Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Streaming Meridian Sooloos update

The library has always been open (samba) the issue is its structure is non intuitive for some external music servers.

No mention of support for multichannel.

DSD could be multi channel?

Oh, yes! For me, it is essential. I have about 800 such files at the moment. About 2000 more to be ripped.

That's not a new need... FLAC can also be multichannel. I have hundreds of my ripped DVDA in that format.

Great announcement and much appreciated.

I’m also curious on DSD, which is a big step forward and very welcome in making M gear more generally compatible with other systems.

It looks as if Sooloos cores will be able to stream DSD (in DoP format) to all endpoints (if that is what is meant by the statement “the core mediates all formats to the various endpoints and no-one will be left behind”) but I am not clear how this is then decoded within DSPs. Presumably new DSP firmware will be required or will DSD be converted to PCM on the fly? Will there be a different protocol for the lower cost endpoints (MS200, MS600 etc) or for non-SE DSPs? Can anyone clarify?

I don’t think there are any SACD players out there that send unencrypted DSD output over SPDIF (Ludwig’s question) but there are plenty of third party streamers that will provide an unencrypted DoP output (eg from a DSD rip or download) on USB and a few that will provide DoP output on SPDIF. However, presumably the way to get DoP into the 818v3 is mainly via a Sooloos (or for that matter, Roon) core to the ID41. What I don’t understand is how the output will be dealt with in digital format for sending to third party DSD capable DACs. Will the 818v3 SPDIF outputs be enabled for DoP or will there be a DoP USB output in due course, or will DSD only be available on the analogue outputs of the 818 v3 when used in this mode?

In the case of use of the 818v3 with DSPs, I am guessing that if DSPs are updated to accept a DoP signal it will be provided by the 818v3 via MHR in one form or another. This appears to be the plan with DXD, judging by the statement. Plain vanilla 16/44 upsampled to DXD will be another big step forward and I am really looking forward to being able to put my large DSD collection onto Sooloos and being able to play it on M equipment. Great stuff!

I guess the only piece of key info missing from the statement was any guidance on the lower cost endpoint replacements (MS200, MS600) for compatibility in an MQA world.

Re: DSD, this is not a simple problem. It all boils down to what you can do, where you can do it, and how you can move the bits around. With Meridian, there are usually "good", "better", and "best" solutions.

[speculation hat on]

The 818v3 via USB is probably going to provide the "best" solution. Why? Because it gets to see the raw bitstream. (USB input bandwidth is good enough.)

Why might streaming from Sooloos to the 818v3 not be as optimal?

According to the DOP Open Standard:
This is beyond the capacity of SpeakerLink/SPDIF.

I imagine therefore that, when streaming from Sooloos, the optimal solution for Sooloos systems would be to perform the DSD to PCM conversion in the Sooloos Core itself. This *may* not be as good a conversion as in the 818v3.

If the converted-to-PCM data are going from a Sooloos Core to a networked Sooloos endpoint (e.g. ID41), they could be encapsulated in MQA in the Sooloos Core, for decoding by the 818v3 (or other, not yet announced, MQA endpoint). The data could then be MQA decoded and either passed to the managed DACs in the decoding device, or sent on to DSP loudspeakers over MHR.

I don't see DSP loudspeakers doing the raw DSD to PCM conversion, simply because I can't see how the data could be transferred to them.

[speculation hat off]

Appreciate it's all speculation at this point, but it should be technically possible to get pure DSD (in DoP format) into the 818v3 via the ethernet link (there are quite a few streamers that do this successfully at present eg Auralic Aries). Do you think that we will at least be able to put our DSD libraries onto the Sooloos store and display on C10s and C15s (seemed to be implied by the JB post) even if the subsequent streaming is not in native format?

I'm sure you're right about DSPs not doing the DSD/ Analogue conversion.

Probably a dumb question - I'll ask anyway.

If both core and store run on QNAP and the new control on Windows TouchPC, why would I need any Meridian hardware ?

Can I not just take USB (or SPDIF) output from TouchPC and plug it into my DAC ?

You could presumably go to very high bitrates over ethernet, but it all depends on what the endpoints (e.g. ID40/41) are capable of receiving. I have a suspicion that they *may* max at 96/24.

Bearing in mind it is possible not only to rip DSD, but also download native DSD files, that's what I thought was implied too.

Yes, you can use a PC as an end-point - I do - but i doubt it delivers the SQ that an MS200/MS600 can.

@Ikarus_CT, you are making the assumption that Touch:PC has a "Zone" built-in. They might have done that, but I don't see any reason to believe they did.

It sounds like Touch:PC is just the GUI you see on the C15 in a fixed 1920x1080 window.

Running core + storage on QNAP + Touch:PC on your Windows machine means you still need an Meridian audio endpoint, unless you are planning to use Control:PC/Control:Mac as your endpoints. As far as I know, that's the only software endpoint Meridian releases.