Hey Folks,
I have to say that this is the best quality audio I've heard from my MacBook Pro. I'm listening to iTunes through BitPerfect. Most of my listening is through Sennhelser IE80's and it's magical. The vocals sound more 'real' than through any other DAC. I was comparing tonight to the AK120, which I love for a portable player, and it was clear through the Meridian that the acoustic guitar had a pick-up in it, whereas through the AK120 it could have been mic'd. If you want to hear what the musicians are doing, and how they were recorded, this is the USB DAC for you.
What's even better is that you just stop listening for the sonic footprint and enjoy the music. All of the nuance and fun of your music just comes pouring out. I put on a few of the Beatles 24bit tracks from the Apple USB drive and I just couldn't tear myself away.
I did try the DAC at work on my mac pro the mac is on a KVM extender. For some reason the system complained about USB power, when plugged into the ports on the extender. So I either have to get a very long headphone extension or a very long USB cable - or a new KVM extender. I'll report back if I find a solution.
Meridian has been one of the leading audiophile companies for digital to analog conversion. This relatively inexpensive devices opens the doors great Meridian sound for your computer. I'm ecstatic.
I have to say that this is the best quality audio I've heard from my MacBook Pro. I'm listening to iTunes through BitPerfect. Most of my listening is through Sennhelser IE80's and it's magical. The vocals sound more 'real' than through any other DAC. I was comparing tonight to the AK120, which I love for a portable player, and it was clear through the Meridian that the acoustic guitar had a pick-up in it, whereas through the AK120 it could have been mic'd. If you want to hear what the musicians are doing, and how they were recorded, this is the USB DAC for you.
What's even better is that you just stop listening for the sonic footprint and enjoy the music. All of the nuance and fun of your music just comes pouring out. I put on a few of the Beatles 24bit tracks from the Apple USB drive and I just couldn't tear myself away.
I did try the DAC at work on my mac pro the mac is on a KVM extender. For some reason the system complained about USB power, when plugged into the ports on the extender. So I either have to get a very long headphone extension or a very long USB cable - or a new KVM extender. I'll report back if I find a solution.
Meridian has been one of the leading audiophile companies for digital to analog conversion. This relatively inexpensive devices opens the doors great Meridian sound for your computer. I'm ecstatic.
Long time lurker, first time poster here. I have a Meridian Explorer and I can confirm that it sounds great - very accurate to my ears and it powers Grado SR-125i's well. That said, I can only seem to get it to work with my MacBook Pro, and I'm having a lot of issues getting it to work with my Nexus 6 running Android Lolipop. This may be a post for the Nexus6 forums on reddit but I figured I'd try here as well.
The Explorer doesn't receive power through a standard USB OTG cable. It does receive power if I use a USB OTG cable that has a separate power cable, but only the 176K/192K audio and 88K/96K audio lights light up (the "operating" light does not). Android does not detect it at all no matter what player I use. I've tried Tidal, N7player, PowerAmp, USB Audio Player Pro, Google Play, and Beats to no avail.
I've tested both cables with other devices and they both work. Any help would be appreciated.