Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Introducing the Meridian Prime Headphone Amplifier

I'm finding it fascinating to see the direction Meridian is taking with it's new products - even if I'm not in the market for any of them at the moment.

I suppose I'm particularly intrigued by the feature decisions made, which various of us might disagree with, whenever a new product comes out. Why not do digital in, why not have a Sooloos end point etc. etc.? Understanding why certain decisions were made is really useful and I'm glad to see the Mothership taking time to discuss with us at HH. anyone involved in product design will appreciate the compromises which always have to be made (in my experience).

I'm not going to be in the market for a headphone amp any time soon but an analogue pre-amp for my M3s might just be interesting.

I must admit I find the Prime Power Supply a very interesting product - why 5 outputs? I'm guessing the space was there and the extra cost small so why not... and my optimism hopes there's a whole range of prime products coming which could be powered by it...

1) Someone has already mentioned the MC/MM pre-amp;
2) How about an Prime MS400 ... something like MS600 in Prime case, perhaps with just analog output;
3) Some mono-block amplifiers... (probably not powered by power supply);
4) Analogue switch box, say 4 or 5 inputs and one/two output, for those audiophiles with more than 1 analogue source;
5) A clock/radio (while we wait for M80 replacement or maybe instead)
6) etc. etc...

I'm sure the small form factor will score very highly on the WAF scale and a full range of quality but lower cost Meridian products can only enhance the brand awareness.

Keep up the good work

Chris

Hi Chris,
I think I need to take a closer look at the MS200.

But this would add additional cost, which makes a headphone solution I am looking for much more expensive.

Nevertheless many thanks for your suggestions.

Regards
Arnold

Where is the MC200 in all this? It has analogue outputs and is a zone, so it's an ideal Headphone station connecting to Sooloos.

Why is the new power supply not recommended for the MC200, there are those who think a good PS makes a difference notwithstanding the noisy environment/packet feed. Meridian don't?

I may have missed something, I often do...

Tintin, I have no idea why except that it is M's first and has only been announced in the last hifi moments ... why there aren't others is perhaps a bit premature.

Not sure if I made myself clear (red wine), the MC200 hasn't been quoted as a way to use Prime in an existing system, references to MS200, MS600 etc., neither been quoted as a recipient of the separate PS?

Hi,

Of course the MC200's analogue outputs can be used as a source directly into the Prime.

As for using the Prime PSU, I think it is fair to say that it has been designed for ultra low noise to feed a clean power into delicate audio equipment like DACs and low power amps, which is a different application to the MC200.

The MC200 is more akin to a PC it requires a different spec of PSU also being quite a noisy environment I suspect having a cleaner PSU may not yield worthwhile results.

The better solution to improve the MC200's AQ is to use an external audio endpoint like the MS200 etc.

Regards,
Carl

The MC200 is a computer with a hard drive and requires a 12 volt 3.0 amp power supply. The Prime Power Supply provides five 12 volt 500mA outlets. The Prime Power supply simply wasn't designed to power the MC200.

Perhaps it would have made more sense in retrospect to make the Prime a pure analog only headphone amp/desktop preamp and offered a DAC (with both SPDIF and USB inputs) in a matching case that could also be powered by the Prime power supply. I wonder how much the USB DAC added to the unit cost.

I use the analogue output from my MC200 into a little valve Earmax headphone amp and Sennheiser HD600. Makes a great headphone zone for �600 or so that I doubt would be much improved by this new device, sexy as it may be.

I guess you'd have to compare them to find out. No point speculating, proof is in the listening. That said tubes tend t colour the audio so the Meridian might be too pure for you tastes.

Now I'm at it [speculation that it] Doh!

Regards'
Carl

Another very good review at Computer Audiophile with some especially useful photographs and explanations of the power supply options via USB.

A good read thanks for posting.

Regards,
Carl