Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Streaming Linear Power Supply Meridian 218

Hi TartanB,

I enjoyed reading your fresh opinion and I am generally suspicious as well when it comes to upgrades. I have often tried things that I could not hear (powercords for instance). To be honest, I really struggle to hear the impact of the axis setting of my DSP as well, but lets not stray off topic. Sometimes you are surprised and things do make a difference. Somehow I feel a bit responsible for indirectly convincing you to upgrade the PSU for the 218. So to check whether the improved perceived sound quality I wrote about could be repeated, I did the same test again. I listened to a song on my system trough my 218 and Farad and then the same songs on the same system but the 218 then powered by a SMPS. Note I can't bring back the original SMPS, so I used the original PSU of the MS200. I have also asked my wife which sound was preferred. She has no idea about which box does what so she can only judge what she hears without bias.

I may have exaggerated a bit, "huge improvements" should be interpreted in the context of small gain in audio at this level. That being said, I come to the same conclusion; the Farad improves the performance of my 218 substantially. The sound become more 3D and more real. Maybe take out the direct switch and evaluate the 218 song by song? I hope you find a difference and otherwise you have saved yourself some money. I think a Farad is easy to sell. Maybe a 818v3 is what you need😊.

Thanks for the honest feedback, I appreciate it.

Regards,
D