Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion MQA - Related technology, products and music MQA Firmware Listed on Meridan's Site

Although 3.07 works with MQA, one should get 3.08 which fixes a few things.

I understood the 818v3 analogue outputs are on the same level as the SE analogue output component. (Or was that a presumption?) Either way, MQA from analogue out on my 818v3 sounds amazing. The 818v3 displays the same as when playing to SE speakers.

What little poking around I could do seems to point to the Uploader doing some math on the serial number and not liking the result:

$ ./Meridian\ DAC\ Uploader
2016-02-03 18:06:30.411 Meridian DAC Uploader[1666:73704] Device Serial Number: 010002BE
2016-02-03 18:06:30.411 Meridian DAC Uploader[1666:73704] Serial Diff Result: -1

Soundserge

Explorer2 on Windows 10 Pro (update from website seemed hassle-free) :-

Driver version: 1.67.0
Firmware Version: 0x1717
(according to the Meridian USB Control Panel).

When playing the 2L downloaded files through Roon I get 2 white & 1 blue lights on my Explorer2, which is currently hooked up to my desktop PC.
I need to get it hooked up to my DSP8000.2-USE's !

EDIT / UPDATE : Just FYI, I've hooked up my Explorer2 both to my Desktop PC & my Surface 3 Pro, both through Roon, and I can flick between the (Kate Busby) MQA files (green light) & the (2L download sampler) MQA Studio files (blue light) at will. So, in theory, it's all working.

On Win 10 I could only get the Explorer2 to play ball properly using JRiver. Neither Foobar nor VLC wanted to output bit perfect.

Only got the one file so far which just changes the 1st LED blue.

Hello all,
The DAC uploader correctly scanned for the v1718 update for the prime. Loaded v1718 prompt asked me to disconnect and reconnect prime hit ok message said that firmware was uploaded. Just to make sure I had the updated version, I did the scan again and it showed I had the previous version and that a new local v1718 was available for update.

Am I missing something or do I have the latest update?

when I uploaded my new Prime firmware, I rescanned afterwards and it reported by the new firmware version (as expected or rather, hoped for). I would suggest doing it again until "it takes". Good luck!

The Meridian DAC Uploader running on on Mac OS 10.10.5 consented to recognize and upgrade my Prime (and this while passing through the Prime Power, since I only had a tiny short mini-USB-ended cable on hand; why, Meridian, why?)

It did take several tries - each implying that it was loading the update, but then ending up with the Prime in a state which the uploader still thought needed upgrading - but eventually (the third cycle, I think) I reportedly have v1718 on the Prime.

Playing some MQA titles from 2L, the fourth LED lights and it does indeed sound quite nice; any deeper judgement than that is a work in progress.

Mine also fails to identify the Explorer 2 ...
Reported to Meridian, and annoyed.

Hmm. I ran this from the command-line, but didn't get any output. It did bring up the app, and I pressed "Scan".

I contacted Meridian first thing this morning.

I had received the same message as Soundserge on running the uploader Scan, to the effect ..

They contacted me back to offer me a new Explorer 2 DAC replacement. They had identified an issue with a tiny number of these DACs, 5 or so worldwide. The problem seems to be with consecutive numbers of one of the components. They felt the best solution was immediate replacement and as a matter of trust and good service are sending me a brand new Explorer2 with the firmware already loaded, hopefully by tomorrow.

Under the circumstances excellent resolution of the problem with very courteous service from Russell and Des, and the company trusting me to return my original unit.

I told them I had to resort to guitar playing to resolve my frustration, to which Des quipped. "It was our cunning plan to get your creative juices flowing." I replied good naturedly, "You B– - - - -ds!" At which he laughed!

So I hope it will arrive tomorrow.

All this said, I actually marvel at the quality of Redbook through my system!!

Seems like the participants in this thread account for at least 3 of those 5.

It seems that interesting things happen only when you are away from keyboard and not when you are refreshing the browser every 10 secs to check if there are any news.

No problems updating my Meridian Prime on my Mac (actually it's a hackintosh). Didn't have a PSU to test upgrading with that connected. The 4th LED lights up now when playing MQA files in Audirvana.

Yes, they do sound different (probably better) but need more apples-to-apples testing. Not that I will lose my sleep on it. I like music but I won't pretend that I could ever replace an orchestra with just a high-end system in my house, no matter how many thousands I will spend on it. But, me being practical, I will need to consider if MQA is worth investing (and extra spending) on buying new albums and subscriptions from now on. Might even repurchase a few favourite ones but I am not going to overdo it.