Meridian 210

Streaming Audio
1

For about a year I have been very happily using a Linn Klimax DS/1 Renew, and very good it is too.

However, I do love the audio qualities of my Deco Audio upgraded Audionote 2.1 DAC, R2R NOS.

I have been keeping my eye open for a 2nd hand dCS Network Bridge, but they are like hen’s teeth.

When I saw Meridian were bringing out a streamer it peaked my interest as they have an excellent pedigree in this area, and for £800!

I have the box on loan for a week and it arrived today, a utilitarian device - which doesn’t bother me at all.

Initial setup is done by Bluetooth. It can then be streamed to via WiFi, LAN or Bluetooth.

Two gotchas:

  1. My old Xperia could load up the Meridian app but didn’t find the 210, my daughter’s newer phone did; and
  2. To use Kazoo I needed to set it up in Bubbleupnp.

Now streaming NAS and Qobuz via the 210 & Audionote.

George is popping over next Thursday with his dCS NB which should be interesting.

I’ll post some thoughts and observations over the next few days.

M

2

Interesting, thanks! How do you connect the Meridian (or the dCS NB) to your DAC?

3

Hi nbpf,

The Meridian has a spdif out. This is limited to 9624, but then so is my Audionote. There is a USB interface but I believe this is to connect a HDD, in which case the device also becomes a upnp server. I will test whether this can act as an output interface as well, although it is of no interest to me.

Similarly the NB has a range of output interfaces. One advantage this has is it can downsample streams to a target rate I believe. Meridian were less than clear on this, saying it depended on a number of factors, I will test this in due course.

M

4

Thanks, I am looking forward to read the outcome of your comparison! The dCS NB is a very interesting transport, but it is not easy to demo it here in Germany.

For the time being, I am still using the Allo DigiOne Signature to feed my Naim DAC, but since a few weeks MPD and upmpdcli are running under GenTooPlayer instead of runnin gunder my dedicated Raspbian distribution.

With GetTooPlayer and with the USB bus (and thus wired Ethernet), the HDMI interface, the internal sound card and bluetooth switched off, the total consumption (RPi 3B+ and DigiOne Signature) is less than 250mA. In this configuration, the RPi + DigiOne combo gets (transcoded) data from the server via wireless.

5

I have a Meridian 218 which I use to mirror my system in the living room, from the main system upstairs. It is slaved to the Meridian Ultra Dac and provides music for my wife in the LR/DR/Kitchen on the first floor. It works very nicely and I am very happy with it. I use it to drive a Meridian M6 speaker. Its also a utilitarian system and costs about the same as the 210.

6

Hi Bailyhill,

I was over on Meridianunplugged and read a number of posts about the 218, interesting boxes. I hadn’t realised that Bob Stuart had departed. I had an good chat with their tech support chap.

I know that you were quiet keen on MQA. Although this isn’t of particular interest to me what were your thoughts on the 218/UltraDac both with & sans MQA?

Cheers,

M

7

Well having listened to this box of tricks for a number of hours I can say that I think it is excellent.

Where this gets awkward to trying to compare and contrast as, inevitably, this almost comes to a Linn DAC vs Audionote DAC comparison. But, the 210 has to let the AN do its thing, and it certainly does!

I have been streaming files from my NAS & Qobuz, this maintains the advantage of the NAS over Qobuz when comparing the same master.

In broad terms I would say the Linn excels at the frequency extremes, the AN is superb at the mid-range. For example:

Chris Botti, When I fall in love
I love this track through the AN. Via the Linn it is somewhat cooler. But the AN excels at wooden instruments, string or wind. There is also a delightful viceral soundfield, whereas the Linn feels a tad more remote.

Of course, where the AN scores in a major way is with vocals, for instance, Stacy Kent - Double Rainbow.

The Linn excels on other tracks, such as Ted Jansen, Don’t Do Anything. This track has superb cymbal work that I love …through the Linn. The AN not so much.

The 210 does a great job of taking 192/24 tracks on Qobuz and pushing through 9624. With other streamers the AN can throw a thrombie clattering away as it tries to fix on a sample rate. No issues so far, although Meridian did say this aspect is complex and so may not always work.

Overall the sound of the AN/210 is bigger. Of course this may well be in part due to Sound Optimisation. SO keeps a firm grip on the lower octaves, and as a result doesn’t crowd out detail high up the frequency range.

Really enjoying this, and looking forward to testing it against the dCS!

M

8

The Ultra Dac is one that probably is in the group of MSB, dcs, Brinkman, Linn, Naim, etc but does not often get mentioned in that company. To answer you question, when I auditioned the Meridian Ultra, it was set up with Roon and some dsp room eq–a couple of db in the base. However, what the dealer did not realize is that disabled the MQA, so my initial reaction was sans MQA and it was such an uptic that it convinced me that I wanted to make the change. Later in the demo, when that was removed, and I was listening to MQA material, it was even better. So a little embarrassing, but its the fact.
Never got to home demo the MSB, nor the dcs, as I made it clear that I would trade my Naim in towards it, and Naim is not as popular in the US as it is in the UK, so they were not keen on the trade in. On the other hand, the Meridian Dealer was keen to make the exchange. I would have loved to have the MSB and the dcs to compare, but it was not meant to be. I have not regrets

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9

How about Brinkman? Their top streamer has a good reputation, as the wonderful turntables.
Does Brinkman has only transports in their range ?

10

Did you heard some Bricasti, :us: made?

11

Looks a well made box. I am somewhat wary of the latest a greatest. I love the AN dacs and my 2.1 is pretty old now, but it is still superb. I suspect the Meridian will continue to be in the top bracket for many years to come.

12

Well, I am really enjoying the 210, which is made in Cambridge by Meridian.

I have streamed 192/24 from my NAS and Qobuz and the 210 has downsampled it to 9624.

I will be doing the dCS comparison, but this will be staying here. Excellent sounding well made box.

13

That does not seem to be the case, see “www dot brinkmann-audio dot de”. The dCS Network Bridge and the Primare NP5 were primarily meant to support legacy products, the 210 aims at porting services that do not support the Meridian protocol to Meridian systems. The DigiOne Signature and the USBridge Signature are based on RPi and RPi compute module 3, respectively and can thus run whatever software runs on RPi sevices. Pink Faun have interesting interfaces with high precision clocks but no lightweight, low-power streaming solution. dCS and Naim use streaming boards from StreamUnlimited, see “www dot streamunlimited dot com”.

14

Having just bought the 210 returning the demo unit I have had to set it up from scratch I wasted an hour trying to work out what was happening, so to save others …

Set the SOURCE via the Meridian Control app to NET;
If your DHCP server has set the Default Gateway and the DNS to the same IP the Default Gatway will be set to 0.0.0.0;

If you don’t set the source to NET then the ‘net LED’ stays a steady blue = standby; even if you have manually set the IP config, and no - you still cannot set the Default Gateway IP = DNS IP.

New box in place and streaming.

M

15

The dCS vs Meridian comparison didn’t come off as my friend is of the demographic that needs to be suitably demure.

It WILL happen, but I am so happy with the Meridian/Audio Note pairing that the Meridian is bought and my Linn Klimax Renew is sold.

Not that the LKR isn’t an excellent bit of kit, it is also a goodun’ and I would warmly recommend that too. But, I don’t believe in having boxes of unused kit in the loft.

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16

You just needed to put again some tubes in the chain, probably :grin:
After the departure of your ear electronics.
Possible not?

17

:grin:

Certainly the vocals are far more to my taste!

I still have the 868pl here. I will swap it back in from time to time.

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18

I finally decided to not buy the 534. Without listening at home it’s a bit risky and also I have the 250 dr only since less than 1 year.
I got instead the Melco n1z/ 2 for a superb ex demo price. Couldn’t resist.

19

Hi FR,

The 250DR is a great amp too. I think you are right to not dive in without a demo.

The chap who I sold my 534 to lived reasonably close and uses a great pair of refettled Tannoy DCs, produced by an expert. I spoke to the chap who did the work on the Tannoys before I took the EAR over, he was a bit concerned about the 534 as it uses a touch of negative feedback. Plugging it into the new system, using my Townshend Allegri as the pre-amp, was a great step up, so much so that the guy not only bought my 534 but went on to buy an Allegri+. Without the demo I certainly wouldn’t have recommended buying the amp on spec.

If you buy a 250DR you will be able to sell it on simply with minimal, if any loss; EAR is great gear but there just isn’t the same ready market available.

All this is a long winded way of emphasising why I think you made a good call.

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20

It’s a shame that there is no real Ear Yoshino dealer . The importator is around 300 kms from me.
I bought ten years ago the 912. But the dealer doesn’t sell ear anymore in Paris.
My fear was to gain on vocals and textures but loose a bit on that immediacy and power of Naim.

So you seem to prefer the Allegri vs the 868? Or the Allegri matches better, for you, the 300 dr?

What is the negative feedback of the 534? I don’t understand what it is.

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