Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Building your own Audio Server

good discussion- thanks!

One point though- the 3 digital audio signals need to be MHR for it to work with a Meridian processor. I do not know of any audio cards supporting this.

It is true that to get the same sound quality from a DVD-A as a 598/800, I would need a sound card with 3 digital outputs that support MHR at 96k/24bit. I would be happy with a sound card that has 3 digital outputs that output 48k/24bit without MHR. This would take care of CD, Dolby, DTS and my only compromise would be 48k/24bit on DVD-A instead of 96k/24bit.

I had an Integra DVD-A player before my 598, it would play the stereo track off a DVD-A at 48k/24bit if the disk was copy-protected. It is my understanding that players are only allowed to output 48k/24bit if a disk is copy-protected. When I upgraded to the 598DP it used MHR to output 96k/24bit. I found that going from CD 44k/16bit made a big difference, going from 48k/24bit to 96k/24bit improved the sound but it was less noticeable. I like the better sound from DVD-A, but they are a hassle, once I got used to my Sound Server I rarely played the DVD-A disks.

Jerry,
are you sure about that, I'm not so sure that's true.
It would make the G68 far more interesting if it's true. As Mark_H has pointed out, the DSP speakers will accept unencrypted 96/24 from his TCS2, maybe MHR inputs can also take six channels of unencrypted PCM.
EDIT: Just played with the configuration program for the G68, using a Computer as a 3 PCM SPDIF source and it selects the correct presets, despite the source not being MHR enabled. This proves nothing of course, but does make things more interesting.


Mark

[This message has been edited by Mudge (edited 12-23-2003).]

Mark,
you might be right- youre right- this is very interesting.... Happy Holidays!

Mudge,

Could you expound on the implications of the 3 SPDIF inputs to the G? Are you saying it may be possible to use a computer DVD drive and send info and have the g68 upsamepe the DVD or CD?

Scott

I have not had time to find a good card that has 3 digital coax outputs, M-Audio has a card that you can link 3 PCI cards together and get what we want, I want one card that will do it.

Is anyone familiar with Lynxstudio products? Some of the reviews I have read on the net are outstanding - their products seem to be targetting the professional rather than consumer market. One of their cards has an optional 4*SPDIF output module (co-ax using adaptor)

link: http://www.lynxstudio.com/

cheers

There is a RME solution.
There is also an 8 channel solution form DAL.
The Lynx solution is a combination of the Lynx2 or L22 soundcards and the LS-AES expansion board.
I think if those MHR inputs will also accept six channels of PCM (over 3 SPDIF) then you could use PowerDVD's DD and DTS decoders for instance, to get upsampled DVDs - though the cost of the Lynx solution works out at either �1100 or �1300 just for sound cards, you have to factor in the cost of the rest of the PC as well, so you start getting to G98 territory. But the G98 won't do scaling to every resolution, is limited by HDCP on its digital interface, can't stream movies off HD or a remote server etc.
If you could find a way to take a SPDIF input of DD or DTS and decode that to 6xPCM, then upsampling of Laserdiscs and HDTV/D-Theatre becomes possible.

Mark

The DSP speakers and SSP will take w/ or w/o MHR. The MHR is used on the output of an M player (and SSP if coming from M player).

When playing a DVD-A on a PC, the digital output is disabled by Windows. (actually the driver) It is part of a license agreement the driver writer signs. Same thing occurs when playing DRM content.