes]

Would like to know more about your usb streaming experience. I am using the 808.5 through sooloos mc200 with ipad app. Would be interesting to compare with USB.