The Meridian (Sooloos) streaming solutions are VERY rarely mentioned on here, thought I might aswell add some thoughts and comments for those curious about it based upon recent experience.
For reference, I've been a Squeezebox user now for around 6 years, going through:
- SB+
- SB3 via SPDIF into a Meridian 568.2 (acting as a stereo DAC)
- SBT via SPDIF into a Meridian 568.2mm (acting as a stereo DAC)
- Laptop via HDMI into a Meridian HD621/568.2mm
In addition, I've heard most of the Linn DS range and read about a lot of other solutions.
Like a good deal of us, more recently, was looking at "what's next" from an SBT into my existing processor.
I've heard a whole bunch of DACs over the years and most left me a bit underwhelmed (my apologies to the chaps at Scalford, but only two digital sources genuinely impressed me, one being the Linn Akurate DS and the other being the rather ancient, but glorious sounding Wadia Transport/DAC).
The Linn solution looked like the most obvious route, but unfortunately would require a serious rethink of my existing system, as my processor digitises ALL of the analogue inputs, which seems rather counterproductive if you've just spend say £2k on a s/h Ak DS.
Whilst pondering about this, I did wonder about what Meridian themselves were offering. All I'd previously read about Sooloos was "great to use, but stupidly expensive", so it was time to dig around.
As a starting point, Meridian expect you to use one of their own units as the "server". So you CANNOT use say an existing PC or NAS.
Meridian offer two solutions:
- MC200. This is basically a small form factor PC, with a dedicated OS, internal storage, digital and analogue outputs, no optical drive. The key point about this is that it can be used standalone with pretty much any kit on the market and is it's own server and player. The bad news is that it costs £2k (gulp), and even the new version only has 1TB of storage.
- The MD600. This is a BIG server unit with much larger storage capacity costs £3500, and then needs a "client" device. That client device can be say a dedicated source (e.g. MS600 at £2500) or one of their new processors or pre-amps with an add in card (ID40 or ID41), (e.g. 861/G68 are AV processors, the 803 is a CD player, the 818 is their top end stereo only streaming front end/pre-amp).
Note that the MC200 can also be used as the storage unit, for any of the "clients", e.g. an 818.
Look on the Meridian forums, and they do have an order of optimal sound, which is headed by their top end processors using an internal ID41 card, with the MD600 acting as a server. Unsurprisingly, it ain't cheap. The key benefits to the ID41 card being that it's internal, and thus avoids jitter from say an SPDIF connection. So consider the 818 as a direct alternative to say a Linn Klimax (and at a similar price).
Back to myself, I found a s/h MC200 at a sensible price and bought it over the weekend. Looks like this:
It's connected directly into my AV processor via SPDIF. Be aware that by default it upsamples and apodises the digital output, which is supposed to improve jitter (if you believe in that) and make it sound more analogue.
Do I believe in that? As it happens, yes, but we'll come back to that.
As this was s/h, some of the config was already done, so getting it up and running was as easy as
- plug it in
- turn it on,
- download the App to both my Iphone and Ipad
- Turn on the app and login
- Hit "play"
All in all, under 5 mins and with the sample tracks on it, just worked. Nice start.
Uploading of albums is done by downloading a Windows application to my PC, then asking it to "import" folders of files from my PC's hard drive to the MC200. It does that over my home network. Have to say that so far this has been the most painful element, as it ain't fast. Taken roughly a day to transfer 800 albums, all in FLAC format.
The onto use.
Frankly, it's simply a joy. It has no screen, but doesn't need one, use the App and seamlessly browse through your music collection. It's a bit like the best elements of Squeezecentre, but even more intuitive and faster. Response times for the unit are VERY fast and so far I've had ZERO crashes or issues.
Here's a video that someone else has made about it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DsF9656JtU
Regarding sound quality, here's the contentious bit. Some people will claim hyperbole, placebo and that ALL digital sources sound the same. If you are one of those, please don't waste your time commenting to that effect here. You're allowed your opinion, and so am I. In this case, and with direct experience of the unit, I think it sounds a little better than the SBT via SPDIF.
In summary, I think it's ace. It's lovely to use, so far been reliable, even the missus likes it.
Do I think it's worth 10 times the cost of an SBT? Not IMO, but then I could say the same of say a Linn Akurate DS, which costs a cool £4k. However, at the s/h price (there are some ex dem models available for £1300), it's an ace bit of luxury kit.
Apologies for the length of this thread, but hopefully some of you chaps might find that a useful read.
For reference, I've been a Squeezebox user now for around 6 years, going through:
- SB+
- SB3 via SPDIF into a Meridian 568.2 (acting as a stereo DAC)
- SBT via SPDIF into a Meridian 568.2mm (acting as a stereo DAC)
- Laptop via HDMI into a Meridian HD621/568.2mm
In addition, I've heard most of the Linn DS range and read about a lot of other solutions.
Like a good deal of us, more recently, was looking at "what's next" from an SBT into my existing processor.
I've heard a whole bunch of DACs over the years and most left me a bit underwhelmed (my apologies to the chaps at Scalford, but only two digital sources genuinely impressed me, one being the Linn Akurate DS and the other being the rather ancient, but glorious sounding Wadia Transport/DAC).
The Linn solution looked like the most obvious route, but unfortunately would require a serious rethink of my existing system, as my processor digitises ALL of the analogue inputs, which seems rather counterproductive if you've just spend say £2k on a s/h Ak DS.
Whilst pondering about this, I did wonder about what Meridian themselves were offering. All I'd previously read about Sooloos was "great to use, but stupidly expensive", so it was time to dig around.
As a starting point, Meridian expect you to use one of their own units as the "server". So you CANNOT use say an existing PC or NAS.
Meridian offer two solutions:
- MC200. This is basically a small form factor PC, with a dedicated OS, internal storage, digital and analogue outputs, no optical drive. The key point about this is that it can be used standalone with pretty much any kit on the market and is it's own server and player. The bad news is that it costs £2k (gulp), and even the new version only has 1TB of storage.
- The MD600. This is a BIG server unit with much larger storage capacity costs £3500, and then needs a "client" device. That client device can be say a dedicated source (e.g. MS600 at £2500) or one of their new processors or pre-amps with an add in card (ID40 or ID41), (e.g. 861/G68 are AV processors, the 803 is a CD player, the 818 is their top end stereo only streaming front end/pre-amp).
Note that the MC200 can also be used as the storage unit, for any of the "clients", e.g. an 818.
Look on the Meridian forums, and they do have an order of optimal sound, which is headed by their top end processors using an internal ID41 card, with the MD600 acting as a server. Unsurprisingly, it ain't cheap. The key benefits to the ID41 card being that it's internal, and thus avoids jitter from say an SPDIF connection. So consider the 818 as a direct alternative to say a Linn Klimax (and at a similar price).
Back to myself, I found a s/h MC200 at a sensible price and bought it over the weekend. Looks like this:
It's connected directly into my AV processor via SPDIF. Be aware that by default it upsamples and apodises the digital output, which is supposed to improve jitter (if you believe in that) and make it sound more analogue.
Do I believe in that? As it happens, yes, but we'll come back to that.
As this was s/h, some of the config was already done, so getting it up and running was as easy as
- plug it in
- turn it on,
- download the App to both my Iphone and Ipad
- Turn on the app and login
- Hit "play"
All in all, under 5 mins and with the sample tracks on it, just worked. Nice start.
Uploading of albums is done by downloading a Windows application to my PC, then asking it to "import" folders of files from my PC's hard drive to the MC200. It does that over my home network. Have to say that so far this has been the most painful element, as it ain't fast. Taken roughly a day to transfer 800 albums, all in FLAC format.
The onto use.
Frankly, it's simply a joy. It has no screen, but doesn't need one, use the App and seamlessly browse through your music collection. It's a bit like the best elements of Squeezecentre, but even more intuitive and faster. Response times for the unit are VERY fast and so far I've had ZERO crashes or issues.
Here's a video that someone else has made about it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DsF9656JtU
Regarding sound quality, here's the contentious bit. Some people will claim hyperbole, placebo and that ALL digital sources sound the same. If you are one of those, please don't waste your time commenting to that effect here. You're allowed your opinion, and so am I. In this case, and with direct experience of the unit, I think it sounds a little better than the SBT via SPDIF.
In summary, I think it's ace. It's lovely to use, so far been reliable, even the missus likes it.
Do I think it's worth 10 times the cost of an SBT? Not IMO, but then I could say the same of say a Linn Akurate DS, which costs a cool £4k. However, at the s/h price (there are some ex dem models available for £1300), it's an ace bit of luxury kit.
Apologies for the length of this thread, but hopefully some of you chaps might find that a useful read.
