Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Firmware version check 818v3

Is it possible to check the firmware version of my 818v3? And if, what’s the procedure?

Regards,
Patrick

With every other piece of Meridian equipment, you'd press the MSR display button whilst the unit is in standby, and it will show what firmware is loaded.

Cheers

George

It is checked as above. Current version for the 818 is 4.00.

Oke thanks, I’ve got firmware version 4.00, so I'm up to date.

Patrick

Errrrrm - possibly not.

There are two versions of 4.00 - one pre MQA and the other post MQA.

You need the latter to decode MQA correctly.

Quite how one checks the difference I don't know. In my case the TIDAL desktop app refused to recognise my 818v3 @ 4.00 as MQA-capable.

You also need to load the latest Meridian USB drivers if you are using a Windows PC as your source.

Where did you hear this?

Exactly. There is only one version of the firmware on the service side of the Meridian website and it is listed as being for 818 version 1, 2, and 3.

Cause for concern!

Could I ask a question as a simpleton. Does this also apply to 808v6 (upgraded from V3) which also has V4.00 as current firmware. Ostensibly the same as 818 and often referred to as 818 with CD player?

You prompted me to check my 808 which was upgraded to V6.

On checking firmware is V4.00, however one more press on display (in standby) shows product serial number, next press gives following message "Missing ID40, IE48, +"

Why this message and what does it mean?

Is this incompetence manifesting itself with respect to the provider of the upgrade i.e. not deleting cards removed on upgrade? Or just normal for Meridian?

I believe I have ID41 card in 808 and I think everything functions perfectly.

Hector

You would get similar messages on 818 and 861 after an upgrade if they had not been retyped.

Hi Bruce
Thank you for your prompt response.

Could you please helpfully define "retyped" with more detail.

Thanks in advance.

Hector

After an upgrade you have to type the machine which in the case of a 818 or 808 sets the analog output to fixed or variable. It is part of the upgrade procedure to re type the machine. While this has no effect on a DSP based system it still makes a difference in the upgrade. The machine may display a rogue card or missing card until it is retyped.

You can type the machine by pressing the volume up button for a few seconds while in standby to put it into the type mode.

The sequence of events that led to me finding this out went as follows:

- purchased an 818v2 from a premium partner in ~March 2016
- purchased a second 818 (v3 upgraded from v2) from a well-known private Meridian reseller in ~March 2017
- started my TIDAL subscription in March 2017
- confirmed MQA worked using my Explorer2 (so the Windows source had the correct USB drivers)
- noticed the second 818v3 (upgraded) did not appear to recognise MQA when fed via the USB or Sooloos
- had my 818v2 upgraded from v2 to v3 by the premium partner who originally supplied it in ~September 2017 - MQA worked OOTB
- had my second 818v3 (upgraded) software updated by the premium partner on their advice ~November 2017 - and now MQA worked

The explanation (from the PP IIRC) was that very early versions of the MQA capable 818v3 would only work with demo MQA files and that certain "keys" had to be updated to work with MQA files in the public domain.

I remember thinking that having two different versions of the software with the same version number was counter-intuitive but it did occur to me that if the keys were not embedded (as indeed they should not be in good software design) then the software versions were actually the same and it was the keys that differed...

I would be very interested if anyone thinks that above explanation in wrong.