Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion HiFi & HT Chat The Philosophy of Tweaking Equipment

For many years, hi-fi enthusiasts have modified their equipment to try to achieve improved performance or make it sound "better" to their ears. Companies have sprung up offering professional modifications of varying complexity for the less technically minded.

On this forum, we have recently had a very interesting thread about linear power supplies being retrofitted to Meridian processors by one member.

I am interested in people's views about the philosophical difference between this type of hardware work and the very controversial modifications to the firmware in the products done by another forum member. What is the difference (if any) and why is one viewed as "good" and the other "bad" (for want of better expressions)?

Hi Malcolm

I guess when you own a piece of hardware and it is out of warranty and you modify it eg: different psu, you take responsibility for any issues that arise from doing so, but typically it will affect just you, however with firmware I suspect you technically have a licence to use rather than actual ownership therefore if you modify firmware you are probably in a different situation, also firmware can be emailed around and so any defects you have introduced by making changes could be propogated to numerous systems causing issues for owners and the manufacturer, just my thoughts though, YMMV

Ratbert

I personally would not modify Hardware or Firmware, as I don't think I could improve what I have, different is not always better.

Legal issues aside, I�m not sure I�d make any distinction in the ability of firmware and hardware modifications to alter the sound quality. Both have the capacity to have positive and negative effects. Perhaps you are less likely to do permanent damage to your equipment with firmware mods.

I think where we are most lacking is in our capacity to assess small differences in SQ in an objective manner. So, most of the time you can never be certain that tweaks actually work.

I think that there is a lot to do with the "relative" age of the practice. For as long as electronics have been around people have been tweaking and an industry has grown up to service this need. We are probably more comfortable with the practice because we know that manufacturers build to a price point, sometimes using off the shelf modules (as in the case of SMPS') - so "upgrading" the manufacturers choice to one of our own is seen to be ok - "it was probably on the manufactures list anyway but just too expensive to meet their price point".

Firmware/software mods are much newer by comparison - not to belittle the effort but in the audio field there is less likely to be a massive price point consideration (this is not a new release of Windows or Office)- so maybe we are conditioned to accept that "it does what it does" and we shouldn't play around with it!

just my 2p worth as someone who runs modified HW and SW(not Meridian!)
Nick

FYI, the moderators have been wrestling with this question and there are no easy answers. All of the following are relevant questions:

1) What do you own and when? Is there anything you never own (e.g. which is licensed)?

2) Are license agreements a contract between the original purchaser and Meridian or something more ethereal, backed up in law? i.e. Are license agreements deemed transferable when the original purchaser sells on the product?

3) Has intellectual property been reverse-engineered or infringed?

4) Are you attempting to make money from reverse-engineering or infringement of IP?

5) Does Meridian mind?

This topic is very useful in helping the moderators to draw up some rules in this area (i.e. what can be discussed and what can't). Please keep on-topic and refrain from posting anything which promotes the breaching of Meridian IP (or implies that you have breached Meridian IP).

Thanks,
Joel

I've been trying to rationalise my thoughts on this by considering a simpler example. Take the washing machine.

In the past this had a "clockwork" programmer which you might describe as analogue. You bought it and you owned it outright. Now it has a digital microprocessor to control all the functions. When you buy a new machine, do you buy the hardware and a licence to use the software?

I think that if the firmware or software is sold to you as a separate entity to run on your equipment then it is a licence situation as per most commercial software. If it is sold as an integral part of the equipment (and not separately) then you might well own it.

Cross-border license implications too... (UK, EU, RoW)

PM me if you need to know how to hack a Miele...

Steve.

I can help turn off the really annoying beep that a Bosch dishwasher makes

I think that hardware modification is perfectly fine. Even the highest of high end manufacturers have to make concessions on cost. availability, etc. Upgrading tweeters, wiring, crossovers are all part of the game. I have always been amazed that no one has set about upgrading/modifying the internal amps within Meridian gear.

If an individual modifies a piece of hardware the potential impact is limited to that one piece of hardware.

If an individual modifies a piece of software, that software can potentially proliferate over many pieces of hardware. It can be unloaded and replaced with the original manufacturer's software without leaving a fingerprint. It may not even be possible to distinguish the modified code from the original through the layman's interfaces.

I am a real, professional software engineer with thirty plus years of commercial experience and I don't like the idea of hacked code, i.e. that code differentiated from code which has been through a professional, controlled QA and release process. I certainly wouldn't like the idea of my own code being hacked by someone claiming to be a software engineer unless they have applied those same rigorous professional standards.

There is also the "look what clever thing I done, it was so easy, you must be dumb because you didn't do it yourself?" factor which is ignorant, disrespectful and patronising. There may be a whole bunch of commercial reasons why a commercial software product lacks features or is delayed in the release cycle, some of them nothing to do with functionality, market demand or technological capability.

I would also be concerned about IP issues. If I, as a hacker, change 99% of the code it still isn't my product because I didn't design the operating environment, the interfaces, persistent data storage schemas, documentation standards, back-out plan, upgrade paths and all those annoying things that concern a professional software engineer and which are conveniently ignored by the hacker.

So I guess my argument is there is more to code than the run-time program file. That file relies on a whole bunch of other people's effort and work product still being in place and working. And it may work today but not tomorrow after, for example, after a hardware change caused by a regulatory recall or other event within the responsibility of the manufacturer but outside the realm of the hacker.

I see it as two different things, the PSU upgrade was actually brought about through a fault in the design, you can think of it like changing brakes, tyres or suspesnion on a car, it will go at some point, if you think it went early do you change the the same OEM part or replace it with a better part designed to do the same job, or even better job but without the dealer margins.

My trusty old E Class has just hit 100k miles, I know the springs will go at some point, will I buy replacements from Mercedes or use it as an excuse to fit some Eibachs?
I am now a year out of warranty so I will fit the Eibachs.


I also have a remap on my car, I remap them all, however this is hardly classed as maintanance, this was me wanting to get more performance out of the product.
It has done that and very impressive it is too, but with all remaps you know the risks, and if the engine goes bang you can't expect the Manufacture to pay for it. Now it may have gone bang anyway, but we will never know and you have to prepared to take that on the chin.



The PSU upgrade is to repair a faulty product, and even if it is done as an upgrade it is not done as a 'hidden from Meridian' upgrade, it will be very obvious, where as the firmware is not to fix broken firmware (shut up at the back!!! ) and could brick your unit, and 'some' may try and get Meridian to pay for that repair.



I am not sure where you stand legally, but if the courts say Apple can't stop end users unlocking their software I don't think Meridian have a hope in hell.


Meridian could start to charge for firmware, even if it was a small fee of �9.99 or something, this would then give them far more rights over copyright etc.
Tag used to and it worked well.
I just don't see how you could fight it in court if you are giving it away free anyway!?