Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Apodising Firmware Update (Unofficial)

You are correct Frank. The source is the 5200 firmware as there is a 'before' and 'after' to which to locate and therefore extract the apodising code. I was a DEC Alpha programmer not a DSP programmer so architecturally things are quite different, but when I heard about this I was somewhat sceptical, but it obviously works and kudos to Erwin for getting it to work.

However, whether it is optimal, is another matter. The 5200 apodising firmware was not well received for whatever reason, too late in the processing chain or a sub optimal filter I do not know. Meridian have stated that there is more than one way (set of filters?) to implement apodising and that their listening tests, they found that the one requiring the most resources was the one that sounded best. I was there the day that apodising was formally announced to the mass public in the form of the 7200, 808.2 and G08.2 - worth reading the launch thread as hindsight is a wonderful thing but important to understand that priorities do change with time and management. I asked (1:1 with people right at the top that should know) about apodising, not at the time realising quite what a killer app it was going to be, and was told that at that particular point in time, apodising on the G08.2 was not quite there yet as it was currently being 'squeezed in' as the G08.2 was not as resource rich as the 808.2. Is the 5200 variant a compromise over what can be achieved, again, I can only say was what I remember from being directly communicated to me that day with my limited knowledge of apodising.

I do hope that this does not prevent Meridian from releasing an official version. It may well be the case that a version optimised for each piece of kit will provide even better performance.