Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Streaming MC200 Performance over Analogue

Back on topic I got to test my MC200 out semi properly for the first time today.

I am still waiting on my amp to be returned, but I could not wait any longer. I took the MC200 round to my cousins to hear it - his system is similar to mine and we did direct comparison to music streamed from his PC.

Now my first impressions grew as the MC200 was on longer - the mid-range and treble is extremely clean and presented really nicely. The soundstage is good - nicely layered front to back, quite wide as well.

The bass would be the only area that's not quite up to the rest of it - it's not bad, just not that full on / always controlled.

In comparison to streaming from my cousins PC - using J River software and an upgraded (improved opamps) Asus Essence STX soundcard - the STX definitely had better bass than the MC200 - very tuneful and knitted very well with the rest of it, however the mid-range / treble was not as good. He is using cheap 3m interconnects and they do murder the sound so it wasn't a fair test.

I tried importing a couple of WAV albums to see if there the difference in sound was in the file format (cousin running wavs from his PC) - straight away the bass seemed more controlled with more weight - However at the end of majority of the tracks there is a second of pink noise obviously an error - it's actually mentioned in the HiFi-advice review someone linked to earlier in the thread. I also didn't do like for like so it could have just been the different songs / albums I tried that had better bass anyways - however it's interesting to note.

It's also worth noting that he is ripping using a Plextor drive - I am using a Pioneer, I wonder of the pioneer drive is not particularly great as I have heard a few errors in songs here and there?

I really enjoyed listening to the MC200 today, you can just keep listening and listening - really stunning sound and I am gutted that I am still waiting for my amp back to try it on my own system - its absolute torture!!

I got to use the new iPad App - while it's good, I think there is big room for improvement still. If you get a chance to run the J River iPad App you can see what I mean - it's faster, cleaner etc. - however, I still have a very positive opinion of the Meridian App.