Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion MQA - Related technology, products and music "MQA" 818v3 is here!!

I'm afraid authoritative information about all this is very hard to come by. Which means if you buy an 818v3 it is something of a leap of faith.

Guessing, the answers to your questions are "not yet", "no", and "no".

If full analogue encapsulation (i.e. vinyl) is not delivered, I think that is pretty poor for an £8k box. I'm sure that it sounds incredible though.

Thanks guys - OK, as long as I know I have to wait a little for clarification on all this - I can't afford to take a leap of faith on the upgrade price for v2 - v3, I'm assuming it's a couple of thousand or so? TBH if some of the suspicions are correct, I might skip this version and hope a v4 adds some of the features I'd consider worthwhile upgrading for.

VK- oh dear, yes if that's the case, I'd have to agree with you - very disappointing to at least not have the option of a different analogue input card, I think, or even one with balanced ins, and a phono option. It's always struck me as odd, given the price of the v2 and its 'reference' status, that it didn't have balanced ins alongside single-ended - who needs 6x analogue unbalanced these days? Not sure what the thinking is here.

My overall impression from listening to the 818v3 last week was a slight disappointment relative to the prototype machine heard back in April with the same speakers, which may be explained by the fact that I listened to mainly MQA and high resolution tracks at that time, whereas the recent session included more red book CD tracks. This time round most of the listening was via the USB input using Roon – another variable in the mix.

The sound was very good but, like Hector, I came away thinking that certain tracks were missing a vital ingredient. Hector has mentioned the Gretchen Peters album and I agree with his assessment; the same was true of the recent Natalie Merchant album, which is a very good recording that lost something in the mix – it became less warm and more clinical. On the classical side the recent high res Elizabeth Watts Linn recording of Mozart arias was also unimpressive, which was very surprising given that it is generally viewed as a high quality recording – the sound lacked body and scale. Conversely, the CSO/ Mackerras high res recording of Mozart’s 38th Symphony was simply wonderful, as was the Hilary Hahn Bach high res recording (one of the original MQA demo tracks). Diana Krall’s Girl in the Other Room was exceptional in both high res PCM and DSD format and recent material by Mandolin Orange in standard redbook guise was also very well presented.

It is difficult to generalise, but my impression is that the redbook treatment is not a major step forward relative to the v2 and that perhaps the v3 in this regard is more work-in-progress that will improve further via firmware changes over time.

Altus - that's really useful to hear impressions of red book vs hi-red, etc., thank you for sharing.

I'm just wondering whether the earlier demo which impressed you was using ID41? I only ask because when I tested the SQ of ID41 vs USB on my v2 the difference was pretty large in favour of ID41, and I found subjectively that USB seemed to flatten and lose some of the magic to my ears.

Yes, the listening was done largely through the USB input rather than the ID41 for reasons of convenience. I recognise your description of "flattened" sound - ever so slightly nasal is how I described it at the time. The use of the different input may well account for the perceived differences.

Let's hope so!

Yes to my ears too the USB sounded less vibrant, less organic, not as full-bodied.

OK I sound like I'm describing coffee. Stopping now.

@Hector and @Altus. Were you auditioning in the same room as before, and with the same speakers/setup?

Yes, same room, same speakers. Speakers slightly further apart on second visit and with slightly less toe-in. I didn't try the USB input on the first visit and the emphasis was mainly on the MQA demo tracks through the ID41. Second time round we used mainly the USB input with a broad range of familiar redbook CD and high res tracks. Both sessions lasted just over 2 hours. Obviously not an exact like-for-like comparison and separated by more than six months, so very impressionistic.

To be fair to the v3 in this regard, we probably won't really know how much better red-book is until someone gets an upgrade from v2 in their home setup where all other variables are exactly the same. Still interesting impressions, though.

Just wonder why you didn't shoot Roon output to the ID41? That would have been useful to a) show the difference (if any) between ID41 and USB), b) remove one of the variables.

Not any criticism btw... just a thought in case anyone is able to repeat the demo.

I didn't think of it at the time - my Mac was only used as a standalone machine (not linked to Rick's network). Agree it would have been a useful comparison. I am going back to Rick's later this week to pick up some kit and will see if he will indulge me in a further test....