Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems HD621 & DD/DTS

You can test it on any player and listen for your self. By switching manually to not decoding anything in the player. Only thing different here is, it does it automatically.

You can always get the DD/DTS bitstream out of the Oppo's SPDIF outputs (to a phantom source) even when decoding in the player.

I've not yet done the comparison due to (a) lack of time and (b) uncertainty over what material to use for the A-B'ing. Because Meridian simply says it's DD/DTS decoding algorithms are "better", it's not even clear to me where I should start looking.

I mean, if Meridian's decoding *is* indeed better than the best 24-bit certified off-the-shelf chips, how does the better decoding manifest itself? Better dialogue? Better ambiance? Better channel separation? Better steering? Better detail extraction? You see my dilemma...

Also, I think the comparison really needs to be performed with upsampling turned off in both HD621 *and* processor.

Interesting points Joel. Although it's not an apples to apples comparison, I'd just be curious to know if Oppo decoding (whatever it sounds like) + apodising, trumps straight Meridian decoding in the processor?

Cheers

George

Sure. Given the improvements I hear with apodizing (and no doubt you hear too ), my money is on decoding in the Oppo. I could try it with the Dido "Live from the Brixton Academy" DVD, but one of my surrounds is still on the floor (been decorating the room for months...).

But with DD/DTS (from DVD) there is no apodizing in the HD621 right?

Regards,
Bob

Hi Bob,

If you set the player to internaly decode (whatever any format is) it will output LPCM.

If the player is outputting LPCM over HDMI then the HD621 will upsample & apodize when required

Std-res --> Dejitter, Upsample & Apodize --> hi-res out
Hi-res ---> Dejitter & Pass Though ----------> hi-res out


Hope this helps.
Regards,
Carl.

That is exactly how the Oppo 83/HD621 is set up here. The only problem I'm still having is that the handshaking is flakey so that, sometimes I only have L/R transmitted and no surround. The player needs to be turned on & off to ensure correct transmission. I've spent many frustrating hours (with guidance from people here) trying to have it configured reliably but have given up for the moment. It actually behaved for two BDs last night.

Results are then excellent for BD audio but not great for SACD over HDMI. Others have confirmed this. Output over SPDIF is far superior and close to that from my modded Esoteric UX-1 LE. But that could be a property of DSD. Other reports suggest SACD is excellent ex the Oppo if decoded externally.

But each system is different so it can be dangerous to generalise.

John