Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems 568 vs. 568.2

Okay i've had the 568 one whole week now and i'm thinking about upgrades already.(i know i'm sick)Would some one be kind enough to tell me what are the advantages and if they have heard a major improvement going to v.2.Also i've read you can send in the 568 to Meridian for the upgrade.Any one know how much? Thanks

Last time I checked it was $2000 for the upgrade with smartlink and $1000 without smartlink in the US!

I use a 518 to further dejitter the bit stream. That being said...when I first got my 568.2 I didn't think it sounded any better except for adding the rear channel upsampling which was nice. The 518 made the 568.1 sound its best. With the 568.2 the need or the 518 is much less.

However, when Beta 2.5 came out the difference was much much more noticable. It was like getting a new upscale preamp.

I still use the 518 for CD and dejittering of my SAT feed. PLL dejittering works much better than FIFO in my opinion. Both used together is the best!

Beta 2.5 firware for the 568.2 was a major upgrade in sound quality in my system. I'm very happy with the way my system sounds these days.

Ron

I've not heard a 568 so can't comment on the difference in performance, but the difference in price by upgrading is less attractive than selling your 568 and buying a 568.2 (used of course).

Regards
Gary

Thats true! I purchased a 568.2 and sold my 568.1! However, if you just don't care about smartlink/DVDA/Upsampled Movies then the standard upgrade isn't too bad...save you all that agrivation or purchasing and selling!

Ron

The list price in the US for the upgrade to 568.2 is $1,265. For 568.2MM (with MHR smartlink) is just over $2,000.

I recently had my 568 upgraded and loaded the 2.5 beta firmware. The difference in sound is astounding. I typically use Trifield for music listening and the upsampling of all channels is wonderful.

The gang is right, though - you can probably buy a 568.2 and sell your 568.1 for less than the price of the upgrade.

Ron - a question for you - what settings do you typically use for your 518. I also use one and, since I can't change it vis remote in this setup, I'm having trouble determining how I want to have it configured.

John

Hi John,

Well at least you can have the 518 switch sources via remote when the comms is connected to the 568.

I have the 568 set to 24 bit input and then have the 518 set to 16in and 24out. I use flat dither since the 568 is already using noise shaping. I find flat dither much more musical and dynamic when used with the 568.

So all my inputs are set to the same setting on the 518. If I have a DVD that has 20bit PCM...I just walk over and set the input to 20 on the 518. I only have a couple disc's with someing other than 16bit PCM so I don't need to do that very often.

One more note! With the 518 you now have another display. So you can set the 568 to display decoding mode and the 518 to display the source component and input bitstream. With both you have everything displayed for you with out toggling thru the 568 display. The 518 is a little funky to setup but once it is set there is nothing to change. All my sources on the 568 are set to the same coax input and the 518 does the switching.

Oh by the way...I'm your neighbor! I live in Dracut!

Cheers,

Ron

Ron, small world!

How do you get the 518 to display both component source and input bitstream at the same time? Mine will do display source with gain setting, but not input bitstream.

Also, which DSP setting do you use (Gain, De-Emphasis or Emphasis)

John

[This message has been edited by johnmcelfresh (edited 12-16-2004).]

If you read my posts I'm one of the more skeptical folks of "improvements" for the dollar. I think the .2 is worth it mostly for DVD-A (which requires a 598). Even if DVD-A is in question, it's just a lot of fun to hear what the possibilities sound like.

I never heard much of an improvement from up sampling but maybe my ears are just too old.

George,

Even before the 568.2, upsampling yielded significant improvements for me. With the upgrade and new firmware (Beta 2.5) I find the difference in the .2 versus .1 dramatic.

John

Hi John,

Well all you need to do is toggle through the display options on the 518 and one of them will be source name and on the right will be input bitstream. Well really it says 0 for PCM meaning your looking at digital gain and DA for Dolby and DTS for...

You will need to setup the 518 through the front panel so that it displays what you want for each preset and input. In the 518 setup mode you will toggle through a list of different headings for each preset. You can't type in what you want it to say but they give you a good amount of options to display. DVD, CD, SAT, Ldisc...etc.

Gain is what I am set to. You don't want emphasis! The 568 is already shifting enough noise into the upper frequencies with it's noise shaping. In fact you will want to set your speaker levels to be no higher than -3 for the front channels and sub. So your least efficient channel is set to -3 and the more efficient channels or the ones that play louder with less power to be below -3. You will get a much more relaxed, dynamic and three diminsional image with your levels set like this. Then set your 518 to flat dither. Flat dither will give you a more liquid smooth sound that is closer to analog. Just turn up the main volume on the 568 to get more volume out of your system after you turn down the channel settings.

Give that a try and let me know what you think! By the way this setting works the best with the 568.1 as well as the 568.2. I've told a few people about this already and everyone has been blown away by the difference in the sound stage. The sound goes from in your face(some sound tracks) to lush palpable sound stage with dynamics approching a live performance compared to setting the front channels to 0(zero). My levels are -4(front left, right and sub), -3(center), -5(sides), -8(rears). Of course the 518 has a lot to do with the added dynamics. It does a better job of word depth conversion because of its 72 bit precision. Especially with the 568.1. Not as much with the 568.2 The use of flat dither helps the 568.2 become smoother and more analog tho. The smartlink input with CD sounds just a tad mechanical compared to passing the PCM bitstream through the 518. Not always easy to hear...depends on the recording...I can say over long listening sessions the 518 path is easier on the ears with louder rock music.

If you have Meridian digital speakers I'm not sure these setting will make a difference. These settings work the best with analog speakers and/or the internal DACs in the 568. I have no experience tinkering as I have with analog speakers/amp setup.

Ron