Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Streaming Meridian F80 streaming

Hi,

I have a Meridian F80 which is fed Tidal through an Airport Express.
I use the Tidal app to stream through Airplay on an iPhone 4S.

I've been looking at upgrading and was wondering has anyone done something similar. I want to keep Tidal and the F80 but think the 4S might be a weak link. I thought I could replace the AE with a Meridian MS200. Any ideas on something to replace the 4S, I thought maybe an Astell & Kern.

Any thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated before I commit.
I've also come across RoonSpeakers but not sure how I fit that in.

Thanks in advance.
Tony

Network to MS200 directly into F80/M80 via optical cable works very well.

Nothing else required except choice of system core.

Drive the MS200 with either Sooloos or Roon.

RoonSpeakers irrelevant here.

Thanks Nick
Can the iPhone 4S drive the MS200 or is the iPhone the weak link ?

Hi Tony
Some people might consider the airport express as the weak link. I have conected a Chromecast Audio to the office F80.

It's very handy as anyone with the Chromecast can manage the tracks and volume.

£30 for PCWorld.

+ and optical cable and adpater

Cheers
Tom

No, the MS200 needs to be streamed to via either a Meridian Sooloos Core or Roon.

Sooloos needs a Meridian Core device to run on, thought there is talk of adding Core support to Meridian Sooloos storage QNAP application.

Roon runs on a PC or Mac, a with a Linux headless version to be release soon.
Roon remotes can also run a Android and iOS tablets but there are hardware restrictions to take into account. For more on these have a search in the Roon forum.

You can download Roon for a free trial, it supports many audio devices, so you can evaluate it and then add a MS200 later should you wish to.

Regards,
Carl

Thanks Carl

So I could have Tidal on the PC. Install Roon on an iPad and stream
to the F80 through the MS200.

Do you think that's as good as it gets on a sound quality basis ?

Appreciate your input
Tony

Yes, except as Tidal support is integrated so there is no need to install the Tidal app.

Roon would then stream local audio files and Tidal content to the MS200.

As for AQ 'as good as it gets' into an F80 then I'd say yes, the MS200 will be very good indeed.

Can it be bettered? Of course, Roon (or Sooloos) streaming to an 808.3 and a pair of DSP8000SE, but we are along way from F80 now.

Regards,
Carl

Hi Tony, I could be wrong but I don't think you have a grasp of this type of setup yet.

But, the answer to your question is Yes. Tidal through a device like a MS200 into F80 allows you to get the best SQ that a F80 can deliver. I use on at home and it is terrific.

Thanks Carl, Nick.

I haven't grasped it totally yet. I have had the F80 since the beginning
but find that I use Tidal more and more despite having over 1000 CD's. I'm
therefore trying to work out the best way to use Tidal with the F80.

Regards
Tony

It's my opinion that either Sooloos or Roon will give you the best of both worlds. They both incorporate Tidal with your existing library. Personally I think Roon has the edge here.

The MS200 provides the prefect interface between these (Sooloos, Roon) and your excellent F80 or any future audio end point.

I personally would not rely on Tidal for all my listening at this time because of the unreliability of the Internet and possible failure of Tidal.

Ripping your existing CD collection is well documented on this site and you can easily do over time if you haven't already done this, whilst enjoying Tidal.

I can't recommend hands on experiance with either system highly enough as it is something you need to tryout yourself.

Thoughts, Chris 😎

Tony

Do you have a budget in mind?

Cheers
Tom

Thanks Chris
Tom I'm thinking 1500-2000.
So the MS200 plus iPad fit easily into that.
The iPad will enhance the whole Roon experience but is it the best to be streaming from, or is it that the iPad is redundant in the audio stream and the audio is coming from my PC.
Regards
Tony