Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems G68 vs. 861 moving forward

It appears that the HDMI box will address the advanced codecs for both units. As we move forward, any guesses on if and how these units will distinguish themselves on abilities? Will the potentially greater processing power of the 861 be employed?

I believe, the processing power of each is currently the same.

Is there any reason to buy a 861 over the G68 then? (Apart from visual continuity with another 800 series product?). I am intrigued by the room correction aspect and was considering a 861 at a later stage but the lack of HMDI concerns me somewhat.

howie

Think you're right, but I am not a computer expert, and know the G68 (which I owned) much better than the 861.

According to M lit., the G68 has 5x150 MIPS chips, so 750 total and this is presumably fixed.

Looks like the 861 is 750 too -- CD20 (300 MIPS) + EF20 (300) + IE42 (150)

Obviously though, the card cage architecture allows expansion; whether this will ever play is another story.

Trying to get a handle on the potential advantages of an 861 vs. the G in the medium (say 3-5 years) term as I plot my possible return to M. As I've never heard them side by side and they seem similar in terms of DACs and processing, the SQ differences are all anecdotal for me.

The main features of the 861 (and have always been) are Meridian's support for upgrades. 861 will usually be first to get new technology. 861 will usually offer more. Once a new feature is released it is often trickled down in a more cost effective package. It usually isn't that long a period that the 861 stays in this position. But I think the whole HDMI, DVD-A, BD vs HD put a kink in the pipeline. Now that those issues are sorted out I suspect the pipeline will be resumed.

The 861v4 has a total of 750 MIPS. However, the DSP core is "only" 600 MIPs (DSP C+D, E+F). The additional 150 MIPs is on the master digital receiver card and it is unavailable to the core. It either decodes bitstream formats (DD/DTS/MPEG) *or* it upsamples PCM. The G68 is the same.

The 861 will (probably) continue to make more sense for a user who needs the ultimate analogue performance for both inputs and outputs. If the ADC and DAC cards aren't better than the G68's (which are more recent), then they can always be upgraded in a future revision.

I started a thread in late 2007 asking what Meridian could do to their multi-channel PCM machines entitled "We're on the verge of perfection":

https://www.meridianunplugged.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=65560#Post65560

No one came up with anything new from a PCM processing perspective (improvements to MRC have been suggested for a long time). Of course, Meridian are the experts and "apodizing" subsequently came out of the blue.

My guess is that the apodizing filters, increased output channel support, increased processing power (e.g. to decode *and* upsample DD/DTS bitstreams), MRCv2, SpeakerLink outputs, 8-channel SpeakerLink input, a new ADC card and new DAC cards are all examples of items which 861 owners will benefit from first. How important these might be to you, I can't say.

Meridian is always going to come up with something new that surprises all of us, but I do think that, digitally at least, we *are* on the verge of perfection. I think it's likely to be small incremental improvements and clever features which happen in the future.

Good summary VK. Apodizing filters and improved MRC would most interest me, and it appears that the G has the horsepower for at least the former. Maybe unlikely, but a more advanced MRC might require more MIPS and a new card for the 861. I remember Bob Stuart saying the main difference the 861 sounds better than the G is that you can keep video out of it.

Yep. No video in my G68. Roll on the apodizing filters...

861 rolling forward....unfortunately there is NO evidence of that....silence and no indication of where the future lies....

The G68 and the 861v4 DSP architecture is the same.

There's a single DSP for the digital receiver and a quartet of DSPs for the processing core.

The 861 due to its modular nature can add more DSP horsepower where the G68 appears to be a fixed solution.

Cheers,

I don't see why it should. MRC is simply a number of digital notch filters which get applied to each channel following the measurements you have taken and profile you have built. Your room won't change with a new upsampling algorithm!

Meridian would have to go out of their way to dump your MRC filters.

I don't know how the apodizing filters effect low frequencies. But if it does in any way it may be worth rerunning MRC anyway.