Originally Posted by PeterInVan
If Meridian has a working MQA decoder for these demos, why all the talk of "only recently receiving the necessary software" to update the firmware in the Explorer2 and other DACs?

Anyone else curious why it is taking so long?

Are the other players in the game holding up the release?

E.g. other DAC manufacturers wanting to play level with release dates, record lables still reluctant to hand over master tapes?
Meridian have been offering decoded MQA demos for two years to closed-door sessions; and to the public ever since the grand Shard debut. This has been not only at CES and Bristol but toured around the world. So a version of the firmware has been in place for two years.

However, we do not know all the details. Last year there were MQA files being demoed via the Explorer at the Bristol Show which were not available for the demos with the 818 and 8kSE and 7k2SE etc. at Sevenoaks, where different files were being played. There may have been a reason offered for this seeming anomaly but I cannot remember.

But why there should be a delay in getting out firmware so that the now-public MQA files can actually be played is something of a mystery and a PR problem.

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