Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Streaming Hardware with Roon Application Linking Roon zones with Meridian 210 and 218

I have recently purchased a 218 controller to go with 210 streamer as an additional zone (replacement for C15 and MC200 Sooloos).
It’s important to me to be able to link the two zones (play via third party amp/DAC and speakers).

I cannot seem to link the 2 Meridian devices in Roon despite Roon stating Meridian devices can be grouped.
I’m wondering if this is because the 218 is only Roon Tested and not Roon Ready and therefore is seen by Roon as just a Sooloos end point.
Do I need to swap the 218 for another 210 and give up on the feature of full MQA unwrapping via the analogue connection to my DAC?

Roon can only link devices that run the same protocol, the 218 runs the Sooloos protocol and the 210 runs the Roon RAAT protocol so you can not link them, 2 x 210 or 2 x 218 would work but not one of each.

Hi DA,

Following on from Russ' post if you view the signal path in Roon when streaming to the two different zones you will get visibility of the protocols being used.

* Roon Advance Audio Transport
* Meridian Streaming

Regards,
Carl

An MS200 also links with a 218, as would your MC200.

Neil

Neil,
Indeed every Meridian network endpoint with the exception of the 210 can be linked in Roon as they all use the Sooloos protocol, no doubt future devices will support Roon or others but probably not Sooloos as it is now obsolete.

Thanks all for responding. My dealer interestingly did not know this.

I will swap my new 218 for a 210 as it will no doubt be better future proofed.

One other thought, is there no way of using the 210 for fully unwrapping MQA without having Meridian active speakers? This would mean huge investment of ditching my existing set up (Cyrus and B&W) Is there another piece of hardware that would do the job?

I’ve read been reading on the internet about devices such as Allo Digione with Raspberry Pi providing a complete unwrap for relatively low expense. I don’t necessarily want to rely on my electronics skills to reliably listen to music though so would prefer a fully developed solution.

I wasn't aware that the Allo Digione has any kind of MQA support.

This relatively economic box does MQA Project S2 you could connect it via USB either directly to the core device or to a USBridge like a Sonore Microrendu or Allo USbridge .

I use both of these in two setups, you can of course get better DACs are available of course but at a cost.

Another alternative would be Bluenote, I have no experience with their products but maybe Chrislayer can add his experience.

Lastly I do not have an MQA DAC and do not miss having it, Roon gives you the first unfold it is just the final render you are missing, I would focus on getting the sound you like.

YMMV

Does the 210 not have analogue outputs? If so, it's DAC will do the full unfold (though currently it needs an as yet unreleased firmware update to render Roon-decoded MQA). The *quality* of the DAC in the 210 is another question.

I'm actually finding it hard to give advice here. Your dealer is clearly not knowledgable enough to assist you whilst also happy to flog you expensive gear that you do not need.

What is your existing kit? And what do you want to achieve?

There are plenty of potentially cheaper solutions which do not involve the 210 and 218 (which both have their limitations).

I think your last comment is spot on. I was more than happy with the sound quality of my Sooloos system and have moved to Roon purely because of the better interface.

Otherwise I am chasing rainbows that I previously didn’t know I needed... then again that’s half the pleasure (or otherwise) of hifi.

Thanks for the wise words.

The 210 does not have analogue output or its own DAC. The 218 does. Same form factor. My existing kit is Cyrus 8XPDQX DAC/integrated amplifier + Xpower Power amplifier + PSR power supply feeding B&W D805 D3 speakers. I’m happy with the sound.
As in previous reply I was just trying to get a future proofed reliable way of integrating ROON in to my set up to replace my Sooloos kit. As in any technology I was enticed by MQA as a free feature only to discover it’s not so simple. I like the concept of MQA, but whether I would notice the difference is another thing.

The 210 is connected to the Cyrus right? With Roon doing the first decode, if you want to stay with Meridian, you could replace the 210 with an MS200 (digital connection to Cyrus) at a fraction of the price and get another MS200 for your additional zone (analogue or digital output). My gut feeling is that both the 210 and 218 are complete overkill here. Sorry.