Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Streaming Hardware with Roon Application "Correct" setup for 861v8 and 8000SE

Just want to see if there's a correct way for setting things up in Roon.

The default setting in Roon for the ID41 for MQA is Renderer only, is that correct? Either or on my display it shows 88 MHR. The only difference is that it shows the signal path where Roon would decode it first before it feeds to ID41.

I have a 218 just sitting there doing nothing at the moment (in fact I have three haha), would it help to put it in the chain somewhere?

Sorry for the vague question but in the early days there were no good MQA source so never really cared too much about it, but it seems to me with the current source where MQA was no longer an after thought, even with the 861v8 where it not even supposed to decode MQA seems to sound better with MQA.

Also, a separate questions, I still have a MC200 sitting there, and I only had it to configure/update the other Sooloos component. With the Meridian Device Control, does that mean I no longer needed it?

ID41 should be set to decode and render. It should default to that in Roon.

No, that's not correct Nick.

1. OP is using non-MQA-capable 861v8. The correct setting in Roon is "No MQA support". This will make Roon perform the first MQA decode and not add back rendering information, which the 861v8 would destroy as it won't pass the decoded stream bit-perfectly to the 8kSEs.

2. Roon defaults to "Renderer only" because we don't know whether the 8xx unit in which the ID41 sits is MQA-capable or not. "Renderer only" is the best compromise: MQA is always decoded and, if the ID41 is sitting within a rendering "system", then rendering will happen. ID41 users should adjust according to their system.


To answer another question posed by the OP: yes, adding the 218 will give you more than you currently have in terms of MQA, but you need to remove the 861 from the signal path and stream to the 218, not the ID41.

BTW, are your 8kSEs running the latest firmware?

Corrected I stand. Thanks Joel.

Hi, thanks for your reply. I will change the setting to No MQA support for the ID41. I will give it a go and try to put the 218 in the chain and see what sounds better. When MQA first came out, I found the MS600 sounds much better than 218 when playing non-MQA sources, and the early MQA sources just wasn't mature enough, and the remasters material often sound worse than non-MQA source.

I am still trying to hunt down the latest firmware unfortunately.

Your comment about some MQA material sounding worse than (good) non-MQA versions is not surprising in my view. First, one must always remember that aural beauty is in the ears and brain of the listener. If you prefer something then no one should gainsay it (except, perhaps, by pointing out things you might have simply missed). Second, the aim of MQA is to restore the quality of original masters. Not all masters are brilliant to all ears/brains and that is why so-called re-mastering goes on to improve how things sound. Clearly, this is a subjective matter (not least in the perceptions of the person doing the re-mastering) so you may prefer it or not. Personally, I generally prefer MQA versions, even if they seem to have a little more distortion or background noise, because my brain seems to put a lot of weight on phase coherence (what Meridian and others sometimes describe as 'timing') across the frequency range. Don't ask me why - it just does!

Many years ago (at least 60) Peter Walker of Quad often said that a very extended frequency response (above 15kHz or so) was not just unnecessary but actually a nuisance as, given the electronics of the time, it just presented you with more distortion (hence his products had good quality high frequency filters - and low frequency ones to cut rumble from turntables). As HiFi progressed this was argued to be a terrible adulteration, but to my ears he had a good point and I would use the filters where I enjoyed the resultant sound more because it sounded more like the real thing (live music!).

So I would say, don't be a slave to MQA nor to super wide frequency responses. Just choose what sounds best for you. For me, MQA is typically the greatest advance in my perceptions of reproduced sound quality that I have ever experienced - apart from the huge improvements in reducing background hiss over the years. But I would rather have a noisy master quality version with the least phase distortion than a manipulated remastering that removes some irritations at the expense of non-linear phase changes over the frequency spectrum. Many would have different preferences and, thank goodness, markets provide lots of choice to cater for varying tastes.

I have setup the 218 today. Should the 218 be set to Decode Only in Roon or Decode and Render?

Decode and Render, assuming that the 218 is running the latest firmware (which is important).

Yes, the latest firmware updated today .