Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Streaming Sooloos v Apple tv & mac

Hi Ronnie,
I turned the audio midi on the mac off, as advised by computeraudiophile - a really good site with lots of interesting ideas about using computers as source components.

I really wanted to try out Amarra, as it is meant to be very good, however Amarra as I understand it works with FLAC files, and, as I had the majority of my music saved as WAV files, I didn't want to shell out the $695 for a program which I had no idea whether or not it would improve the sound of my mac and to what extent, and would require me to convert all my music myself. I figured I could spend that money more sensibly on a DAC, as at least I knew what I was getting. Having tried them, I just wasn't that impressed.

Again, in terms of async DACs, the one which I was thinking of would of course be the Ayre. The Ayre currently costs $2500 compared to �2000 for the Sooloos ($3300). I figured I would rather buy into a 'one box' system, all components in one box, the unit made by one manufacturer. I now don't have to have my computer in my listening room, and there are no whirring fans due to the Sooloos cooling by convection. On top of that, when playing music sampled at different bitrates through iTunes and the Ayre, iTunes will only spit out one bitrate at a time - you actually need to quit the programme and reboot it to get it to lay other resolutions, which is not something I could put up with if I'd just spent $2500!!

In the end I guess I just don't trust a 'jack-of-all-trades' mac mini to be as good as a system set up to do one job and one job only. Sure, there are things I could have done to make it sound better, but you can never get away from the fact that it's a computer designed to do as many things as cheaply as possible... the weak link in the chain would still be there no matter what you put next to it.

My mac mini only has 1Gb RAM anyway, so in order to bring it up to spec with the 'ideal set-up' advised by Amarra/computeraudiophile, I would have had to spend another �300-400, or bought a new one entirely, which would have ended up costing more than Sooloos in the first place! And who know what further upgrades would be needed in the future? I'm not saying you can't get a computer to sound better than Sooloos (if I had DCs money I'd be there in a shot), just that I couldn't with the system I had, and I would rather have a 'fit-and-forget' approach to my hardware.

Sorry for the rambling reply, and other questions just fire 'em over. I shall try to be more concise next time!

Henry

The only (and main) problem I see with the MC600 is the limiting storage space, I wish there was a way to expanded or to connect my NAS to access my 3TB iTunes music library - unless there is a solution that I'm not aware of.

Perhaps the MC600 can be set up to use Both 2Tb Drive Bays......rather than in a Mirrored set up

External backups would be required anyway......so if that was your sole concern, then it would worth checking out to see if it's possible

I've heard (from a Meridian dealer) that it will be possible to change the RAID mode and disable the mirror to increase available storage capacity space. However, we will not know for sure until the product is officially released.

If they do it; I hope this option is also made available for the TwinStore, as I would take the hit on availability for the extra storage space (if/when I need it).

Regards,
Carl

As with many of the other Mac audio software solution it's possible to try the software for a period of time for free so no need to pay to try. To date I've tried Amarra, Pure Music, Decibel, Audrivana and Fidelia. I currently use Pure Music with a range of AIFF, FLAC and WAV source files.

I've found there can be a noticeable difference in presentation style between software products and different settings within the same software so it's worth comparing if the Mac platform allows. Similarly other modification to OSx and hardware features can have a noticeable impact on the audio presentation.

I use a dedicated audio optimised Mac Mini with Pure Music software running in memory and integer mode via an async USB-SPDIF bridge to M DSP's.

Avii

Exactly why I chose not to go down that route! I didn't want to end up spending almost the same amount of money to get another computer that is partially optimised by me (and probably not quite perfectly either!), that I would have to keep updating bits and pieces here and there as new ones came out/needed more RAM etc... I figured I'd rather let Meridian do it all for me

Henry

I understand. I went with a open solution not for cost but because I wanted performance flexibility rather than being tied to in essence what is M closed version of a PC source.

Avii

As someone who's lost (twice already) all my music files due to bad WD Ext HDD I would suggest to have some sort of backup/redundancy. I'd be hesitant to disable the mirror setting (if even possible at all). I know Gordon Rankin (from Wavelength Audio) has been using his MacBook for ages now to demo his amps and DACs at CES, and always heard the sound to be top notch, so I guess with the proper settings/setup there is no reason a PC/MacMini should not match or best M's solutions. I remember reading a couple of years ago someone comparing plain vanilla iTunes/Mac to the 800 sound and finding no significant sound difference. Still if the capacity issue is dealt with, I much rather buy the MC600 than go through the hassle of trial and error with my own solution (probably a MacMini with Pure Audio). MJC

I think the "appliance" approach can be an attractive feature in one way but perhaps a more limiting in others.

I know of at least one company that claim to do much of the work with regard to optimising a Mac based solution - http://www.mach2music.com/index.html

There's some feedback from different solution at Axpona that used this solution as a source.

Avi

I've been had all this time!

This conversation led me to do a bit of investigation of my Mac Mini's setup. We use it for both DVD playback and iTunes. Now most DVD content AIUI is sampled at 48K, same as broadcast usually is, and all my iTunes stuff is at 44.1K. Now I discover that, depending on the MIDI setting, one or other is being rate mangled for no reason :-(

I think it's time for a quick script. I'll keep it at 48K by default (for DVD through Front Row) but add a script wrapper to set the output to 44.1 before and after running iTunes.

Unbelievable!

On the upside when I set the output to 96K my 562V passed it through just fine, so you don't appear to need a V.2/3 to pass 96K :-)

Ian

Anyone know if Stereophile or similar magazine has done any comparative reviews between an off-the-shelf solution like the MC200/MS600 to a computer based package like the Mach2? Would love to get their feedback.

I may be worth asking the same question over on computeraudiophile. IIRC Chris Connaker has spent some time with a C15.

Avii