Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems AC200 v 818v3

Thanks Guys ! A side rant first, its not easy for newcomers and non-HiFi tech folks to understand the differences between hardware options for a brand like Meridian, so without the kind souls on this forum, its pretty much a trek in a thunderstorm. Kudos to crowdsourced support !

I reckon the Distributor isnt able to keep up relative to other, faster moving brands, but (in case he reads this!) they have been very good on support and they helped to rip a lot of my CDs so they had effort/heart in this even if their technical advice may be off.

NOW - you all say the 8x8 processes USB/streaming source signal differently from AC200 ? How is it different and why is it better ? This is a chunk of change to withdraw from the bank ! Gotta be enticed by a significant delta in sound quality...

Thanks again, I am so glad I came here for sagely advice.

JZ

Do you have a how to guide on loading MQA files for playback in a system with 818 + DSPs ?

Thanks

That's technically correct in that both the AC200 and the 818 utilise the same FLAC source files, but incorrect as each device handles those files with quite different refinement, in addition to separate input methods as Ian noted above. The resulting sound quality from each is markedly different. And it's not just superior analogue sound quality, the digital output from the 818 will be far superior to the AC200.

Cheers

George

The AC200 is not a Sooloos endpoint, so you need to feed it a signal from an endpoint. This could be an MS200 or similar, or via the USB port from a computer. The USB input as pointed out is synchronous and limited to a much lower resolution than that of the asynchronous input for the 818v3. Due to being synchronous it is potentially subject to a significantly higher level of jitter.

The 818v3 has a Sooloos ID41 card built into it, so for a Sooloos-based system this is much the best input to use. It also benefits from a Linear Power Supply and significantly greater processing power than available in the AC200. This enables triple FIFO buffering to reduce jitter to extremely low levels, as well as significantly greater interaction with your SE speakers than the AC200 can. This includes MQA decoding which the AC200 can't do.

I agree the 818v3 is a significant step up in price, but that's because sonically it can achieve a lot more than the AC200 (as I said previously, I view mine as a source switching device rather than something that inherently adds to the sound; this is a very simplistic view).

Only you can decide whether it's worth it but having gone from a 568.2mm to an 861v4 recently I'd say you may be surprised how much better things can get.

And the DSP algorithms in the 818(v3) *are* more sophisticated than those in less expensive Meridian products (e.g. MS200, MS600) and the 861v8 (which has its hardware resources spread more "thinly" per channel).

I went from ID40 in 861v4 (with linear PSU) to ID41 in 818v3 (through the 861v4) and the difference is staggering. The 818v3 makes a lot of CD sound like HighRes...

Thanks what also poking around the website and couldnt determine how long the 818v3 has been on the market ? I wondered if it was worth waiting for a new iteration.

the 818v2 -> 818v3 upgrades came out in the 4th Quarter 2015. They were delayed by MQA technologies, I think. In terms of product cycle, I can say it is near the beginning, unless they discover something unexpected, like they did between 818v1 and 818v2.

thanks

curious - what did they discover ?

something was discovered affecting audio quality on the ID40, and so a solution was designed, engineered, rolled-out, and ID41 was rolled out (with 818v2).

The 8x8 offers ultra-low jitter that will make you think you have a complete new music collection.

40% less jitter is huge, I didn't think the AC200 was jittery but I guess it's not apparent to the naked eye

For the price of an 8x8 over an AC200 you *could* have a massive complete new music collection.