I can just about get my head around digital imperfections, "bits aint bits" and the effect of jitter but I'm really getting confused by the latest claims in our hi-fi world.

First Martin Colloms reports hard drives sound different, now network connections are changing the sound.

It would be great to know more about Meridians view of all this - can the particular core decoding the 'lossless' files (FLAC and/or WAV) and then transmitting pcm packets influence the sound quality arriving at the end points.

Can the decode and network transmission process create jitter or other timing issues?

If this review was right then the all-in-one devices like MC200 and Control 15 should sound best on their SPDIF outputs as these should eliminate the network connections (or perhaps they don't, maybe internally they use network connections, or is the EM environment inside these boxes so noisy quality doesn't stand a chance).

If the network can impact the sound quality would M be better transmitting the lossless files and decoding at the end point (ignoring synchronisation issues with multiple zones). Is this something they or Sooloos have tried?

regards

Chris




Lounge/Cinema, Trinnov, DSP8000XE, 4x 320.2 in-ceiling, M6 rear, 2x DSW.2
Roon Nucleus+ and 320.2 in-ceiling in many rooms (KEF in-ceiling in bathrooms)
Spare: DSP5000, 598, 562v2, 500Mk2, 518, 519, 504, 101B, M3, 861v4, 800 DVD, MS600, MC200