Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion HiFi & HT Chat Apodizing filter fixes one problem and creates another one?

Curious if you have links to those discussions, as I did look for them.

Also few things are fairly recent.

1) Some of the argument in favor of apodizing was that the small timing errors were not perceived by human ears (back then). But now MQA's (new) claim to fame is fixing small timing errors that the human ear is incredible good at perceiving (which Rob Watt's agrees with that human can perceive small timing errors).

2) Some recent DAC's (new) that allow you to choose the filter. So you can now A/B without involving other differences in equipment. But none have the choice of the Rob Watts filter. It's Rob Watts or nothing.

3) The Rob Watt's take on things, which is fairly recent (last 3 years-ish, i.e. new) and won't be happy until he reaches 1 million taps. He's up to 150K in his top end DAC. His take is basically building a better symmetric filter with no phase problems. Which takes a lot of horse power.

4) The "recent" review of Meridian Prime shows HUGE Jitter (measured timing errors) (new). And Rob Watt's designs show incredibly low Jitter (the measurements jive with what he says he does). But Meridian's don't. I also find it a bit odd that Stereophile skipped jitter test on Explorer 2. Yet they consistently do that test on all DAC reviews.

Rob watts very recently references MQA here (new), and this guy really doesn't seem to be on the attack or a Marketing guru. He really feels like an engineer just stating the way HE SEES things, not to attack others. And his arguments are very consistent with the Larvy document I posted above (from nearly 20 years ago).

Rob Watts recent comments on MQA

I dug deep nearly 20 years ago on what Meridian did vs others and they technically convinced me they had things right. And most of my investment has been around Home Theater. And I started this site at that point. I was well invested in other brands at that point. My ears confirmed what they technically said they did.

With a headphone setup, I wasn't linked to any current investment, and I certainly would allow Meridian to compete and tried both Explorer 2 and Prime. But I tried several others and Meridian came up short (very short if you factor in price). I want to understand why technically what is behind what my ears are telling me. Not my wallet or brand loyalty.

What is technically going on?

The Larvy document convinced me Rob Watt's is right and Meridian (isn't necessarily wrong) but is very contradicting and very difficult to prove technically the way they package it if they are technically correct.

Meridian has no issue if the equivalent of Audiophile fists fights break out in the process among their own customers. But Rob Watt's is completely open about everything and you can directly ask him just about anything and his answers make sense. As much sense as Meridian's paper on DSP Speakers did years ago. No Origami.

I let my ears confirm what technically makes sense. Because your ears can be trained into liking almost anything if that's all you listen to.

Maybe this site is too biased and brand loyal to have a open frank technical discussion on what makes quality audio. Today.

I put "new" in places that contradict "yonks ago".