Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion HiFi & HT Chat Moving to a Streaming Setup (A Bit of a Ramble, Sorry)

I'm interested in what leads you to think that?

My MC200 reset itself twice in the middle of importing 1200 previously ripped to FLAC albums and has done it once since. When it resets it loses the import queue and the play queue and stops playing. It becomes accessible again in less than a minute with no action on my part but the queues have gone. I am consoled by the fact that it seems to be doing it less often recently.

I might say the sales guy told me so.
But overall, I look at the profile of hardware and software and the price of the various devices in the Sooloos family. And I remember my experience where feeding the Oppo through the very recent HD621 was noticeably better than feeding it straight into the 8-year old G68 (SPDIF), and noticeably better than the Sonos feeding the G68 through SPDIF. And I hasten to emphaseze that I am no golden-eared fanatic, but this was noticeable even though unexpected: I was thinking bits are bits and I got the various devices for convenience.

I know there are other issues like jitter, but the G68 is supposed to de-jitter. So I attributed the change to apodising, the only difference I am aware of.

And this all made the story sound credible to me: the basic idea is always to feed the bits into the DAC, but some of the Sooloos devices do a better job of signal processing, particularly through apodising. And the argument I heard was that the ID40 and the MS600 were the most advanced, so if you don't have an 808 or 861 the MDS600 is the sweet spot of price.

I also didn't want to spend money on a C15, because I don't see any future in M investing in touch screen panels. This may have been cool when they made the Sooloos acquisition, but the C15 user experience is already obsolete compared to modern touch devices (iPad, the new Windows 8), and the price is 10x that of a modern tablet due to the economies of scale. So I think M needs to get out of this business and concentrate on the sound.

So a C15 wasn't an option. MC200: I had this belief in the higher SQ, and I wanted more storage. So MS600+MD600 it was.

Now that the user interface became a problem, that ruined my whole thinking. I think this is a major mistake on M's part: the Media Source devices like the MS600 and ID40 must work on their own without requiring a "core".

But in the meantime, I got a good price on an old C10. Which I won't use very much because it doesn't fit in my living room (it's a dang desktop, so last century!), but I can hook it up to the Ethernet.

Anders
From your posts above, it seems like the only reason you have for buying the C10 is for it to act as a Core.........which is fair enough

It all depends on the Price you're paying for it of course, but if you are just going to tuck the C10 away somewhere and not really "use" it...........then you might consider the MC200 in addition to the MS600 and MD600

The MS600 and MD600 will still play the same role as you envisaged.......i.e. act as Storage and Source for your main system

However, the MC200 will now act as the Sooloos Core (in place of the C10)........and it would have the advantage of being able to be used somewhere else in the house as a still high quality source for another system

If you plan on using the C10 for its User Interface advantages, then the above doesn't hold........but with the long rumoured new iPad and ControlPC apps on the way, the MC200 may prove to be a better, long term investment for your overall situation

The MC200 will cost around $4,000 (less discount).........so it depends on how that compares to the price that you're paying for the C10

Just another option to consider..........

There are two Control:10 versions,

C10.1 does not upsample.
C10.2 does upsample using linear filters.

The first C10s had a Sooloos audio card.
The later C10s had a Hybrid Meridian/Sooloos designed audio card.

(From Carls posts)

Cheers Tintin

Thanks Anders - My view is that it's possible that there is no difference in unbalanced analogue out and digital out between MC200 and MS600. The MC200 and MS600 both have apodising upsampling and the MC200 is the more recent product. As far as I can see the only difference on outputs is that the the MS600 has balanced analogue. An MC200 + MD600 would probably give you all you need including SQ (and a system core). I can't be sure about this because I haven't heard the MS600 and MC200 analogue outs side by side but it owuld be worth a listen. Alternatively, as Ronnie has said, an MC200 will give you a system core and a superb second zone with apodising upsampling - and I can be sure about that because I'm using the analogue zone on my MC200 as well as using it as a core and it sounds fantastic - the system it's driving has never sounded as good before.

The MS600 sounds noticeably superior to the already very good sounding MC200.......which in turn sounds superior to the C15 IMHO.

I believe that this is largely down to the "quieter" decoding environment offered by the MS600.......the lack of a 2.5in Magnetic Drive spinning at 5,400 to 7,200rpm being a rather large factor.

I also believe that Meridian have designed the MS600 from the ground up as a lower output jitter device, thus resulting in better sound quality being achieved.

My points above relate to the Digital Outputs from both devices.......when it comes to Analog Outputs, I also believe that the MS600 has better quality DACs than the simpler MC200.

A home demo would go a long way to seeing if the advantages of the MS600 are for you.......I'm sure your Dealer can easily accomodate this.

Thanks Ronnie - are those rankings based on head to head listening to the analogue and digital outs of the various products, or your reasoning as to what ought to sound better based on what you think is in them? Is there somewhere where M say that they have put better DACs in the MS600?

Btw, this is pure curiosity - I have absolutely zero intention to try or buy an MS600.

It's a shame that the additional zone "further signal refinement" box comes with DAC and analogue outs, someone looking to step up from MC200 a notch/further zone may be tempted by something cheaper without the add ons. A marketing decision I supposed but small boxes don't cost much these days and the components are there, quick phone call to China...(or Robert W).

Tintin

All based on Listening to the MC200 v the MS600 in an all DSP System........and then trying to understand the reasoning behind them..........(I had listened to a C15 into the same system a few months prior)

I've also heard the MS600 output to Analog at a Dealer

As regards the MS600's DACs, this has been mentioned a few times on here as well as in Meridian literature.

However, as with all these things, the ONLY way is to Demo these products to see what they offer for each individual user.

Agreed re individual needs - thanks.

In that case I can uderstand why Anders wants to stick with MS600 as a source but the MC200 is still an option for a core for him.

In my case the main job of the MC200 is provide a core, so its storage is switched off, and I am using its analogue out as a bonus in a second zone - but what a super bonus.

Agree that the MC200 is still a very good sounding device and may suffice for many applications

The fact that it can be a Stand Alone Server for many with medium sized (1,250 Album) Music Libraries is also a bonus

The MC200 with an iPad is a very good entry point for many...........especially when the newer iPad and Control Apps come along, which allegedly will mimic the C1x User Interface.