Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Trifield alternatives

I have signed up on a 30 day trial for Tidal, so when my room redecoration is finished next week and my system is reinstalled as 5.3.4 I will feedback on Tidal connect and Atmos tracks. I will build an Atmos playlist for me to try out whilst I am waiting.

I am not familiar with Roon. When I look at source options on my MP40 I see Roon Ready as an option. If that acts like Tidal connect, why would one need an external streamer for Roon?

Re Tidal
- Tidal trial you can extend another 30 days for $2.
- Have a look at this https://www.tunemymusic.com/home it's not bad. You upload playlists then it attempts to match to what is actually on Tidal. Gets you started.
- I have seen references to be able to upload to Tidal Tidal Upload but I don't have this option at this time.

With Tidal Connect in isolation you have to know what album/track you are specifically looking for.

With Tidal associated with a Roon subscription, you have many more options…

You can play curated music based on a genre, producer, or artist, for example.

Or, for example, on a given album, you can search/play music by anyone that was associated with that specific album - such as any musician‘s other work that played on that album, or other albums involving the album’s sound engineer or producer.

A Roon Nucleus One can be obtained for £/$/€600: add internal storage for your existing music library.

Hi Gages,
You are right, Roon can stream directly over ethernet to a Roon Ready device, so you don't need an additional streamer to interface them.
However, you will need a machine to run Roon Server on, lots of options. Check out ... "Getting Started" on the Roon Help Portal.

Regards,
Carl

Got it, so the big question is can you pass ATMOS from the Roon Server to the MP40. Note, it looks like Apple TV can do ATMOS over HDMI.

See above post.

Plus, this response from Lyngdorf HQ explains it further…

This topic is very, very interesting to me as well. I have determined to change from 2 channel stereo to multichannel music and have been researching upmixers in deep detail.

I of course had to consider Atmos, but am not terribly interested in height channels (or video), the lossy transmission of Atmos from the streaming providers, and I have to be able to listen to the conductors/symphonies, performances I prefer.

My research lead me to think that Gerzon's approach is the best. I read his patents and derived the equations to consider implementing it in software, while watching the used market for Meridian processors.

I have almost written emails to Lyngdorf and Trinnov hoping to glean at least a bit about their philosophy/approach. If it is simply DSU or Auro I am not sure I would be enthusiastic. If I was more confident in their approach I might bite the bullet.

Thankfully, I am benefiting from the wonderful generosity of member Croft's ad who offered some older Meridian equipment gratis in the classifieds, so have his 568.2mm waiting for me at home. My first Meridian product since my 602 and 606 in the early 90s.

Bill

Audio only over HDMI is not a thing… Over (e)ARC it is, but that’s physically different conductors and pins and applies to the output socket of an AVR, not an input socket. Enough difference to warrant a clearer statement.

Audio is always interleaved in a video signal in HDMI, and the processor shouldn’t care if that’s a movie or a black screen, it’s still video plus audio. They evidently have some settings you can make to not show the black screen, but that’s likely just CEC stuff amounting to switching off the display.

Julian

For me Atmos is not about height channels it is about better quality. On Tidal the Atmos tracks sound way better to me than high quality FLAC. I am using a 7.1 setup.