Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Squeezebox or Transporter

Why should 596 vs 598 sound different (for what they can play in common)?

Anyway , with thanks to all, I pulled the trigger on a Transporter , especially after the local Logitech agents sweetened the deal down to under the equiv of $1k. I'ts not a lot of money compared to M gear anyway.
Now the only problem is how long its gonna take to to transfer my music to the puter. I think I will pay my personal slave - err 11yr old daughter:) to do so while shes glued to her x-box/wii/psp/DVD/barbie.com/whatever thingy she does on her puter.
On another point , it's amazing how the youth adopt tech stuff , my kid sets all her own stuff up and in like 7 secs can sms 1/2 a page of the bible without even looking at the phone , takes me 7 mins to type Hi!!

The 596 & 598 probably should have sounded the same but I found that they didn't and the 598 was better.

As for subjective views vs technical theory....we've been around that one a few times haven't we already. It really is code for saying "you're wrong" or "I don't believe you". Meridian start with a technical theory that becomes a design, but, they always use their ears to actually judge whether design A was better than design B...and Bob S has stated confirmed that previously

A couple of years ago I started a thread about snake oil and power cables. You'd probably be in the camp that says there should be zero impact with a 1.5m cable. Reality, both to me and Mrs L, was that there was a subtle yet audible difference. The result, however, was that 'subjectively' we preferred the stock cable over the $500 cable.

Rod, ripping takes a while for sure, but, back it up and you'll only have to do it once. Use mp3tag to tidy up the tags so they read right in your library. You know what means when you start

Some of us are pretty anal about how you rip, do your homework before ripping your library. At least to understand the tradeoffs. There are quite a few threads on it here and on slimdevcies.com

Many of us use (FLAC format and EAC (with accurate rip enabled) to rip, there is nice summary by one of the Mark's posted here). Takes a bit of time to learn but once you learn it, it doesn't take much longer than a basic tool like itunes or windows media player.

Yes, ripping/tagging strategy is very important. You can have multiple tags for each track, one good use is a "wife" tag (so she can select all music she likes without any risk getting my "noise").

Also, scouting what 3rd party plugins are available is also good to do early - and learn how to use them. "Lazy Search" and most of Erlandi's plugins are very good (Custom Browse, Dynamic Playlist...)
http://forums.slimdevices.com/forumdisplay.php?f=4

The software platform for new SB remotes:
http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=34939

Remote info:
http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=37856
http://wiki.slimdevices.com/index.cgi?JiveBDK

Good for a tryout:
http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=40818

There's probably also a new, screenless, SB coming. Hopefully you can choose that + the new remote (on the picture), or the traditional SB3 with the new remote as an optional extra.

Just an update , typically , after depositing the money in the importers account , the 1 unit in stock , turned out to be NO units in stock , so they are sending me a SB for me to use till they get a new tranporter in , in early Jan.
Im somewhat dissapointed.

I have always been anal about ripping , I started copying discs for my other systems some years ago and used EAC from word go. I rip to WAV as the "master" , can always convert to other formats from there. I currently have 2 terrabytes in hd space on my main puter systems , so space isnt a major issue.

Along with the Transporter - I also ordered the Logitech Harmony 1000 touch screen remote - looks quite good. At least they have that in stock and getting one with the SB.
I have downloaded Slimserver and the "virtual" Sb (softsqueeze) and have been playing with those.