Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Automotive Meridian in Jaguar XF

I think I worked out the right person at Meridian to ask about this stuff. I'll report back.

The handbook emailed by the dealer refers to a CD/DVD player
The CD/DVD player will accommodate one CD or DVD disc at a time.

I would not imagine Meridian would allow a misprint like that to creep through if it did not play DVDs?

If I can play DVD-Audio hi res discs that will be fantastic. And if the half remembered comments about DTS are correct - wow - all those dts DVDs will be transferred to the car!

A DVD or DTS x 10 will be substantially larger disc space than 10 normal CDs. How big is the hard drive? So many questions
Presumably it compresses them on to the hard drive in another Meridian used format like the Sooloos?

Can you find out what it does to the rate or what rates it can send out at? i.e what it can be pushed to?

If all this is correct - Christmas has come early.

Come on Ian - more info on your set up please?

Hi Ricky,

I think you are confusing normal DVD (2 channel PCM and lossey multi-channel DD/DTS) with DVD-Audio disk (Lossless hi-res MLP format).

I would expect it to play the former be not the later.

Don't get me wrong, it would be a very pleasant surprise if it did.

Regards,
Carl

Yes very confusing.

It does not state "DVD Audio" - it states DVD. So what does that mean? If not answered in two weeks I will have to trial and error it - but I shouldn't really have to - there must be a proper spec somewhere (probably there is NOT!).

And the dealer I am sure mentioned DTS, so if not DTS but another DTS (god knows I fail to understand all this) then what does DTS on a spec mean?

Time will tell, but I would have thought Meridian would be trying to flog these items better by attracting users to possibly great specs - because if the hints are true then it would be revolutionary at the moment.

Mind you .. the dealer told me that I was the only person who has bought the system to ask any questions - not sure what that is a reflection of ... and he was waiting with baited breath for my feedback so he can sell better!

I know it does not help re the XF, but these Wikipedia links may help to unfold the mysteries of the various formats:

DVD

DVD-Audio

DTS

Dolby Digital

Regards,
Carl

DTS CD"s (i.e. not DTS DVD's, as they came out around the time of DVD-A) are the only thing that MIGHT play... and even then I have my doubts.

The "DTS" logo refers to the fact that DTS-Neo is available as one of the DSP Soundfields, in the same way as "Trifield" is also available... this has been covered in some of the video reviews posted here down thru the times.

Prepared to eat my hat if DVD-A discs will replay.

And if the CD "copying" system is like most other cars I've tested, then the CD will be ripped and stored as MP3 to the small internal "hard drive".

And usually, it's only MP3 and AAC files that will play via the USB Auxiliary input... which is usually attached to the USB Outs of Android phones and MP3 players.

I think it has to be remembered here that usually, Meridian, B&O, Bose, Harmon Kardon etc., etc., are asked to SUPPLEMENT the basic playback hardware within a car, and typically don't replace that playback hardware.

They merely add Speakers, Subs, Amps and various types of DSP to the playback hardware already in the "head" unit of the car.

As good as the Meridian processing is, the combination of that basic hardware with downstream Amps, DSP and Speakers will not allow a user to distinguish between 320 MP3 and Lossless anyway... whether driving or stationary.

I've burnt a few files to a USB drive to see what the Meridian system will recognise. I've also tried out DVD-Audio and an old DTS 5.1 music only disc.

So, pretty much as expected:

Through the USB input, you can play MP3, AAC and WMA files. I tried files up to 320 bit rate and they all played fine. Unfortunately WAV files aren't recognised (nor, for what it's worth, Ogg Vorbis.)

From the disc player, you can play only the Dolby Digital and DTS tracks, either 5.1 or 2.0. You can't access the DVD-Audio layer. All the surround sound files I played didn't sound that great to be honest - you'd be better off with Red Book CD.

On a more positive note, I'm pretty sure that the CDs are copied in lossless to the 10 disc virtual library - they certainly sound better than 320 bit rate mp3s and indistinguishable from the source CD.

Overall, it's a great system though not comparable to our home systems, again as you'd expect really. And many of the nuances between qualities of source material will be irrelevant when the engine is running!

Reasonably sure that what you'll find is that the difference you hear between the USB and Hard Drive is the actual quality of the connection of the USB to the head unit... as more often than not, that connection ends out being a compromised Analog connection, rather than the Digital one that you would expect... typically the Car Head units offer Analog Inputs only and not Digital ones.

Using OBD equipment thru the OBD II port on all modern cars, you can usually (eventually) see what's on the hard drive (actually Flash memory these days) of a car. These "drives" are typically quite small and also need to have space for the usual 2Gb of Map data that it takes to cover Europe or the US... plus all the data that drives the usually comprehensive Touchscreen and all of the typical myriad options.

As a result, any time I've tested, the CD's have been ripped to the 'drive' as MP3 files and not WAV or FLAC as most of the Head units in cars are incompatible with those files.

To my knowledge, Mercedes are the only one who keep all of their connections (aside from the Headphone jack connection obviously) Digital all the way i.e their iPod and USB connections are Digital to the Head unit... and the Head unit is connected via Optical Fibre to the DAC & Amps in the rear of the car.

Down thru the years, I've found the iPod and USB connections available in most cars to be compromised in some way... even though the Dension iPod connection offered in some BMW's can also be quite good.

Summary:
The quality of the connections from the Inputs to the "Head" unit needs just as much 'tlc' as a home system... and car manufacturers either don't know enough, or care enough to spend the time necessary on the tlc

It must be remember that the Wiring Harness of a car is something that is developed and tested in Prototypes and Test Mules, sometime several years before the Final Model is produced... and it's only after all that test work has been done that people like Meridian, B&O etc. are asked to get involved... at which stage, it's too late to change the core wiring harness

As stated earlier, it's been my experience that Meridian, B&O, Harmon Kardon etc., should be considered as a "Layer" over the standard Hardware and Cabling that already exists in the base car. They are never given the opportunity (due to Health & Safety, Crash Testing and similar considerations) to change those "core" elements of a car audio system

None of this means that the Audio produced isn't "impressive"... nor that these Systems aren't an improvement over the standard systems (they mostly are... and Meridian likely more so)... and despite the sometimes compromised file compatibility and connections, these systems can add value, especially those who drive long commutes or journeys

The Land Rover manual for the Freelander states that the Meridian 825 watt system rips the CDs as uncompressed, so I'm pretty sure that will be accurate.

Unfortunately, there isn't a specific manual that covers the upgraded audio system in any detail. Whilst I'm as confident as I can be that they're being copied as lossless, short of someone at Meridian confirming this, I guess we can't know for certain.

A couple of things to add. The sound quality in the 2014 model XFSportbrake is, to my ears, definitely superior to the 13MY. It's as if the drive units are higher quality or the DAC has been upgraded. The sound is just that little bit tighter and more nuanced. There is also, incidentally, more info on the display about the track playing.

In terms of playback, the sound via iPhone's lightning connector and from USB hard drive (I use a 1TB drive in mine) are indistinguishable given the same track in the same format at the same bitrate. Unsurprising given they are both digital.

The best quality available via USB is a 320k CBR rip which sounds good, if not spectacular. An Apple lossless rip via the iPhone sounds better for obvious reasons. I am hoping that the forthcoming Jaguar XE which uses a quite different head unit will support WAV and/or FLAC over USB.

I have the Meridian system they fit as standard on some XF models. There is a facility to upload CD's to the hard drive and I would say this is superior in sound quality to other sources. I have an iPod with some MP3. The only issue is the track data source seems to be out of data even when brand new and no one seems to know what the update process is.

Tried DVD and did get it to play through the onboard.

Yes I have an XF with the Meridian upgrade. Sounds great and I would recommend the option if budget allows but the track database seems to be out of date. Any ideas on how to update?