In your experience, do smaller Dev shops typically pay less and have fewer benefits than larger corporations?

That would be a false assumption. Large companies can easily lose the ability to please everyone and it is easier to simply give nothing. Small business can be specialised and can attract the best talent and culture which result in the fun stuff. You can't and should not try to generalise this though.

For me it's more important that I'm working with people who I like and that I work on something I feel is meaningful.

From what I've found, yes, that's usually the case. Big companies tend to pay more.

I've been at a small company for a couple of years, they recon that at big companies you get pigeonholed and job doesn't vary much, my job there has been 1 year on 1 team doing pretty much the same thing day to day then moving to a different team doing work that's more varied simply by being research rather than product development. To me that sounds like uni friends experience of big companies so not really convinced.

I'm updating my CV this weekend so may find out before too long.

Smaller dev shops can be more fair if theyre setup as a consultancy that hires you as a corporation or if theyre setup as a cooperative.

All dev shops pay far less than they should (big companies actually worked together to keep salaries down! That google developer making 300k should probably be making 400k at this point)

In the end you will only get a good deal when you setup your own dev shop as an owner.

It depends on the area. Smaller population centers are usually lacking in qualified people so a small company may be willing to offer more to have any hope of hiring someone.