Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Streaming 500GB: how many albums?

Hi,

How many albums (FLAC format) would fit on a 500GB MC200 or C15?
The Meridian MC200 data sheet mentions 'approximately 1000 CD albums in full lossless quality via its internal 500GB drive'.

I've also read on this forum that appr. 1500 albums would fit on a 500GB C15.

So which number is more accurate?

Cheers,
Bob

Figure a "CD" was designed for 60mins with is approx 600MB.

FLAC (like MLP) and many other lossless formats get about 50% size reduction.

So figure on approx 300Mb. per CD.

500,000MB / 300MB = 1666 CD's.

ROUGHLY.

So the 1500 approximation sounds about right.

But also keep in mind that on some of these systems the Operating System, Swap Files, Caches, Indexs are on the same Hard Drive. So you don't get the whole 500GB. And that 500GB is also usually unformatted.

And there's also metadata- bigger cover-art files take up some space too

Hi,

My C15 (500g HDD) is now full with circa 1450 CDs on it.

Regards,
Carl

Is there a way to tell how much of my MC200 disc space I have used, importing a lot of DVD-A's which makes it more difficult to estimate.

Don't know if the FLAC export will export hires as hires or just reduce everything to standard FLAC. The size of the export might provide a clue as to disc used. Also I assume that the Sooloos backup file has some compression, can anyone confirm?

thanks

David

Compressing an already compressed file doesn't normally yield much in the way of further space saving so I doubt that the backup will be much difference in size if it even compresses at all.

Hi David,

On a C15, it is from the home menu, top right hand side of the screen, then select information. Sorry I don't know how this translates to an MC200.

Sooloos can export in native format ie how it is stored on the Sooloos system. If source was hi-res FLAC then the export will also be hi-res FLAC.

You can also export in a compressed format, for use with iPods etc; though I don't personally bother with this.

To back-up the audio on the system, I recommend using BACKUP not EXPORT, it is differential so you only back up the changes not the whole system each time.
On restore, it shows what's missing and gives you the option to only restore the albums you wish. (Useful for me, as I currently have more albums than Sooloos disk space);

Fire up ControlPC and have a play.

Trust this helps.

Regards,
Carl

Carl

Thanks, with the MC200 you only get the option of controlPC or the iPad, neither of which provide the disc information required. While I am very impressed with the MC200 from an audio point of view, the iPad application is a small step backwards from the Sonus App. While I am importing albums one at a time and sorting the metadata and the artwork, neither are available to view from the iPad apart from a small thumbnail art. Focus is also unavailable. Still purchased the MC200 to get the audio quality rather than the interface so job done really.

Having heard the audio quality and seen the data going in, I will be tempted to get a Control:10 if one comes up at a decent price, would also give a second zone.

One minor point on the MC200 is that Meridian have seen fit to include an LED which is as good as some torches!! Three layers of car headlamp repair tape have dimmed it down a bit.

Will post more once I have had the chance to complete the ripping and do some more listening tests.

regards

David

Mine registered as slightly over 1000 for the C15. The balance 300+ went to the TwinStore 2Tbx2Tb when it arrived.

With somewhere over 6000 CDs I'm going to have my work cut out for me...

Carl, you have done very well. As previously reported here my 2 TB HDD filled up at a little over 5000 (classical) CDs so I would have forecast that a 500 GB HDD would be battling to accommodate 1300.

Maybe it depends on how much data is on the CD. What was the nature of the 1450 you burned?

John

Be ruthless
Dump the crap
500GB sufficient for a mere mortal.