Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion HiFi & HT Chat Explorer 2 vs...

Is the Explorer 2 still the best option around its price or are there better options for a portable, MQA compatible, Roon tested DAC these days?

I’m not very familiar with this market, so am only aware of the Audioquest Dragonfly Red as being one alternative, although some reviews mention this might sound a bit brighter or more ‘insistent’ with the Explorer 2 being a bit smoother and more refined.

Anything which might be slightly more expensive which would be worth a little extra?

Will be used with Sennheiser HD300 Pro (as the noisy neighbours constant construction work is interfering with my work) and HD650 for pleasure.

I've honestly not seen any comparative reviews. The latest/greatest Dragonfly is the Cobalt; all of the Dragonfly models are, of course, only renderers. I think it they may even display a magenta light when rendering MQA, unlike the Explorer². I'm not 100% if the E² does actually render (as opposed to decode+render).

Dragonfly comparison chart

How much do you want to spend ?

Just re-reading this, you might want to budget for a dedicated headphones amp, especially for the HD650.

Thanks guys,

That comparison chart is useful - I had no idea a device could be a renderer only (and not decoder as well, that’s a new one on me) I don’t think it’ll matter as it’ll be fed by Roon/Tidal which can both do the unfold. What Hi-Fi’s review of the Explorer 2 compares it to the Dragonfly Red, and this review seemingly comes to a similar conclusion. But I was hoping someone on here might have lived with both in long term.

Well I was thinking under £200 or so for the amp, unless there’s something really worth spending another £100 or so. Primary usage for this one is to block out work noise, but if I could get something which would also drive the HD650s when it’s not noisy outside that would be a bonus.

If it’s going to be considerably better, I can treat these as separate purchases and leave the amp for the HD650s until later and get something like a Prime maybe.

In terms of passive noise isolation (mixed construction work/gardening - angle grinders, cutting, drilling, strumming, chainsaws, diggers...) I don’t know if I can get away with over ear closed back for monitoring (e.g., Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro, Sennheiser HD300 Pro, etc.) or whether I really need to go in ear (Shure SE 215, etc.) but I’m a little worried about the in-ears being over bright and tiring if I’m listening/working for a good part of the day.

I've been using a ProJect S2 DAC on my desk for a couple of months with HD800's. Have to say it is very good. Probably just outside your budget but worth looking at.
I have also used my M Prime/PSU on the desk too. That is also excellent but definitely over the budget.

I think what I’m going to do is try and pick up a s/h explorer 2 for this application, then budget for a Prime for pleasure listening.

Does anyone know if Meridian updated the Explorer 2 to allow MQA render after using Roon DSP (like 818v3, etc.)? I do like a little EQ on headphones, but also like MQA...

Just a quick note about ear/headphones: I have the SE535 earphones and haven’t been able to listen to them since I bought the JH Roxanne’s. If you have high end headphones, it might prove difficult to switch between them and something not as good!

Another option I use to block out noise is the Flare Audio ear plugs (as opposed to earphones). Of course, if your job involves listening to music, this won’t work and you’re also a lucky man!

I have both Explorers and a Prime and cannot recall seeing any announcement of firmware update for any of them since the render only updates came through for other kit. This was following announcements/observations here but at the time, I did check on Meridian site and specifically ask and nothing came to light. Now, I could have missed an announcement or observation, or Meridian snuck something through without anyone noticing, but I suspect the answer is that the Meridian headphone DACs missed out on render only.

I will try and check for sure later though.

[edit]Latest Prime firmware bin file on firmware download zip is June 2016. Nothing yet spotted for any Explorer on website.

I'll still try a test with both Explorer² and Prime in render only mode

If you want excellent noise reduction, I highly recommend my B&O H8 Headphones: and, if you want closed-back, I recommend B&O H9’s.

Wow... Yes those Roxanne's look amazing (and I bet they sound amazing too!) way over my budget for this particular purpose, though.

I find using just earmuffs/foam works well to isolate sound, but is very unnatural sitting all day like that - I find certain types of white/grey/brown noise can work, depending on where the frequencies I'm trying to block are, but also stuff like solfeggio can be good as a sort of 'wash' of sound conducive to creative work.

Thanks, that would be much appreciated!