Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Is the 861 a dead end?

You're welcome! I found myself with a free 2 hours just before so I fired up Sully. Great movie. Very well done surround soundtrack. And no problems at all here. The sound was fantastic, piano and other instruments seemed to hover in space. I have simply left the Oppo powered up with HDMI IN as its operating mode. Easy. I have to redo my racks in a few months and I'm tempted to use my Radiance as a source switcher and then everything can go right into the Oppo for decoding. In my case I would probably have had to bite the bullet even if it were 10x the cost. For me, at ~$540, this thing is a bargain.

As to the marketing, I mean they still can capture the imagination of people who wonder how those 8000 SE speakers sound, etc. They still have that Meridian "magic"- but- how long will that last.

I hate to say this but I think you all will understand, if a friend told me he (or she) wanted to build a dedicated listening or HT room and wanted the best and was willing to pay for the finest equipment, I don't think I could recommend Meridian right now. Its simply too much of a closed system.

I'm not sure I was following enough but I didn't know what the 857 was - apparently its a power amp. Did it ever come to market? It seems not and perhaps that is to what you are referring.

One thought about secrecy- I don't think anyone would argue that the public (or competitors!) should know a company's proprietary information. However, there is a difference between secrecy and silence. I do think customers are looking to buy into a vision- even more important when your product is a nearly end to end solution. Its important the client understands and buys into the vision.

Back when I was more into these things it was that Meridian felt their way was simply the best and most elegant way to high quality audio reproduction. And the product was focused. Now I am confused. Is Meridian a streaming audio company? Are they a local media playback company? Are they making projectors? Computer accessories? When was the last time they came out with a completely new and novel speaker architecture or audio processor? Are they a 2 channel company? I think you could make a narrative out of all this- but right now its a little too messy, or I should say it would be too messy for my taste if I were in charge. If I were king of Meridian, my focus would be music playback at the highest level and that would go for 2 and multi channel. And then the other items would all go to support that mandate.

Quit frankly I do understand that they are creating MQA capable equipment for analog customers (the best versions in the world the ultra and combining 857).

What I just can't understand is why there flagship processor and the most expensive part of the Meridian system except for the 7200 and 8000 speaker could not have goten a pass through card for 2ch MQA without RC right at the beginning of the MQA launch. The expandability with a card based solution is what I bought into, The vision.

Now for simple 2ch MQA i ether need to buy a new processor for 2ch (my other just have 8chs...) or a CD player to access Tidal via Sooloos for roughly £9 000 and a messy installation and configuring situation - that is not fair!

I would have accepted a £3 000- £4 000 card for MQA 2ch pass through and hoping for mch and RC as later upgrades and the feeling that it was right to trust in the Meridian Vision! - now the taste is a bit bitter...

I will say I have used the Oppo 103D since it came out (replaced a 93) and it is a great Bluray player - works flawlessly with the HD621. I also just bought the 203 and am experimenting to get the best UHD settings for my system (there are issues with UHD HDR and projectors) and I'm confident Oppo will get everything figured out with future firmware updates. Oppo is such a great company with terrific support ( reminds me of the old M as you can call them direct to get questions answered).

As far as the HD621 - I use the HDMI 2nd audio only output of the 203 into the HD621 using PCM and my 861 reports the audio on UHD discs the same as Bluray (8 ch - 96K).

Since the HD621 can't pass 4K I use a direct HDMI from the 203 to my projector for video and the only frustrating part for me is I can't leave a 1.4 HDMI cable attached from the HD621 pass through to the projector for other sources when I use the 203 as the audio will not play (I assume because the HD621 is looking for the video also).

So if I detach the pass through cable the HD621 will then play the audio from the Oppo 203.
I might add while I am waiting and hoping for a new version/product from M the 861v8 in 7.1 surround still sounds incredible even without the new audio codecs.

A HD621 replacement that handles HDMI 2.0 and above is also very much welcome and needed.

Intereresting Bandwidth Image if you want your next HDMI switch to keep up for the next 9 years

Edit:

Yep, I'll be needing HDMI 2.1 for my 8K, 60fps VR head-set

Great chart. That puts it into perspective!

Joe, are there any HDMI switchers out there? As far as I can tell you have one HDMI 2.0 source, the Oppo. So could you run the others via a switch then into the Oppo and then the Oppo audio into the HD621?

I believe HDMI will only allow you to carry high res audio if there is at least a 720p/1080i signal associated with it - even if it's blank.

The diagram looks to highly over exaggerate the values assuming Gbs is proportional to cross section area.

Schoolboy maths, but area of 48 needs just over twice radius of that needed for area of 10.

The chart is pretty but yes numbers are right but gfx scale is off.

My 861v4 sounds as good today as it did when I first purchased it over lots of alternatives. The grass may be greener but I still think the 861 sounds fantastic. I may miss out on some modern features and my brain may tell me I need to upgrade but I will stand by my 861 for a few more years yet.

It's too easy to think your missing out, purchase the latest kit, justify the purchase (even if it does not sound better) and repeat!

Just my tuppence worth!

Very true. I did exactly the same 'upgrading' from 568/598 combo to G68/G98 combo. Sucked in by latest and greatest and MRC, the latter was soon ignored and latest didn't always mean greatest - just different.

The final capability of the HDMI 2.1 specification is the eARC — support for object-based multichannel audio formats and enables advanced audio signal control capabilities including device auto-detect. The HDMI Forum did not mention specific brands, but Dolby Atmos and DTS:X seem to be the most likely candidates to support.

I think it depends upon what the upgrade is what your priorities are (e.g. HT vs. music vs. both). An upgrade that allows me to double the number of channels in my HT listening area for me is a must-have. I would also be loathed to give up room correction which make a real difference in my set-up.

If my main priority was high quality, 2-channel music reproduction, I don’t think I’d have too many complaints regarding M's product line-up at present. Unfortunately, they are way behind the curve in the HT arena which is equally important to me.