Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Ultra DAC - Q/A with Meridian's CTO Richard Hollinshead

Yes, I agree. But first Meridian and the dealer have to stimulate desire for the product. Their effort does not seem to have been very impressive.

I really do wonder if Meridian G57s, even bridged, were an appropriate choice for this dem.

For a DAC of the calibre we all expect this to be, I suspect that the amps and speakers were too modest. Even with more mainstream sources, the wrong amp/speaker combination can kill a system.

I've also found that there are some spectacularly unsuccessful combinations of amp and mains conditioning. Was any in use here?

Cheers

George

I tend to agree. The system is too unbalanced (at least on paper) and the Ultra deserves better.

Can any dealer offer me an extended home demonstration of the Ultra against my 818v3 into my analogue system?

The question really begs, why launch the thing at all, if your coming out with a reference set of amps? Presumably, the DAC is "tuned" with the amps in mind? The pair should be a mandatory combination. Not sure who is running the ship at M these days, but

I would add, I am not sure KEF would be my go to launch speaker. Especially if they are very sensitive to amplification. While I know it's British legacy, let's go with some mainstream brand name like Wilson, Hanson or even the new B&W 800's. Something that is a known quantity to all within the set of people willing to drop 20k on a DAC.

In the UK the KEF brand is mainstream, high-end and well respected, while Wilson are massively overpriced due to £/$ conversion and Hansen are barely known; that is not to say that they are not highly capable speakers.

I would have thought that the KEF Blades (which I have heard and was very impressed) would have been a much better demonstration speaker than a stand-mount monitor type.

In my experience, Kef reference speakers (the modern ones at least) can be very detailed, but quite 'dry'. I'd hazard a guess that this might be the culprit for sucking the involvement out of the music, although who knows??

That's the thing, M isn't only a British brand. It's looking to be a global brand. I live in NYC. We have a population of 8.4mm highly opinionated people . I look at Kefs website and there isn't a single dealer listed that carries the Muon or Blade in NYC. Even M does better than that. It might be good local brand, but its niche brand globally in my opinion.

These demos are done in cities like NY and London as their global cities to the world.

Strongly disagree unless you're talking list price. List price doesn't have too much relevance even when talking about new products as we all know substantial discounts can be had.

Would also mention that they retain value pretty well because of the quality of build and SQ. A good pair of Wilsons can be had for relatively modest prices, all IMHO.

I am still waiting to receive my Ultra DAC, likely next month. My dealer went to Merdian's showroom today and demoed the 818v3 against the Ultra DAC. He stated there is a massive improvement.

Btw, what amp and speakers were demoed with the Ultra DAC? It would be interesting to know.

Kef Ref 3 and a set of bridged G57's Demoed at The Audiobarn.

I was mistaken, M brought the Ultra DAC to my dealer's showroom for a demo. They demoed it on the latest Dag Momentum pre and power, Wilson Alexia and would have likely used TA signal and power cables.