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

I have to admit the Roxanne's are really amazing earphones (although they're not getting much use at the moment, as they're mainly for when I'm travelling).

On sound muffling, when we moved here, it was still a building site as they hadn't yet built the house opposite (not helped by the fact, when they had built it, the house started sliding down the hill and they had to do three days of pile driving to pin it in place!) and I found the Flare Audio superb at blocking out the noise (and comfortable enough to wear when sleeping). I tried noise cancelling headphones and that didn't work, I tried music but that distracted me from my work, so moved to these. It wasn't a completely ideal, but the silence was golden!

I hope you find a solution that works for you

Apologies I gave my office away to allow wife to WFH so could not find Explorer² but tested on Prime, which, TBH, if render only is on Prime, then it's probably on Explorer² as they are USB wise, very close siblings.

But it's not. As I originally thought, "Renderer Only" only played at 2x, "Decoder + Renderer", and "Decoder Only" played at 4x with MQA blue light.

I would be 99% certain that this would be the case for the Explorer².

hth

Thanks guys.

Ian, thank you for checking - so just for clarity, this would mean that one would not be able to perform DSP in Roon (to EQ the headphones) and subsequently get the full unfold/render on MQA material using Exporer2/Prime?

Which begs the question, do the Dragonfly products allow this?

I’m now looking at full-on noice cancelling headphones after deciding that, for this particular purpose, they would be the best investment and maybe passive earbuds, even isolating ones, might not cancel all the noise I need them to. However, I still intend to feed them wired from a DAC/headphone amp as I’ll be at my MacBook while working anyway. I have a slight concern about the ‘cabin pressure’ feeling of noise cancellers, having never experienced them, but I guess you only know by trying.

Currently it’s between the Sony WH-1000XM3 and Bose Quiet Comfort QC35II. Pros and cons to each, Sony apparently has slightly better noise cancelling overall, and Bose possibly slightly more comfort. SQ differences probably a matter of taste, but I won’t be able to try in a store with Covid out there. Seems many of the Sony benefits in terms of more advanced Bluetooth codecs will be wasted on me in an Apple ecosystem and I won’t really be playing music through the Sony app, so...

The cabin pressure feeling was a little strange, but not hugely dramatic. I noticed it on the Bose headphones, but not on the Apple Airpod (Pro)s.

I find noise cancelling cuts out a lot of background drone in aircraft, but not so much louder and more erratic noises like a washing machine, so I would consider buying in such a way you can return them if necessary. My original over-ear Bose went back as I bought them to cut down the noise when I was working from home and they were rubbish at this.

The Sony has very good reviews, but I haven't listened to them. The Bose frankly sounds a bit pants and only get used for listening to movies on an aircraft, the Airpods Pro get used for silence (although lost them briefly when they fell out of my ear - never fun the middle of the night on an aircraft!) and the Roxannes are used for music, but manage to cut out most of the noise, even without the music playing.

Hope some of this helps...

Thanks, yes it does help.

This is one of the reasons I’ve hesitated between passive ‘isolating’ phones like the Shures, and the ANC type. In fact it’s not constant drone type noises I find distracting when working, but more the intermittent-if-often type.

I listened to the noise isolation recordings at Rtings.com and it did sound like the latest Sony/Bose I mentioned above performed better overall than the Shures, although the latter did perform markedly better at certain frequencies (just not as good in the midband).

Which generation of Bose did you have?

The over (actually on)-ear Bose headphones I bought (and returned) dates back sometime around 2012, so may well have been updated since.

Although a while ago, I believe they were the QuietComfort 15. I later went with the QuietComfort 20 for flying, until the battery failed 18 months later. Not being able to face more transatlantic flights without some kind of noise cancellation, I bought the QuietControl 30, which (it turns out) aren't actually all that comfortable for flying... but probably fine in normal use.

I wouldn't count on them to block intermittent noise, though. Passenger announcements, the clatter of plates etc come through pretty clearly (albeit more quietly). That said, with Van Halen playing, you probably wouldn't hear a thing!

B&O noise cancelling headphones have easily accessible replaceable batteries, so there’s no fear of battery failure (I have a spare that I’ve never had to use). Useful, if you’re on a long-haul flight, to carry a spare battery.

Prior to buying my B&O H8’s, I auditioned the Bose (and B&W): to my ears, B&O is considerably superior to Bose (and B&W).

This is all useful, thanks.

Has anyone here actually heard the Sony WH-1000XM3? I'd love to compare to the Shure SE series in-ears, which I think might have significantly higher levels of passive isolation - from reading reviews, though, the Sony are possibly bass-heavy and the Shures bass-light. Shure's can't be returned, though, for obvious reasons with in-ear tips, so it might end up being the Sony's.

I do wonder if just a decent pair of passive isolating over-ears might be enough for my purposes - my HD650s don't block quite enough with a bit of music on, but they don't really block anything at all, being an open back design. Sennheiser do the HD300 (which is an update to the HD280/380 which are designed to isolate to a degree, or possibly the DJ line...

I chose MEE Audio M7Pro over Shure SE Series due to the sound isolation, longevity, and customer support from MEE Audio.

The Ear pieces are detachable from the lanyard. If you inadvertently destroy any one component, MEE Audio will replace it. When the lanyard of my M6Pro’s failed, MEE Audio shipped a replacement directly from California free of charge.

I use Shure535 in ears on flights, with custom made ear molds (snugs). The amount of bass is very dependent on the sealing of course and I find the isolation is pretty good when properly sealed. And being made to fit my ears they are comfortable over a long haul flight. I've not compared with the sony in-ears, although my wife has just got a pair but we've not been flying recently

Chris

I have experience with both Explorer2 and Dragonfly Cobalt. Cobalt renders MQA after DSP in Roon while the Meridian does not. We are told that there will never be a firmware update from Meridian to enable this functionality like we've seen with other, newer products such as 218.

BTW Cobalt sounds amazing for such a small USB stick, clearly superior to Explorer2 IMHO.

In my experience, noise isolating in-ear's cut more noise passively than over-ear's can do actively. While the music can be turned up to compensate, at least with the former, you have the ability to turn the music down if you want to.

That said, you could order the Sony's and return them if they don't do what you need them to, whereas it's more difficult with in-ears (although, I would have thought replacing the isolation part should be sufficient to ensure hygiene unless your ears are like a tub of vaseline!). I would add (FWIW) that a friend has the Sony's for flying and is very happy with them.