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

Hi Alex,

ok thanks, that is what I almost anticipated: In a two channel set up, a Surround Device does not really make sense...

Sascha

The 568 will use its own 24/96 DAC.. you will have no Meridian apodising or room correction or eba
Path would be Jriver>USB to SPDIF(24/96) > 568 > speakers/headphone amp.

Sascha,
I suspect you will not hear a good deal of difference between Explorer 2 and Director.
Regarding external PSUs it is easy to get a power break in cable for USB devices (cheap) but I have experimented with good quality linear PSUs, SMPS, batteries and the computer USB supply and found no improvement with the external supply. A combination of the quality filtering in the Director I assume, but also its not powering anything just RCAs so current performance or voltage modulation of the PSU is irrelevant.

Hi Rodney Gold,

right, that is clearly understood. That is the reason why I would somehow be restricted with the 568. It is definitely a good unit , which might have been at the leading edge of development 10 years ago, but with regards to room correction in a conventional 2 channel system you are kind of restricted.

Hi Fitcaz,

I think you might be right regarding the audible differences between Director and Explorer. Both units are featuring the same DSP to my knowledge, the Director has another DAC chip however.

It is very interesting that you have made experiments with external PSU's. I have thought about buying an Aqvox External PSU, which costs 100 Euros. It is very interesting, that you did not discover any improvement, so the alleged "fact" of dirty USB Power might just be a myth and has not influence on sound. Meanwhile you get a lot of filters and purifiers, especially from Ifi. Some of these parts are more expansive than the Explorer itself....

You haven't stated the amplification you're utilising. This is important.

For example, my usual system is ReadyNAS > SBT > Meridian Director > Meridian G95. For me, the music played is emotive, immersive, and powerful. However, my G95 is currently with Meridian for some TLC.

Temporarily, my present system is ReadyNAS > SBT > Meridian Director > Yamaha Receiver. By comparison, the music played is uninvolving, lifeless, soulless, and woollen.

The point is, in isolation, the Meridian Director will not transform a Sow's ear into the proverbial Silk Purse.

If you're solely relying on Meridian Prime with headphones, I suppose the quality and choice of headphones is just as critical.

A few years ago, I migrated from a 568v2 to an 861v6 in an analog-amp system. Based on that comparison, I'd characterize the 568 doing DAC/preamp duty as having a really sweet, friendly sound which however provided less of that subtle raise-the-hairs-on-your-arms detail than the 861. I preferred the 861 overall, but still slightly missed the friendlier aspects of the 568 until the 861v8 update came along.

So... perhaps this will provide some hints about what a 568 might offer you in your system, although everyone's mileage may vary.

The 568 also has the feature that it can drive a balanced power amp properly, since it has balanced outputs for the front three channels.

The Prime is a more-modern design throughout. If you want something compact with a volume control, are satisfied with single-ended preamp outs, and want a headphone amplifier (but don't expect to use balanced headphones), the Prime is a fine choice and sounds good. It's a desktop system, and as such doesn't have a remote control. (Or have I just lost mine?)

Note that if you're looking for a straightforward D-to-A converter, while the market is extremely crowded, I suggest you look at the offerings from Schiit, especially their newish "multibit" models. The least expensive of those is the Bifrost Multibit, whose sound I've found I prefer to the Prime's built-in delta-sigma DAC; this may of course change for some recordings once the Prime's MQA firmware update appears.

I've found that so far every moderate-priced (which is to say, under 2k USD or so, which is as far up the ladder as I've gone) USB DAC I've tried has benefited from having the Schiit Wyrd (a USB power supply substitute and data reclocker) in front of it. To get back to Meridian-land, I prefer the sound of the Prime's DAC and the Director when driven by the Wyrd. The Director, for instance, sounded a little bit lightweight driven directly from a Mac Mini's USB port, but gained body and listening ease with the Wyrd in place.

Hi spinaltap,

Have you tried your SBT direct to your G95 digital input? With the Director in the chain you're adding an additional DAC-ADC to the signal path, as the G95 analogue inputs are all fed to an ADC-DSP-DAC structure.

Best
Alex

Before I purchased my Director, my SBT was directly connected to my G95 by coax.

By adding the Director between my SBT and G95 the difference in sound quality is vastly superior.

Very surprising given you have additional D2A and A2D stages. I can only surmise that the Director's apodizing up-sampling is better than the G95's linear up-sampling, and the G95's ADC is 96/24.

I've previously engaged in conversation with Des Ford on this very topic, who expressed the view that while there is D2A processing in the Director (plus apodizing), the G95 - in his words - is then 'slicing' up the incoming data (rather than 'upsampling') into 96 portions before then upsampling and outputting at 192kHz.

Even if the Director was outputting a 192kHz signal, the G95 would still 'slice' the data into 96 portions.

Ideally, I would dispense with the SBT altogether, and have QNAP > MS200 > AC12 > G95 for a direct digital path - but, like the rest of us, I'm waiting on an MQA enabled MSxxx.

I have already bought the AC12, and can buy the QNAP at any time I wish.

Hi Spinaltap,

Of course the whole chain matters, that is true.

My plan is to connect the Director or Explorer 2 to neutral sounding headphone amp, which can also be used as single source pre amp.

I was quite astonished that the Director as converter brings such an audible improvement over the G95 DAC in your setup...

best regards

Sascha