It's extremely difficult to replace a hard drive in any modern iMac, and I believe it's not considered user replaceable.

The disk in the MC200 can be replaced fairly easily, in terms of the mechanics of opening the box. If you're really worried about failure, why not just periodically open it up and use a disk cloner as a backup?

Of course, the HDD failing doesn't junk an MC200, Meridian would, I'm sure, put a new drive in.

They use server grade drives, though, which are designed to run all day every day for years reliably. As I understand it the failure rate so far is practically non-existent...

Having said all this, I do think that a standalone 'core' or core store which would sit below an MC200 price wise is justified - when buying my 818 I was essentially paying for A/D and output stage, etc on the MC200 I would probably never use!

IMO looking to the future Meridian would be best concentrating on selling end points which contain a core you pay for, and leaving storage to a compatible Qnap...

That said, no one has yet heard whether the NAS makes a difference in SQ compared to a dedicated Meridian server...

HC: 861v4/ID40/LPS, DSP5000, DSP5000VC, DSP3100, SW1600, HD621, Oppo BDP-105, Sony VPL-HW55ES
2-Channel: Oppo BDP-105, TEAC VRDS-7/Trichord Clock 3/PSU, 551, Quad 303, Harbeth Compact 7ES-3, Kimber cables, Russ Andrews mains and supports.
Previous Meridian: 5000C, 5200SL, 7200.2, 6000, 562V.2, 568.2mm, 800v4, 808.2i, 818v2/v3, 861v8, 502