Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems All FIFO buffers are not the same. Discuss...

A number of points:

1) The number of stages in a FIFO buffering scheme does not translate directly into de-jittering effectiveness. More important is the size of the buffer(s) coupled with the bandwidth of the "system" (the jitter transfer function).

2) Meridian CD and DVD players *need* multiple stages of buffering because the data is coming off the disc at varying rates due to multiple re-reading, which is far worse than the jitter in a typical SPDIF stream. Hence the design requirements for player and digital (SPDIF) input FIFO buffering are quite different.

3) In its own 861 data sheet, Meridian claims that the 861 has "a memory-based de-jittering system that renders the processor almost entirely immune to input-signal quality". Presumably this applies to the G68 too.

4) As mentioned, MHR minimizes jitter over SPDIF. If, as we have discussed and seems likely, speaker FIFO buffering is limited in its effectiveness, then the 800 and 808(.1) will have a *clear* advantage vs. any other player on the market when fed directly to DSP speakers as these are the only players that upsample, resolution enhance, *and* transfer the upsampled digital via MHR.

5) Although producing sources with low jitter is a good thing and makes for the best compatibility with the widest range of partnering equipment, jitter does not affect digital processing and can, in fact, be minimized/removed at *any* stage prior to the DAC. If you have an all Meridian system, you probably have overkill from a jitter removal perspective (low jitter from source, removal of jitter to insignificant levels in the processor, MHR transfer from processor to speakers, high bandwidth FIFO in the speakers).

6) IIRC, the G98 doesn't upsample and I don't think it outputs RBCD using MHR.

7) The G08 (.1 and .2) upsamples, but is not capable of MHR transfer. Jitter at 2x upsampling is inherently half that of jitter at the original sampling frequency, so this (coupled with FIFO in the G08) would give it an advantage over players outputting at 44.1kHz. Plus the G08 performs resolution enhancement too.