New Meridian DAC - The Director

[ronenash]

https://www.meridian-audio.com/en/co...s/director/37/

This new line of Meridian products is becoming very interesting.

[Crion]

A step up from the Explorer more focused on being used in larger systems, not so portable

I use the Explorer at work daily with my laptop and Sony XBA-4 in-ears.

Meridian Director DAC Review | Ultra High-End Audio and Home Theater Review

[o0OBillO0o]

This isn't that exciting to me until Meridian allows the "HP Connected Music Powered By Meridian" to be downloaded to any PC.

Then it's $500 Sooloos like system instead of a real Merdian Digital Music System $$$$

[Crion]

Well, it's not "that" expensive anymore IMHO. MC200 + iPad and if you want additional HQ analog/digital zones MS200 is available and looks reminiscent of the Director. MS200 also has variable output so you could actually drive your amps directly with it.

I too held off on the Sooloos purchase as long as I could because I'm used to building and optimizing music and cinema servers in the past. For what it (MC200 + ID41) delivered into my music listening I'm now considering it cheap.

[o0OBillO0o]

Crion,

Good points, I am very meticulous about my digital library of music and movies. The meta data has to be perfect.

Going of topic a bit- I do like the fact that Meridian has teamed up with QNAP so that if one were to purchase a MS200 then max it out or want to back it up, then the QNAP NAS is a great solution.

How much better is Meridians Focus and Swim than Apple's iTunes Smart Playlists and Genius ? I have no way to test myself as there are no local Meridian dealers and I don't know anyone who has one.. :-(

[Crion]

The focus is really powerful when you have good metadata. Swim transcends that focused selection nicely.

I was not very impressed with itunes auto functions, maybe they have been improved? But I don't really care about itunes anymore it felt a bit clumsy imho and I'm using windows.

MC200 is the 1TB store/core/audio unit
MS200 is the analog/digital audio zone which is the same form factor as the Director DAC.

[Kingsrule]

Originally Posted by o0OBillO0o

Crion,

Good points, I am very meticulous about my digital library of music and movies. The meta data has to be perfect.

Going of topic a bit- I do like the fact that Meridian has teamed up with QNAP so that if one were to purchase a MS200 then max it out or want to back it up, then the QNAP NAS is a great solution.

How much better is Meridians Focus and Swim than Apple's iTunes Smart Playlists and Genius ? I have no way to test myself as there are no local Meridian dealers and I don't know anyone who has one.. :-(

There is no such thing as "perfect" metadata.......

[o0OBillO0o]

g997, Agreed.

Whoever controls/standardizes the Metadata will win this digital mountain of media.