Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion HiFi & HT Chat DSD making a return as a download based format?

If industry had followed Meridian in the first instance, as knowledge became available, we would not have the multitude of formats people now complain about.
More new HD Music is all down to artists creating it (Support Live Music), and proper recording, mastering and playback engineering based on known science not marketing hype. Bigger Numbers do not equate to better sound.
Just my thoughts, Chris

But surely taken to it's logical conclusion, that argument leaves you with iPods, iTunes and AAC compression?

Cheers

George

I think we as Meridian owners are missing out on hi-rez, as I think with high quality recordings, it makes a difference. However, I think SACD is not the tool to use. Meridian isn't the only person who questions the quality and virtues of SACD. The founder of Ayre is also on the non SACD camp, as are most in the recording industry.

What is the deal with Pono? Are we to assume a Meridian portable hi-rez player is in the works?

Upgrading Meridian to high rez would be one hell of an effort! You would need a hardware upgrade for almost everything they make?

Funny I thought 96/24 was 'high Rez'.

To what are you comparing RBCD? It is the reference and there's no reason to settle for less. But have you compared it to higher rez media or, even, multichannel sources?

You would think so, but unfortunately that doesn't seem to be the case.

There is this other British company that seems to do a great job with even higher resolution and up sampling... dCS.

Regarding "hi-res", having heard some unbelievable results recently from RBCD, I do wonder how much of the advantage of hi-res is down to additional care made in the transfers and mastering.

Kal, my reference is predominantly stereo indeed, multi channel music is never seriously auditioned by me.

I have heard RBCD on Meridian full SpeakerLink gear, also on various (a lot) other high end systems and if the a system is good the result is astonishing.

I have heard playback sources up to 24/192 and I am not convinced that higher bit/upsampling is better than 16/44.1 Yes some specific recordings sound realy nice but that is often unlistenable music (mmm, this sounds as taste, sorry). I do love my upsampled MDMS though!

Maybe this discussion should be about comparing PCM to DSD instead?

I've heard everything up to 176kHz and raw DSD (not from SACD, from a disc recorder in the studio), in both stereo and surround. Often a recording of something I just heard in the hall, and usually played by myself.

While the superiority of 24/96 to CD is clear, I never heard any difference between that and 176.

Actually the worst surround I ever heard was from DSD, and that I put down to the engineer. Which brings us back to Joel's point. While I would love the world to go 24/96 - that's a real improvement on CD - it's mostly down to the individual engineers, whether the result will be really good or not.

Now that is truly a reference system

The POINT here is how many buyers today will be willing to spend the amount of money for a Meridian Digital system and/or Sooloos system that won't resolve all the formats that are available today REGARDLESS of how anyone feels about those formats.

I'll bet not many. You'd be a fool to spend big $$ on old technology. And that's the point. All you have to do is look at the trade talk and reviews on M products. When was the last time you read a review lusting after a Sooloos system or a 800 series product or the speakers? Let me tell you. You haven't. Why? Old technology. Seen any dealer ads featuring Sooloos, M Digital, etc. Nope. Why? Not a leader in resolution processing, the resolutions the high end customer demands.

I maintain for M to remain a healthy company they need to get as many of the high end dollars as possible and with their current products it's not happening...
AND THAT'S THE POINT!!!

The point is Meridian have a philosophy based on science and the understanding of. They don't follow the latest fads and fancies, they never have. They do things right for the benefit of transparent audio reproduction. As I under stand things.
You only have to meet Bob Stuart for a very short while to feel his integrity on these points, and I am sure that holds for the whole company.
Sure products need updating and marketing needs need to be catered for, but it's the underlying integrity that attracts and hold many.
The phrase,"stand for something or fall for anything" comes to my mind.
Thoughts, Chris