[obsidyen]

It doesn't upsample when I use the Meridian Asio driver in Foobar. It only upsamples when I use the Direct Sound driver.

 

[plonter]

  It doesn't upsample when I use the Meridian Asio driver in Foobar. It only upsamples when I use the Direct Sound driver.

???    How do you know it doesn't upsample?

 

[Click]

I'm not sure how it works on iDevices, but on a Windows PC, you need to install Meridian's drivers. Then you'll have the options to set whatever sample rate you want like this:
 

 
The 3 lights on the Explorer² will then let you know what sample rate it's set at. 1 LED means standard sample rate (44.1kHz or 48kHz). 2 LEDs means 2x standard sample rate (88.2/96kHz). 3 LEDs means 4x (176.4/192kHz).
 
I really don't know why so many people are worried about upsampling. What matters to me is how good a product makes your music, movies, and games sound. Explorer² does a great job at that.

 

[plonter]

  I'm not sure how it works on iDevices, but on a Windows PC, you need to install Meridian's drivers. Then you'll have the options to set whatever sample rate you want like this:
 

 
The 3 lights on the Explorer² will then let you know what sample rate it's set at. 1 LED means standard sample rate (44.1kHz or 48kHz). 2 LEDs means 2x standard sample rate (88.2/96kHz). 3 LEDs means 4x (176.4/192kHz).
 
I really don't know why so many people are worried about upsampling. What matters to me is how good a product makes your music, movies, and games sound. Explorer² does a great job at that.

The settings above means that you are using "shared mode", this means that you are NOT bypassing the windows built in soundcard/dac.  Those frequency settings indicate what frequency you want WINDOWS to resample before sending to the dac.     
You better use "exclusive mode" through wasapi (not direct sound).  this way you bypass the computer low grade precessing and let the explorer do it instead.

 

[Click]

 

 

[plonter]

In that case,the frequency settings don't do anything (as long as you choose wasapi in your player's output settings),  The player will send the files in their original resolution straight to the dac,bypassing any windows processing.
Man,the Explorer2 is SEXY!!  I want it.  I am strongly fighting the urge to order it right now.  

 

[obsidyen]

  ???    How do you know it doesn't upsample?

There are 3 lights indicating the sample rate. Also you can see the sample rate in Meridian USB Control Panel. When I use the Asio driver in Foobar, it shows the sample rate of the song. When I use Directsound, however, it always upsamples to 192 Khz. I prefer not to upsample, so prefer the Asio driver.

 

[plonter]

 
There are 3 lights indicating the sample rate. Also you can see the sample rate in Meridian USB Control Panel. When I use the Asio driver in Foobar, it shows the sample rate of the song. When I use Directsound, however, it always upsamples to 192 Khz. I prefer not to upsample, so prefer the Asio driver.

The lighs indicate the sampling rate coming INTO the dac, not the sampling rate after the dac upsampled it.   If you input to the explorer files with sample rate below 176.4/192 it will upsample them anyway.. 44.1 and 88.2 to 176.4 , 48 and 96 to 192.  
Or maybe I misunderstood how the explorer works.   

 

[Josh83]

  I would also like to know.

 
FWIW, I'm generally anti-upsampling, but I'm still loving the sound of the Explorer2.

 

[Pedro83]

   
FWIW, I'm generally anti-upsampling, but I'm still loving the sound of the Explorer2.

Me too. I'm not versed by any means on this, but logically speaking, how can it be better, if it wasn't there in the first place. 
 
What are you using with the E2 Josh? Mine arrives next week, got a schiit wryd to power it. I've heard so many good reports about the iFi USB Power having a great impact on the explorer 1 so I took the gamble. 

 

[RapidPulse]

  The lighs indicate the sampling rate coming INTO the dac, not the sampling rate after the dac upsampled it.   If you input to the explorer files with sample rate below 176.4/192 it will upsample them anyway.. 44.1 and 88.2 to 176.4 , 48 and 96 to 192.  
Or maybe I misunderstood how the explorer works.   

I think your explanation is spot on.

 

[RapidPulse]

  Me too. I'm not versed by any means on this, but logically speaking, how can it be better, if it wasn't there in the first place. 
 

 
I know many DACs do this, including the vastly more expensive Chord Hugo.  I am far from an expert, so take this with a grain of salt, but I think they up sample because it allows them to do whatever DSP magic they are doing without introducing additional noise to the signal. 

 

[mjgr33n]

Just got mine yesterday, working great.
 
I also tried it connected to my LG G3 Phone and was surprised it actually worked, although the volume was less on the G3 than connected to my PC/Laptop or obviously Amp.

 

[ZoNtO]

As a layman, I think of it the same way as upsampling DVDs I watch on a 1080p screen. The original video may only have 480 horizontal lines of resolution, but I'd much rather have a player upsample it so that it looks better on a TV that has the ability to display more pixels. It's not as good as a Blu-ray mastered in 1080p, but it's better than the alternative.

 

[plonter]

I wonder, how many of you using the Explorer as main dac in their home system?  How is it compete vs full size high end dacs?