[GreenBow]

I like my Explorer. I wouldn't part with it for love or money.

 

[theveterans]

   
I agree with purrin as well.      Thank purrin for the directness and honesty.       Many reviews on magazines or some websites are just convoluted, using language like politicians.  In the end I got no meaningful information.
 
I had both Meridian Explorer and DragonFly.   DragonFly is close to 'truth', and with good resolution and a tad sweetness,  and share the common high frequency signature as other SABRE dacs.
Meridian Explorer on the other end, tries to make sound beautiful by added fake high freq details, and bloated bass.     Yes, if the user is upgrading from a built-in sound card and normal headphones, he will definitely Wow'ed by Explorer,   everything sounded so different, so amazing.  But for a user who used to higher quality DACs (>$1000), he will quickly find Explorer colors things too much,  lacks of mid-bass details,  faked high freq details...  
 
But it is a definitely fun product and meaningful upgrade for people just started hifi.
This is also how Meridian describes Explorer:  "Explorer is the perfect introduction to the Meridian experience."        - just an introduction,  later you need to upgrade to 'real' meridian products.

 
I have the original explorer and nope it doesn't color things to my ears. When used as a DAC (line out), high freqs aren't faked IMO, rather they're more upfront and less refined than my Bifrost Multibit which renders highs slightly laid back, but more refined. Both sound similar to my ears, but the Bifrost is just more resolving and refined. Can't comment about the headphone out since I don't use it.