Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Restaurant at the End of Universe Meridian Dealers - Equipment EVENT: Bristol Weekend Event- 20th - 22nd February 2015

Great question Gianni
It has never yet, been made clear to me by auditions, what specific investment levels, bring which quantifiable ROI levels.

Not easy to be an early adopter under these circumstances.

Hector

After going to the Bristol shop on Saturday and listening to MQA, I'm now 100% convinced there is no point in comparing MQA to non-MQA.

The real comparison that everyone needs to hear is MQA vs MQA... I'll explain.

We were firstly listening to the MQA files that have been cascaded to dealers for these demonstrations.

Was I impresssed... YES... BUT... not 'night and day difference' impressed.

I had done my homework and listened to equivalent Hi-Res files the night before at home to familiarise myself with a couple of tracks that I know there are MQA versions of.

After familiarisation with these pre-downloaded MQA tracks and being impressed, Richard then plugged his laptop into the modified 818 using USB and played the same tracks again... via Foobar not Sooloos.

These were the latest developments of MQA files.

Apparently the pre-loaded MQA files that have been used for dealer demos could be called version 0.7... (for example).

On his laptop, he was playing version 0.9

We will be receiving version 1.0 for downloads/streaming. There is still some development work to be done.

After hearing the latest tracks, Richard had to depart for the Bristol show... with his laptop and magical content.

So how did the latest versions of MQA compare with the pre-loaded versions of MQA?

NIGHT AND DAY DIFFERENCES... I'm till getting my head around what I heard.

For me sitting on the front row, the difference was so great, I had to ask if we had gone from files being played via the C15 to files being played via 818... an unfair comparison.

It was confirmed that all music that day had been played via the modified 818 and the C15 was being used purely as an interface.

Within 2 seconds of listening to the latest versions I was sold.

If you've not already done so, this is the comparison you need to hear... forget anything else... this is the new benchmark.

I just hope the areas outside of Meridians control turn the integration into Sooloos around sooner rather than later.

I would temper this to say that according to Richard, the difference between the versions was due to where the unwrapping was happening.

The C15 versions were already unwrapped on the C15, where as the laptop versions were unwrapped in the speaker which is apparently a better RFI environment. That was Richard's reasoning for the difference, not the version, which appeared to be more about the level of data compression that was possible.

Oh good, more confusion, it would be good to understand from Meridian what 'version' we were listening to and why it sounded better than other versions, if indeed it actually did, the lack of good information is muddying the waters... for me anyway.

Russ

Unwrap as in decode or render?

If it's decode, which unwrap is the closer meaning, then that goes again M saying that decode was not done in the speaker.

Confused +2

Sorry to muddy the waters. I couldn't confirm the exact wording, just that whatever it was doing in the speaker was a better place than the C15. I did notice that the 818 displayed 96k whilst the speakers displayed 192k if that sheds any light.

When one guy queried Richard on whether he would be better off upgrading his DSP8K to SE or getting an MQA card for his 861, Richard favoured the SE path. This seemed to be on two fronts: There is no guarantee that MQA will ever really arrive in force (although everything seems in place to make it happen), and that they are doing so much to 44.1 with apodising etc. that it already goes a long way. Richard said that when demonstrating MQA to studios using an Explorer 2 they had to turn off apodising on the 44.1 to really highlight what MQA was doing, as otherwise the apodising was closing the gap a good deal.

Personally when I experienced MQA through the C15 I liked it but it didn't 'blow me away'. I am not used to DSP8ks or most of the tracks available though so it was hard to say what was doing all the work. I am pretty sure I could live with that set-up though...

I should add a huge thanks to Richard and the rest of the Meridian and Sevenoaks staff who were very patient and answered a LOT of questions from everyone.

You didn't muddy the waters and sorry if that is how it came across, Meridian and the dealers seem to produce a confused picture of what MQA is, was and will be, it would just be nice to have a good understanding.

Not surprised Richard suggested SE upgrades, they are available now whereas the 861 MQA upgrade is a fair way off I would guess

Russ

I too would like to add my thanks to all those who made the event such a memorable day.

Richard's MQA lecture and the Q&A session afterwards was very useful. With hindsight I wish I had taken a copy of the slide pack used in Richard's presentation

Thanks again.

Mark

To add a little more information for those with a better technical understanding than myself.

As I understand it the 818 was always the source... the C15 was taking its data from an external hard-drive hidden away.

818 (modified to v3) was displaying 96k and SE speakers were displaying higher resolution i.e. 192k with the initial demo.

When Richard was playing the updated tracks from his laptop via the 818, the 818 display changed to show 'MQA'... but no sample rate.

The 8000SE then showed MQA + sample rate i.e. 192k/384k depending upon the track.

It was also noted that to get the most out of MQA you still need MHR.

I know SE speakers 'support' MHR but are they actually doing the same job as the MHR card in the 818? Hoping those more technically minded can maybe shed some light.

This I'd like to know, as once Sooloos is updated to support MQA could I just go straight into SE speakers and use the MQA/MHR in side them or is the MQA/MHR in the 818 adding something extra/'doing the work'. This could save me an 818 upgrade if it's as simple as that probably not the case though.

What I definitely do know though 100%

Whatever was being unpacked/decoded/rendered, wherever in the system, was the best sounding, most realistic music I'd ever heard... on any system.

I let my ears decide for me, not the spec or numbers of the devices/files.

Here's hoping my next upgrade is a free software update

As you may have noticed, I previously asked in this thread for the opportunity to compare hi res files and MQA versions. Meridian seem to be persisting in only offering MP3 comparisons. I told staff at the Marriott and at Sevenoaks that I do not listen to MP3 and have no interest in such a comparison. I was told that it is not possible to listen to MQA with the unpacking turned off.

I only listened to MQA files. From what has now been posted I only heard "inferior" MQA files and no mention was made of any superior version or of further developments to the format. I must say that I feel rather disappointed about this, to put it mildly.

To try and answer your second question I was told that the 808 upgrade would bring further refinement to standard CD replay but no further details were offered.

As I am sure you know, Naim are not just a hi-fi company but also a music-label company. Accordingly, when I was at the Marriott, I asked the Naim label stand if they were going to be selling MQA downloads in the future. They did not know what I was talking about. Yet they were sitting in the room next to where the open What HiFi demonstration of MQA was taking place (where, incidentally, some What HiFi staff did not know it was taking place).