[GreenBow]

My kit is not high-end.
 
My headphones are Grado SR225e.
My active speaker are Q Acoustics BT3. With a QED Reference Audio J2P connecting DAC line out to active speaker. The cable makes a big difference over basic £2 cable. Also I need to get some quality speaker cable like Chord Clearway to connect the slave speaker to the master. Again the basic black thin stuff is pretty flat sounding. I will also be thinking of going inside the master active speaker. I want to see what cable connects from amp to speaker and speaker out connections. If that is cheap tat, I will replace that too. That will make the BT3 perform at their best. (Bear in mind Q Acoustics rule the lower price point speakers in reviews.)

 

[yangian]

  My kit is not high-end.
 
My headphones are Grado SR225e.
My active speaker are Q Acoustics BT3. With a QED Reference Audio J2P connecting DAC line out to active speaker. The cable makes a big difference over basic £2 cable. Also I need to get some quality speaker cable like Chord Clearway to connect the slave speaker to the master. Again the basic black thin stuff is pretty flat sounding. I will also be thinking of going inside the master active speaker. I want to see what cable connects from amp to speaker and speaker out connections. If that is cheap tat, I will replace that too. That will make the BT3 perform at their best. (Bear in mind Q Acoustics rule the lower price point speakers in reviews.)

Oh, yeah, cable is very important!

 

[sm4rt1]

Good news ... Maybe MQA will make some progress this year
http://www.stereophile.com/content/meridian-updates-its-products-mqa#F3CTs78i7DRJrzvl.97

 

[yage]

Quote:

  Nope - beyond my math.
 
My answer was to a question a while back, which was how is the Explorer2 different from the Explorer. One point is apodizing. And another point is is upsampling, however it accomplishes the second.
 
Sometimes I found the upsampling to be smoothing the sound too much. There was a song I frequently used where the singer was trying to express a personal loss, a torture, angst, whatever you want to call it. With the smoothing of the upsampling, the sound seemed a little flat. It did not shout and screech at me with the same sharpness. But generally, I like all the processing upgrades made in the Explorer2 versus the original.

 
From my understanding, upsampling happens at an integer multiple of the native rate (e.g. 44.1 x 4 = 88.2 x 2 = 176.4 and 48 x 4 = 96 x 2 = 192 kHz). I bet the Explorer 2 is upsampling the incoming bitstream to reuse the same custom filter implementation (apodizing) when faced with multiple sampling frequencies.
 
 

  I know what upsampling is meant to do. However I can't understand how they make more sample points from less. If 44.1KHz music has 44,100 samples per second, where does upsampling get more sample points to make 192,000 per second.

 
Here's the basic gist from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upsampling):
 
Note that L is the integer multiple of the native (or base sampling rate).
 

• Create a sequence,
  
  comprising the original samples,
  
  separated by L − 1 zeros.
• Smooth out the discontinuities with a lowpass filter, which replaces the zeros

 

[GreenBow]

I contacted Meridian about the question I had of the upgrade of the ME2 over the ME. Though I worded it slightly differently. Anyway you can see what I mean. This was my email:
 
I am wondering if the DAC in the Meridian Explorer 2 is different to that in the Meridian Explorer. People talk about the ME2 sound being an upgrade and I am wondering if that comes from the DAC chip.
I have the Meridian Explorer and like the tone etc. I am thinking about an upgrade, and wondering how much of a difference the 'apodizing filter' makes in the ME2.
Basically I am trying to pinpoint why the ME2 would be better. Is it the same DAC with better components around it. Or is the main DAC chip different being that the ME is powerful enough to manage MQA files.
You might not be able to tell me though. Trade secret etc.
 
This was Meridian's reply.
 
Thank you for getting in touch with Meridian.
 
The Explorer and Explorer² share the same DAC and analogue audio components.  The Explorer² is an evolution of the original Explorer and incorporates a much more powerful microprocessor which handles both the USB Audio 2.0 interface and the digital signal processing of the digital audio stream. 
 
This then allows the Explorer² to incorporate more Meridian DSP technology into the product, technology such as Meridian Apodising Filter and of course, Master Quality Authenticated (MQA).
 
----------------------------------------
 
@yage Brilliant, I will read that. Have not done yet.

 

[AitchKay]

E2 firmware update is now on the Meridian support page - guess what I'm doing with the next hour or so.

 

[yage]

Haven't had any luck yet in updating the firmware either in Mac OS X 'El Capitan' or on Windows 7. Sent an email to Meridian support... 

 

[Winterwolf]

Updated firmware. Still no blue light (or green) with MQA content. Contacted Support.

 

[LeeInLeith]

I just updated firmware as well. No change in lights or sound. Will contact Meridian now. What are you using as your player? I've tried Fidelia and it plays the FLAC file, but the explorer doesn't recognize it as MQA. ... I am waiting now for Meridian to give me a call back. I also notice now that all three lights blink occasionally, all white, no colors.
 
 
UPDATE: I've sorted my problem. It seems Fidelia isn't passing through the file as required. I downloaded the trial version of Audirvana and it works a charm. Blue light shines and other lights light corresponding to bit rates. Excellent sound with MQA.

 

[peterinvan]

E2 firmware update is now on the Meridian support page - guess what I'm doing with the next hour or so.

MQA firmware for Explorer2

https://www.meridian-audio.com/support/personal-audio-support/explorer-2/

Let's hear your impressions please.

No update for Director (Direct) DAC

 

[LeeInLeith]

MQA files sound great. I downloaded Mozart violin concertos from 2L and all of their sample MQA files from their test site as well. Very wholesome, elegant, full sound. No listener fatigue at all! Very addictive. For non-MQA files I still prefer my Beresford Caiman II DAC with its latest firmware. But MQA tracks really are great playing on a Mac Mini through Audirvana and the Explorer2. Now just need Tidal to start streaming MQA files and life will be bliss. Can't wait to hear my favorite tracks in MQA format ... sooner the better!

 

[AskeLundstrom]

Do anyone know which players that can decode MQA files on windows?
I have updated my Explorer 2 and no green or blue light  

 

[Winterwolf]

I am on Windows 10 as well. So far no player seems to pass on the MQA info. What a pain...I tried VLC, Media player with codec pack 4.4.0 and Groove music. Waiting for Meridian support as well.

 

[yage]

  Do anyone know which players that can decode MQA files on windows?
I have updated my Explorer 2 and no green or blue light  

 

  I am on Windows 10 as well. So far no player seems to pass on the MQA info. What a pain...I tried VLC, Media player with codec pack 4.4.0 and Groove music. Waiting for Meridian support as well.

 
I would give foobar2000 with ASIO output a shot. Not that I can try it myself because the damn updater won't load the new firmware.
 
foobar2000
http://www.foobar2000.org/
 
ASIO output component
http://www.foobar2000.org/components/view/foo_out_asio
 
In foobar2000, File -> Preferences -> Output -> select ASIO: Meridian USB2 ASIO Driver

 

[AskeLundstrom]

   
 
I would give foobar2000 with ASIO output a shot. Not that I can try it myself because the damn updater won't load the new firmware.
 
foobar2000
http://www.foobar2000.org/
 
ASIO output component
http://www.foobar2000.org/components/view/foo_out_asio
 
In foobar2000, File -> Preferences -> Output -> select ASIO: Meridian USB2 ASIO Driver

I have tried it. no blue or green light