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

Good afternoon,

For mobile applications I bought a Meridian Explorer 2. In direct comparison to the Explorer 1 I think that the version 2 is a big upgrade sound-quality wise. The implemented DSP features like upsampling amd apodizing seem to work.

Now I want to convey that sound quality to a normal home audio setup with headphones and 2 speakers, whereby I intend to use a CD player as transporter and maybe a turntable from time to time.

The speakers are passive.

Acquisition of a current Meridian CD Player is no option, because it is not affordable for me.
A second hand 508 might work.

As a second option I could buy a Director and connect it as DAC to my CD Player.

I have however been shown a third alternative: What about using a 568 Prozesser as Preamp and Stereo DAC? I would definitely only use a small fraction of it's possibilities, because I am not a "Surrounder", but maybe such a unit might be a good alternative. I am aware of being obliged to buy a power amp and a headphone amp.

What do you think? Has anyone here experience with the 568 as stereo DAC and can compare it to a conventional DAC like the Director sound-qualit ywise?

Thanks and best regards

Sascha

Hi Sascha,

I've never owned a 568, but I have owned a Director and the audio quality is superb. At £250 new on Amazon, it's an audiophile bargain.

Be aware that Meridian is almost certain to release an updated DAC with MQA decoding. It's not impossible that the Director could receive a firmware update to enable MQA, but I think that this is probably a long shot.

What are you using post-DAC to switch the audio between speakers and headphones?

Hi Virus Killer,

At the moment I still have an old Marantz 2270, originating from the 70's. All in all it has that warm, almost tube-like sound like most of the units originating from that era. But I am afraid that it will not deliver that kind of subtle detail, which is demanded by a Meridian supplier, it will simply swallow details.

Insofar I won't be able to avoid a serious upgrade regarding my amplifier. So, that would be around 550 Euros for the Director (not cheaper in Germany, unless you take second hand) plus around 1000 Euros for an integrated amp with headphone socket. I can not dispense with headphone, it is my primary way of listening.

The 568 would have the advantage of being DAC and Preamp at the same time. In this case I would just need a power amp + headphone amp. And it has the advantage of digital room correction when hearing via speakers even with a two speaker set up, but I have never heard if such a DSP pays. Interesting enough, there have always been serious efforts to better stereo image, which reach back to the beginning of the seventies, and I am not even speaking about quadro amps. Early amps from Braun or ASC had a width regulator to adapt the system to the room. The way of the setup somehow reminds me on the 568 setup with test tones and so on.

It is interesting also that these early concepts of stereo image improvements have been snowed under with history...

Best regards

Sascha

Hi Sascha,

Any version of 568 is ideal for a 2-channel setup, being able to upsample (but not apodise) and have a useful assortment of input options. I've run a similar arrangement to what you are looking for and been very happy with the performance of the 568. They don't however have the DSP horsepower available to perform room correction.

Best

Alex

Given your budget appears to still include buying a power amp, and the fact that you use headphones mainly, I wonder whether a Prime Headphone Amp might be workable in your new system?

It has a standard preamp stage that could be fed to a power amp or active speakers, will be able to process MQA (eventually). Pair it with a cheap power amp (of which there are many) and you can upgrade the power amps as you see fit when funds allow.

You do see Primes being sold for reasonable prices on Fleabay and the dealers sometimes have them for keen prices relative to the RRP.

Hi Alex,

Thanks for your post.

You are right, the 568er performs just a basic way of room corrections, by taking speaker distances into account. This however is certainly not comparable to state of the art room correction with convolving software tools.

I still have not given up the idea of getting a 568 entirely yet, on the other hand I start more and more making up my mind about switching to computer audio as source. Originally I always refused this idea, because I did not see how a notebook could adopt the role of a conventional CD Player. On the other hand, it is much more future proof, since you need not worry about CD life-time and mechanical qualities of your transport.

I have made quite good experiences with my Explorer and the combination Laptop+Meridian DAC might be a good starting point. Heading this way there are software based solutions regarding room correction like MathAudio or AudioVero.

Best regards

Sascha

Hi dpstip,

Thanks for your mail.

In the 568 setup, the heaphone amp would just power headphones.

When using the Director or Explorer as PC based DAC, the headphone amp could indeed serve as a Class A Preamp (Lehmann Audio), feeding some Power Amp. And the advantage of this setup is that you can do room correction via extra software.

Best regards

Sascha

The 568 is a marvellous tool, I have one which I refuse to sell, currently it's doing duty controlling my 4 subs...

Computer audio is the way to go:
J river is a user interface with DSP built in, you would use USB out into a USB to SPDIF convertor (miniDSP make one at $35 .. the ministreamer) and then to the 568 ... you could use a hardware box inserted into the digital stream to implement FULL room correction ... the openDRC di from miniDSP is $299... Try J rivers parametrics first tho -- J river is $50.

You can drive headphones off the 568 outputs, main analog out or main balanced out.

Amp/speakers maybe from mains analog single ended out and you can use the XLR outs (via an adaptor) to your headphone amp ..
It's a pre, DAC, will give you extra tone controls etc.
Try get a 568.2, you don't need the 568.2mm.

I have a PC with CD/DVD player driving Director and headphone amp. A notebook can easily be fitted with a low cost USB external CD drive (<€30) and you can then rip the CDs onto the notebook for frequently listened to audio. My headphone amp has pass through so it also passes the signal to an amp and speakers. Internet radio and YouTube music video also add additional "free" sources to widen your music choices.

The distances setting just enables you to time-align the speakers in a multi-channel setup to your listening position. In a 2-channel system this shouldn't normally be necessary as the balance control in the 568 would take into account any offset in your listening position.

Best

Alex

Hi Rodney Gold,

thanks for your post.

I have not been aware of the possibility to use the 568 with a PC via an USB to SPDIF convertor, thanks for that tip.
You are right, J River's parametric EQ might be a first step, or the MathAudio RoomEQ, which is even free for Foobar.


You have justly mentioned the many hardware solutions for Room Correction, which are meanwhile on the market. The problem of such tools might be that they apply filters, which are in controversy to the Meridian DAC. If you have a setup, where two DACs are connected in series it might be hard to avoid that they cumber mutually.

There are Room Correction DAC's for example, which output an upsampled 192kHz signal through their digital outs. If connecting an Explorer2 or Director behind them, no Meridian DSP could take place in more. If putting the Meridian in front of the Room Correction DAC, the latter would have the last word sound quality-wise, an architecture I would like to see in my chain. So the best would really be to feed a Meridian DAC with a filtered signal, whereby you have control over the applied filter technique...

best regards

Sascha

Hi Fitcaz,

that is exactly the design I am thinking about. It is flexible and cost efficient. The only question in my case is whether to replace the Explorer2 DAC by a Director DAC. When fired via USB the Director can not use it's external power supply, so from that direction the Director has no advantage over the Explorer2. The Director however has an other DAC obviously, I will have to find out through listening tests if there is an improvement...

Sascha