Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems INFO: New Firmware DSP8000XE DSP8000PP and DSP9

Mine are still DSP9 after the update, just more so. These are such fabulous performers now that they kept me up late last night with one great recording after another.

BTW this is the third firmware version I’ve had since installing them in January 2024. It’s all about the software these days!

Would you prefer that companies sell you a dead end box? Meridian took an already fabulous line of speakers and were able to make it better, and then not charge for the upgrade.

I would prefer companies get it right first time and not sell half baked products and fix them a few years later, even if the fix is free.

Yes, I'd prefer to buy the finished product and enjoy it for years, since you ask.

It is not that they are selling half baked products. Each was demonstrated to be vastly superior to the product it replaces. They then went on to offer an improvement via a firmware upgrade. Each owner reporting on here is a long time Meridian owner who had previously owned the top end speakers. With how much these speakers cost, I personally would take issue if the manufacturer didn't do the research on how to make an already brilliant design better. With your logic we would all still be listening to 16bit DSP5000's. As the tone of your post seems to follow most of your previous posts, I would guess you don't have a dog in this fight so maybe since you have no direct experience with the topic of this thread, you should refrain from further comment.

Is the performance pack still available for 8000s or has it been discontinued?

It is still available.

I am a bit puzzled by the fact I have no USB port on the panel of Performance Pack. I have also tried to unscrew the port panel to see if there is any hidden UDB port, but there is none.
Anyone had noticed the same problem and knows how to overcome the issue?

I was wondering if it can be done through the connection to 818v3 which is in its turn connected via SpeakerLink to the DSP8000PPs.

I do not dare to try this without knowledge it is the way to do it.
Thanks

The PP would be updated in a similar fashion as the SE with a DB9 to SpeakerLink cable.

My 2p on the impact of the new firmware on XE's.

Not so much a night and day change, but, I feel the overall presentation got more refined. More detail. This is particularly noticeable to me on bass definition and punch. Evident across mid's and treble too but I tend to hear bass first.

Where I think the XE set a new presentation which was a bit different to the typical M "house sound", I think this firmware is more like M house sound. Very, very easy to listen to with pleasure. Very satisfying.

I have been testing the direct inputs to the XE recently using a SB Touch optical and rPi USB connected direct to the master XE (bypassing the 818). [reason = too frustrated with the current issues with Roon dropping the ID41 as soon as the server start to choke with memory issues...see Roon forum for that FYI].

One thing that was immediately obvious to me was the improvement in SQ on those sources. The gap to ID41 performance closed with the new f/w. I speculate that this might be due to the changes in FIFO that are listed above.

I would still love to see M offer a new ID4x that was based on RAAT network coding (as per the latter M network devices). This would very likely bring the ID4x card up-to-date vs the 20+ year old Sooloos network protocol. They could align data rate capabilities whilst they were at it (i.e. 192k at least if not 384k to match the USB input of the XE).

Hi Nick. If your Raspberry Pi is a 4 or 5, you could implement David Snyder’s 3-tier Diretta solution as your source which I have found to be much superior to RAAT. I use a DDC to convert USB to AES for SpeakerLink input, but that is not required for amazing SQ.

Thanks for sharing that link. I have 2 rPi zones but they are both older v3 units.

I might add this to my own tinkering list sometime.

Hi
Having now had the benefit of the update on my DSP9’s l agree with your comments, in particular your second paragraph.

Maybe not quite night and day, the DSP9’s had already done that but definitely more musical and the bass in orchestral recordings is “wow”

Happy listening (what else!)

Colin
relhan