Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Streaming Roon or 518?

Hi all, very infrequent poster here.

I'm running a DSP5500 pair from (whenever) that I acquired for a good deal some years ago and absolutely love it. It does have the 96/24 upgrade.

I also have a 518 of roughly the same vintage (I think?). I really like what it does for the music.

My only source is Tidal (plus my hard drive collection but I don't even see much point of that, given that there is nothing there that I can't find on Tidal).

Age 66, with what I would say is probably the 'normal' amount of hearing deterioration at this age. Lowest and highest frequencies, audible to my adult kids, and some of these even audible to my 63 y.o. wife, completely pass me by. To the point I've often suspected them of pulling my leg, lol.

I just picked up an Eversolo T8 and it seems very promising. I also have, within the return period but mostly for grins, a Wiim Ultra, but I'm sure, even with one day of listening to the T8, that it has the Wiim beat. Although the features of that damn Wiim...

And I just started a Roon trial. So that's my setup: Roon->Tidal->T8->518->5500.

First things first, the 518 does not accept 96/24. This is a huge (HUGE) disappointment for me, along the lines of me throwing the whole shebang into the ocean.

OK maybe not. And while I haven't tried it yet (see 'one day' above), I plan to A/B it with going directly to the 5500 but I already know that, apples to apples, I like the 518. A lot.

So the question: Will the things that Roon does (room correction etc), help offset the loss of the 518 if I run directly into the 5500s? .

Or is the better plan to keep the 518 in the chain, run a max of 48 + the Roon advantages, and will this deliver equivalent sound (to these ears, in this system) to hearing 96/24 but minus the 518? I've read where many (most?) can't distinguish 44/48 from higher resolutions unless it is a super high end system AND they have very well trained ears, neither of which apply here.

What experience/wisdom can you impart?

As the T8 has Tidal built in already and that’s your main source of music I would just link the T8 direct to the 5500’s. It’s not a cheap unit so it should be a good performer.
Keep the system as simple as possible.

You could use Roon and fiddle around with various settings but it is likely to offer little over the native Tidal in the T8. In fact it could open you up to more tweaking and problem solving than you might want.

The 518 will be doing something in your chain and you understandably have gotten to like that a lot. So, when making any change, give it a lot of time to let your ears/brain acclimatise to the presentation.

No harm playing with various combinations though
E.g. 518 in, 518 out, Roon to T8, T8 direct to DSP

But for me I would go super simple with T8 + 5500 only.

For true faffability...

One could connect the Eversolo both via the coax to the speaker's D1 and via the AES/EBU through the 518 to the speaker's D2.

That way, one could easily compare the two signal paths after configuring Roon/TIDAL/whatever accordingly to 44.1/48 and see which you prefer as you fine-tune the filters.

But Nick is probably correct - KIS

Hi Kacki,

You ask if Roon’s room correction will offset the potential loss of your 518. Personally, I don’t think Roon is good value simply for room-correction alone. When you take into account you don’t listen much to your ripped music collection now you have Tidal, there’s little else Roon can offer over the T8. You’d be better off putting a drive into the T8 and moving your music files to that and playing them from there rather than Roon.

Also, don’t expect a magic bullet with Roon’s room-correction. It could make a difference, but it could also be a massive time-suck trying to get a satisfactory result. It would be more effective, and visually pleasing, to add or re-arrange furniture in your room before you go down the route of digital room-correction. After all, you want to spend your time listening to music, not fiddling with EQ slopes.

And finally, don’t get too hung up on 24/96 vs 24/48. You don’t mention what music you listen to, but with most pop and rock music, it’s debatable that 24/96 will make much of a difference compared to CD-quality 16/44. If it’s jazz or classical then you may, possibly, perhaps, notice some improvement (we all hear things differently). It’s important to note that the way the music is mastered will make much more of an impact than different sample rates.

Whatever decision you take, enjoy the experiment and, most importantly, keep enjoying your music. And let us know the final result!

That's actually a great idea provided one is happy to do the re-typing etc on the DSP to activate D2. It would provide a super solid way to switch between the exact same files playing and see what happens.

Definitely a bit of faff though and I would need a solid SQ reason not to be super minimal with just T8 -> DSP.

518 30+ years old digital vs T8 2026 digital....

Great feedback and, as already noted, super idea to simultaneously connect and A/B them both.

I do note that, when the Tidal track is at 96 or above, the Eversolo will pass (meaning the 518 will accept) a 48 signal, and I feel it sounds better subjectively than 44.1. Why this is so is not easy to explain, but depth and "roundedness", even focus come to mind.

Now I have to set up to try to configure the 518. I already tried the optical input last week and... no sound. I know there's some tinkering to be done there (Type etc), similar to AES/EBU. Yes, I'm a Meridian novice but still a fan. Have had the speakers > 10 years but much less on the 518 (as there was a period in between when I was without it for years; it got sorta 'lost'... long story).

Will be back :-)

The depth and roundness is probably more to do with the 16bit vs 24bit rather than 44.1 vs 48k.

Maybe check if your T8 can output 96k on its SPDIF as that might get the most out of your DSP’s.

Sounds like you enjoy the ride so do report back.

So after playing with this when time allows, I really think I'd like to give the 518 a good A/B listen vs the speakers alone. So the idea above to configure it for optical (or AES/EBU) is great, with one small (ie, not small) problem:

I don't know how I'd go about this. Googling etc leads me to largely using "the remote", starting with 'Standby'. Except the MSR I have has never caused any change on the 518; I bought it from a friend to use with the 5500s, and it works there so no issues. This is the silver one; I got it to replace the antique black one with some red buttons (which I can't even find any more but I think some buttons were red).

Anyway, nothing I do on this MSR affects the 518. Furthermore, I have no idea how to put in standby...Per this AI, as there are no numerical buttons on the unit, how do I get to "0" or "1" if the unit doesn't respond to the remote at all?
https://share.google/aimode/9imvaWWirUKiWSrOF

Can a kind soul walk me through, or point me to a good source (not the manual, argh) that can get me going on this? ie how to set up the 518 for an additional input type. I especially don't want to fiddle randomly (obviously) for fear of bricking the 518, if such a thing is even possible.

Hello Kacki

Please can you advise how the 518 is currently connected.

Have you a configured a source in the DSP5500's to accept input from D2?

Does the Evergreen have the option to limit the output on any of its digital outputs?

Hello again...

Frank, the speakers will accept coax into both D1 and D2 (CD, RD).

But an update: I tried AI (Claude) and it scoured the manual and gave me a summary of steps, which I followed and voila, the 518 now passes both Coax and Optical! I have used this tool for other things, notably when doing my somewhat complicated taxes this year, and I must admit (slightly reluctantly, old fogey and all that) it is pretty impressive.

Haven't had much time since to do A/B but the little I've done leads me to think y'all were right. With only 44.1/48 signal, the 518 and direct-to-5500 sound very close, hard to tell. But because the 518 won't pass 96/24, the higher rate sounds better (direct only of course) when compared to downgrading the 96 signal to 48/24 so that it can pass through the 518. Initial findings, need more time but as I already own all the pieces involved (gonna keep the Eversolo as it is both good quality and good for the money), I have time to futz with all this.

Much appreciate all the kind input above. Not common to find this level of friendliness combined with knowledge on the now rough-and-tumble internet. Now maybe I'll look at moving up in the Meridian speaker line but that is several levels more involved, not to mention expensive. I've read, here and there, that upgraded 5500s occupy a very respectable position in the lineup given the investiment involved (and already owning a pair makes it that much better of course).

If you ever want to hear some of the other speakers, I have 8000XE, 7200.2, 7000, 3200, 5200, 5000C, 3100 on hand and I am not to far away in SC.

Whoops, I didn't realize I hadn't updated my location since a move over 8 years ago! (I said I was infrequent, right? )

But thanks Bruce. I would have seriously considered that offer otherwise.

Done now.