Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems 210 into Ultra Dac

It’s hit and miss as to whether anyone at Meridian responds.

Last year, Barry Sheldrick was extremely helpful in my exchange of several pre-sales enquiries on the suitability of adding a DSW.2 to my M6’s. He could not have been more helpful, like the Meridian of old.

Chaz MacCarron and Ryan Donaher in the US have always been very responsive and helpful with questions and issues I have had with my Ultra DAC. Just a week ago Chaz shared screens and helped me with a configuration problem I was having. I find the customer support service excellent. I do not like that M is not focusing on their Ultra and 818 DAC models to at least maintain some level of competitiveness.

Dear MarkR
Two questions, what led you to the Antipodes K50 and what analogue pre-amp do you use? I am considering the Aurender N20 and have also pondered the use of a high end analogue pre-amp to switch stereo sources.
Regards
Colin

Colin,

Since the pandemic started and I have been home listening to my audio system much more I have been making incremental improvements which have resulted in significant improvements in the sound. After Sooloos would no longer work with Tidal I switched to Roon and purchased the Nucleus to use as my core. I like using Roon as my music management system. I was getting a bit frustrated with the Nucleus crashing often and decided I wanted to upgrade to a music server. I wanted a server that was Roon ready. I researched servers which were Roon certified, read the reviews and comments in the audio blogs and decided that Antipodes was the best server for my needs.

I communicated directly with Mark at Antipodes who was very responsive to my questions. The K50 was simple to set up and simple to use, it has two computers one for the server and one for the player and you have different options for streaming and playing apps. I use Roon to stream and Squeeze to play. Also the 75 ohm digital input to my Ultra DAC sounds much better than the ethernet. The overall improvement in physicality of the sound and articulation of harmonics was major.

I did not consider the Aurender N20 because it has its own music system. A quality server makes a huge difference in the sound, the music source is so important in the chain. My audio systems since the 70’s have always had an analog preamp. I have the VTL TL 7.5 iii as my preamp and LAMM LP2 and M1.2 as my phono preamp and amps, respectively. I still listen to vinyl but mainly digital music. If I only listened to digital I would certainly consider and demo using a DAC with a quality preamp stage and invest more in the DAC and the server. A quality preamp makes a huge difference in the sound. I had sent in my 7.5 for upgrade to the latest series iii version and was using a an up to date VTL TL 6.5 which sounded better than my older 7.5 in many respects. The updated 7.5 is night and day better.

Mark

Having been able to spend a little time testing the K50's digital SPDIF output to my Bartok, I'm inclined to agree - a short amount of listening seems to indicate the K50's digital output sounds better than ethernet (which is a bit nuts as the Bartok streamer should be the dog's dangly bits, given the reviews, its price and relative age).

I need to wait for an RCA adapter to arrive to test the same output with the 818 and have ordered an AQ Diamond AES cable at the same time. Will let you know what I find... but I suspect the K50 will win (whether a Bartok with the external Rossini clock would better the K50 might be another test!)...

Hi Mark, thanks for the heads up. Great setup but the VTL retails for £33k in the UK, that’s $45.4k at today’s exchange so a crazy price. I was considering Nagra as a preamp but I’m still looking. I went the Meridian route in 2019 as I figured the 861 was the best multichannel preamp out there and I have many 5.1 discs I still enjoy. The decision to buy the Ultra came later and for me was the logical choice over dcs as it slipped right in to Meridian ecosystem and I am not disappointed. An upgrade to my power amps with new monoblocks may come soon but I want to improve my digital stereo source from the Oppo 205 and will now investigate the Antipodes.
Colin.

PM sent regarding K50 (flashing symbol).

Antipodes says their AES digital output sounds the best. I am also waiting for my Jorma Design AES cable to compare to their RCA version which I am currently using.

Good to know that ordering the AES cable was the right move I'm hoping to find out later today what the lead time is going to be (I've already paid for it, but they didn't know exactly when it would arrive).

I was hoping to try the 818 today with the SPDIF coax cable, but it seems these ports were removed from the configuration when the unit went back to Meridian for a repair - I've ordered a Surface tablet to run the Meridian configurator.

On the bright side, Meridian have agreed a path forward with my ID41 crashing every few hours (for those who know about this ongoing saga over the past couple of years).

Colin,

You got your wish 👍

You just need Tidal and Roon but it will be from the network input on your 818v3.

Native Control of Roon from your Phone.

VirusKiller you kept that under wraps quite well!

I saw this the morning and knew via the Roon signal path that it wasn’t over the Bluetooth connection.

I can’t check for MQA verification so someone else needs to verify but Tidal on my phone was showing MQA in the top right hand corner, On Roon the device is set to decode and render.

Cheers,
Steve M