Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Jitter review.

Yes the new version of HB supports AAC5.1, AC3-2ch as well as transcode to PLII. But, I'm using some legal demo WAV files I downloaded ; both in DD5.1 and DTS. And that's all i can say about that....

Turns out though AppleTV supports pass-through of DTS and DD5.1 out of the box - even though iTunes/QT won't decode and play it... Sounds wonderful too I might add

ken

Why? And have you tried for yourself?

Mark

I am in the process of adding a Benchmark DAC1 to my Mac Mini.

I was intrigued after reading accounts that compare the Benchmark DAC1 favorably with the Meridian 861 DAC. I also read accounts that the SB3 via the DAC1 compares with the Slim Devices Transporter.

Benchmark claims that their DAC1 is immune from jitter.

From their web site:

"Jitter-Immune UltraLock™
The Benchmark UltraLock™ system is nearly 100% jitter immune. The D/A conversion clock is totally isolated from the input digital audio clock in a topology that outperforms two-stage PLL designs. In fact, no jitter-induced artifacts can be detected using an Audio Precision System 2 Cascade test set.

Measurement limits include detection of artifacts as low as -140 dBFS, application of jitter amplitudes as high as 12.75 unit intervals (UI) and application of jitter over a frequency range of 2 Hz to 200 kHz.

Any signal that can be decoded by the USB or AES/EBU receivers will be reproduced without the addition of any measurable jitter artifacts. The AES/EBU receiver IC has been selected for its ability to accurately recover data in the presence of very high jitter levels."

"The Benchmark UltraLock™ system is nearly 100% jitter immune."

I think that's the crucial quote. Meridian would probably claim their FIFO buffers make them nearly immune. Apogee's Big Ben claims "unmeasurable jitter" levels and can reclock incoming signals "perfectly". And so on. I suspect that most decent DACS are "nearly" immune. What we need are devices, or delivery systems, that *ARE* immune.

Mark

I mean based on what we have been fed. Shouldn't there be a major knowledge gap between a company that sells a transport for $10k and another that makes a media device for $250? A gap that is so blatantly large that sales of the $10k product are not questioned by those who have moved from the uber transport to the media player? Esoteric's transport and DAC were just reviewed by Absolute Sound. This is a $30k combo. What makes this so much better than SB3? Or are we all mad?

The Squeezebox isn't perfect, hence the third-party mods, but as a proof of concept it's a compelling argument. Don't forget that these devices are relatively young - if you wanted the best sound quality before these came along you had to buy a high-end player. Now that crown is being usurped by the next generation of technology.

I stopped using my Mark Levinson Reference transport (�12k) once I added the Squeezebox, but I continue to use my Levinson Reference DAC (�15k). The Squeezebox's job is to deliver a digital stream as accurately as possible (ie it's a transport) after that it's up to the rest of your kit to make the most of that signal.

I think the market for high-end players should be dead but there are still people willing to pay the money and there is no doubt that the players deliver the goods, but if you are willing to set up a server, do the rips and install a Squeezebox (preferally modded) you can achieve the same sound (and better in some cases) for much less money. If you are not willing to do this, and not everybody will be, and you want the best possible sound you need to buy a high-end transport.

Mark

There would be mods if the SqueezeBox was perfect. That's just how things are.

The Transporter was supposed to be the audiophile SB but it has mods too, so you are correct. The Transporter is going to wrong way for me - it's getting back to high-end prices when the Squeezebox shows what can be done cheaply if the technology is right.

Mark

I'd buy a Transportor with no DACs and a Sonos like remote for $1k. But one thing that turns me off on the transport is no 88.2Khz support.

A week ago I sat down in front of 2 DSP7000 and an 808i CD player. I was astounded of how much information that player digs up. I don't think my present media server comes close.

English mag HiFi News did not get as good readings as Stereophile on Jitter and they have the same measurement equipment. The vanilla Transporter also got beat in soundquality vs a Townshend CD Player according to the article.

Now I'm a digital guy with a digital girlfriend who ripped all her CDs into lossless, we like convenience servers for Audio and Video. What device would be the best soundquality for music?

Currently I use a server that is dampened and isolated from vibration.

Vista/Foobar2k -> Secret Rabbit Code 24/96 Upsampling -> ESI Pro Maya 44 Coax with ASIO 2.0 drivers-> Meridian G68.

I think that's a point made above. A very high end player into a very nice set of speakers (and DAC, amp etc if you're not DSP) will sound very very good. That was �25k's worth of nice sound.

Given that the same CD plays in the 808 and then can get ripped via EAC etc for totally accurate 1's and 0's, it must be something else that makes the difference, You cannot 'dig out' more info in one device than the other if they are both working properly.

Therefore, it may be something like jitter that makes it sound different (better?). I wonder what the measurements are for the 808 - as M's very reference machine. I expect it'll be good.

I don't know what Vista/Foobar2k -> Secret Rabbit Code 24/96 Upsampling -> ESI Pro Maya 44 Coax with ASIO 2.0 drivers-> are but it sounds like they may be a direct wired feed straight from the server to the G68. If that's so, then it perhaps not as immune from pc noise etc as the wireless devices....just a thought see this thread
http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33724

I'd accept that the standard SB3 shouldn't be up with the 808. I wouldn't expect it to be really at �200. However, with some care and attention on some mods, it may well equal or exceed that performance. As stated by GaryG and Mark previously, an SB+ for �800 is still only 10% of an 808.

In the absense of M stepping into this space, I am very tempted to move on an SB+ currently.

FYI, there's a couple of interesting jitter threads running on the slim forum

http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=34749

Personally, I think the problem is that no-one - no-one - does double-blind comparisons. Intuitively I think the results would be very interesting.