Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Streaming Meridian 210 Streamer - Released!

Hi

Got my 210 installed to 271 to 5500s and installed Roon on Mac with Tidal.

Now playing various MQA tracks, now MQA light varies from green to blue, one being authenticated, the other Studio according to 210 manual.

Assume linked to sample rate as they vary from 48 to 96 to 192. Assume 192 is best ! But please can anyone explain?

There is also a magenta for core but have not seen that yet!

Kevin

The Blue light is all about provenance. The Blue is authenticated and signed off as the studio master.
The Green is an MQA file but authentication cannot or has not been confirmed as the original master, or it is not the final mix.
That’s as I understand it from reading the MQA web site (Bob Talks) It’s worth having a good read there.

Follow up to earlier post.

Bluetooth connection perfect. You can pair any device from the app (you don't have to be 'on' the device you're connecting), or just connect to 210 in the Bluetooth settings of the device you want to connect from.

If MHR is selected, it is sent to all outputs so the co-ax out is useless. With MHR de-selected, both outputs work fine.

The app appears not to (always) remember the connection "no devices found" and you have to reconnect, but as I said before, I'm not sure when you need the app unless you're changing configuration. Switching between Roon and bluetooth and vv is fully automatic. I imagine anything connected to the SpeakerLink input might do the same.

Re MQA, this is what the app says:Is that different from what's been suggested elsewhere in this post? I don't have full understanding of MQA yet!

I don't have any MQA sources, opinion here seems to be that MQA through Roon isn't a proper implementation (is that right?). I might try a Tidal trial just to see what happens; I know there are some free MQA downloads - I assume I just dump these on a USB stick and go from there.

I'd not say "useless" they too would work fine when connected to legacy 24 bit Meridian DSP's that support MHR. The 210 isn't really designed to drive a MHR and non-MHR device simultaneously.

I guess the question that some want confirming is can the 210 be used to send a decoded MQA signal (MQB) to a 3rd party MQA DAC via coax for rendering. Maybe yourself or another 210 owner could confirm.

Where has that been suggested? Roon's handling of it is just fine, there are two options:

- Pass through the unfolded MQA signal perfectly.
- MQA decode (first unfold) and output a MQB signal (Roon can even apply it's DSP functions and still maintain MQB integrity).

In contrast, Meridian's present implementation of MQA rendering (when feeding the DACs) is limited; and appears to only function correctly when feed decoded MQA from a Meridian MQA decoder via SpeakerLink. That said, to be fair, I believe this was down to stricter MQA licence conditions that were present at the time (M being the first adopter).

There is recent talk of new Meridian firmware for their "performance" [5200.2, 7200.2 & 8000.2] and SE DSP speakers to enable them to render a [standard] MQB signal Roon and other non-M decoder's output. Watch this space.

Regards,
Carl

Slightly strange issue.

The 271 was not connected to the internet it is turned on off by trigger from Arcam. The control app can’t find it, the IP app can, but can’t find the 210. The 271 has default vol of 60. The 210 has startup volume of 45. When I start from IP app I sometimes get 60 sometimes 45, when from control app sometimes 45 sometimes 60.

Now the 210 is new so wonder if the app is just for this or does it control say a 218? Surprised it can’t find 271 as quite new, but perhaps a niche product.

Anyway this is indirectly the way I can resolve issues where I have Arcam sources on startup of 60 and Roon on startup of 45 ie Roon uses 210 default and Arcam uses 271 default, so can vary with Arcam volume control.

Now I don’t get totally consistent predictable result as sometime control app comes on with the 271 default, sometimes IP app with 210 default. Coming from software company suspect bug where it retrieves / stores the startup volume variable.

I will send to Meridian support to see if it could be set to give constant results and I'll try various combinations see if I can see pattern.

Kevin

Multiple attenuation is best avoided if possible, attenuating an attenuated signal will work ok but is probably not best for quality.

I could set default on 271 and 210 at 45, then set default on Arcam to 80, wife and kids like using multiple remotes to control volume for Arcam sources. So I would have to fix these so they vary Meridian volume.

Sky Q basic remote controls Meridian, but touch control doesn’t, but does control Arcam. Arcam also used for sources on Arcam so natural choice for volume.

Also if I change everything will have to explain why, leading to why did you buy that new box!

Hence my wish to set Meridian at high gain and vary with Arcam for the Arcam sources, but set low (45) when listening to roon on 210 direct to 271.

Kevin

You have to go with what works best for you.

I’ve asked Meridian if they could update their recently released Control App so that it recognises a UPnP source on launch rather than Bluetooth.

I don’t have a problem with buying software: at a price I personally judge to be acceptable value for money.

Sure, Roon, unlike the competition, offers the ability to labour over sleeve notes - but I would rather listen to the music.

Audrivana costs £80, plus iOS remote for £10. It provides MQA, UPnP, AirPlay, Tidal and, Qobuz connectivity. Overall, it provides all the essentials in listening to your music library at a reasonable price. What’s not to like?

I believe the 210 is not just a UPnP endpoint but also a server so it can serve files to itself, just connect a hard drive to the USB port on the back, not sure about the control but assume it is through the app supplied with the 210.
So depending on the setup no PC or NAS is required, depending on your library size of course.

Shame the 210 spec didn’t include USB out or analog out, or that they didn’t include the Bluetooth, Spotify, RAAT support into the existing 218/251.

You will still require a music ‘core’ (check with M if you doubt my word): if only it was as simple as adding a USB HDD to the 210 I wouldn’t have cancelled my order.