Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems My journey with Meridian (and Shunyata, AQVOX etc)

I did not know what FUD means so had to look it up. I found this: "https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Fud

Although "fud" is widely accepted in Scotland as being a slang term for the female reproductive organs, it is generally used as a pejorative to describe someone who has just done something stupid …".

I assumed you did not intend to be that offensive so continued looking and found this in Wikipedia: "Fear, uncertainty and doubt is a disinformation strategy used in sales, marketing, public relations, politics, cults, and propaganda. FUD is generally a strategy to influence perception by disseminating negative and dubious or false information and a manifestation of the appeal to fear." As that is less insulting I presume that this is what you meant.

Who is John Swenson? I presume that "EEs" are electrical engineers? Do you have any links?

Yes FUD = Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt; marketing used to sell

3dit0r,

Thanks for the links.

Less insulting? You find that sentence insulting?

The FUD used by some cable companies is insulting (our intelligence).

Please note that the point I was making was not that the signal was damaged by vibrations on the cable but rather that the cable carries vibrations into the components.

My apologies, I missed this. Yes, Meridian has form on this with the ID40 (they didn't realize that the Ethernet cable was a conduit for noise getting into the 8xx, and subsequently provided special cables with the Anniversary 808, and then replaced it with the ID41). SPDIF is very different to Ethernet, and I would hazard a guess that it is a more understood technology by Meridian, but I would not discount the possibility. I don't have any evidence either way.

Perhaps I didn't explain myself very well (or maybe you didn’t understand me)... it's been a long week.

While there is no *predefined* clock rate (in much the same way as Amex has no preset spending limit), there is always a clock, the rate being set by the transmitter. The whole point of biphase is to allow the clock to be embedded into the signal (Wikipedia says about self-clocking signals such as biphase encoding: 'If the embedded clock signal is isochronous, it gets sent simultaneously with the data.', which is what is happening here).

However (unlike ethernet), it does more than just allow the transitions to be read. Every D/A converter needs a clock and I'm 99% certain on DSP speakers, that the clock that drives the D/A convertors is recovered from this timing signal. If the speakers had their own clocks, you'd have at least three clocks, all drifting apart.

Exactly, this was pretty much the point I was trying to make (except I was focusing more on the cable capacitance and inductance that alters the signal rather than reflections caused by a change in impedance).

This wasn't a point I was trying to make (at least in the message you replied to). From my perspective, I wouldn't rule anything out, but neither have I heard a conclusive difference (yet). I can see how it might make a difference with components such as the Shunyata power conditioners, by the very nature of how they work.

Ah the great cable debate. I have had very few audio enthusiasts say nay when shown the difference. Is there alot of snake oil on the uber expensive cables? Probably. It is not something that everyone can appreciate. For those that do, enjoy the adventure. Everything has to be listened to. It is best if done on your system and not in a showroom. I have had a couple of cases where even with the best of cables and power conditioners, the system owner cannot tell a difference. This brings me to a few conclusions:

1. The onsite equipment is so excellent that no amount of tweaks can make it better

2. The onsite equipment is unable to resolve the differences.

3. The onsite power is so clean out of the wall socket that power conditioners and cables are unable to do their job.

4. The system owner is unable to hear the difference.

There are people in this world that can't appreciate the difference between MP3 and MQA.

My 2 cents.

+1 well put

Nicely put Bruce +1

+1

There are way too many variables in each situation to ever provide a definitive answer to what works and what does not, each one of us has to some degree a hearing impairment compared to our youth, each of us has a different room acoustic environment, our power supply and management will differ, our equipment and setups vary greatly, the style and quality of recording is all over the place.

Then to top it off we have a lot of ourselves invested in our systems, the brain senses and responds to our pleasure points and urges us to pursue these delights and that my friends is our collective common disease of forever chasing our elusive audio nirvana ... I wonder if it is more addictive then cocaine ... it may provide the same amount of pleasure and pain.

Gerard.