Originally Posted by Ronnie
Sorry Drongo,
But I can't agree with you... the fault here lies with the various Players, rather than the Explorer itself

If you look at your posts [which are very similar to many other posts on the same subject on HH and elsewhere] your EXPECTATION is that your Player IS outputting in a Bit-Perfect manner
Ronnie; I have no doubt that the fault lies with the players and not elsewhere. I’m not sure that I have ever said that the fault lies with the Explorer here on HH or elsewhere.

If you read my posts, wherever they may be, I’m always pointing out my own lack of knowledge. My own ignorance is the most likely cause of my own problems; I am well aware of that. I’m not sure how any of my posts here or at the other forum you frequent; could be taken as criticism of the Explorer itself – I think it is a great piece of equipment; so let’s scotch that misunderstanding here and now. If though the Explorer wasn't any good I would say so clearly. I have not and I won't because I think it is superb.

Originally Posted by Ronnie
And it's only when you discover that a certain light doesn't work that you understand that the Player is indeed NOT outputting in a Bit-Perfect manner

Surely, it's easy then to understand why it's the Player(s) that are at fault in this scenario... and not the Explorer or indeed its documentation
As I’ve said I do not blame the Explorer. But the documentation certainly does not help. Something in the documentation (see Carl's suggested wording) would have helped me to get the Explorer working with Foobar much sooner than I did.; And Foobar must be bit pefect as the MQA indicators now light as they should do.

So I have struggled (even with the advice from several luminaries of this forum) to get the Explorer to work with something that it should work with.

If you look at my other thread here regarding the Explorer2 and the SBT; you will see that I said earlier:
Originally Posted by Drongo
If (and I realise that is an assumption) you are getting bit perfect output from the SBT why should you need Roon to playback MQA?
I am just asking a question here and elsewhere – not apportioning blame to anyone or anything – Explorer included.

Originally Posted by Ronnie
Roon, Audirvana and BitPerfect are among the Players that do what Users expect of them... the fact that many other Players do NOT do what Users expect is hardly Meridian's problem?

[And everybody here knows that Meridian's documentation could do with vast improvements across the board... but this is one of those situations that the fault lies elsewhere IMHO]
The Explorer2 has one input and two outputs. It couldn’t be simpler could it? It is the entry level product for Meridian at what I believe to be lowest price point of any Meridian product. It incorporates cutting edge MQA technology. If there was ever a Meridian product that’s going to open the doors to first time Meridian buyers; this is it.

I’m going to guess that not all of those new Meridian customers are going to be computer literate; some of them may even be as ignorant as me! I’m guessing that not all of those new Meridian customers are going to frequent this Forum for advice. I’ll go further and say that a lot of those new Meridian customers are going to be trying to use the Explorer2 with Squeezeboxes and with PC’s running non bit perfect players and that a lot of those people will be frustrated at the process of trying to play MQA files.

Yes; maybe Roon, Audirvana and BitPerfect are the answer. But if those new customers are not told about such things before they try and set up their Explorer2’s it won’t endear them to either the product or the brand. Remember that the user guide just tells you how to install the Explorer onto a MAC, Windows XP or Windows 7 & 8 PC; just like any other mass market device. There is nothing at all about using a bitperfect audio player or that the installed music player in your PC may not be bit perfect

I’ve been a fan of Bob’s products since the days of Lecson, an admirer of Meridian since I first heard the M1 speaker and an owner of Meridian products since the 200 series. They’re a brand I hugely respect; though I frequently find them frustrating as well!

And because I admire Meridian and think that the Explorer2 is a fantastic little product; I really don’t want anyone walking away from the brand because they find setting up and playing MQA music on the Explorer2 frustrating to do.

That’s why I think making the user guide as clear and as comprehensive as possible is really important.

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