Originally M2s with a 207 CD player, 204 tuner, then DSP5000s with D1500 subs, 201 Pre-amp for analogue. Ive used Meridian equipment since the mid -80s. Based in Austin, TX, Audioengine has been changing the way people listen to music since 2005. Trade Status: I am not in the Hi-Fi trade. Coverage: Stellar US based customer support and 3 year product coverage is included. All Audioengine products come with a 3-year transferable warranty.
The D1 is a premium 24-bit DAC and headphone amplifier for your computer, TV, allowing you to bypass your computer’s sound card or headphone output and send audio through USB or optical The Explorer is also hand assembled at Meridian’s Cambridge factory, and the company touts that its engineered from the same DNA as Meridian’s 800 series Reference products.Question 2- why wont this work on the older Mac?įirst listening experience was kids of meh: no better than lossless files through two cheap DACs (DacMagic and NOS Dac), but didn't listen much due to irritation. However, when I play a an MQA Master file using this Mac, the Dac's MQA light doesnt light and the sample rate light indicates 44/16, even when playing the same Tidal files that light up as Master MQA and 196 on the MacBook Air. Its not a speedster but running Sierra and should be fine with Tidal MQA and the Meridian. Second question- I first attached the Explorer to an older MacBook that I use for music. So the first question is: does the explorer automatically detect the sample rate and adjust accordingly in exclusive mode?, and why does Audio Midi disagree with the Explorer indicator lights about what is being played? More importantly, what is the right way to play the files optimally? The Explorer requires only 5VDC, which it gets from the USB bus of the associated computer.
So the sample rate the Mac sees appears different from what the Dac sees. One might see that as an effort on the part of Meridian to emphasize both the Explorers portability and its usefulness in a domestic system that already contains a high-end processor from Meridian (or anyone else, for that matter).
More confusingly, at the same time Audio Mini says the output is 48/24, the Explorers light indicating 192 is light. I have also tried Tidal albums that I found described online as 96, but Audio Midi still says 48/24. However, no matter what sample rate I set on Mac Audio Midi, it reverts to saying 48/24, regardless of the file I play. When I play an MQA master from Tidal, the DACs blue light is on, indicating its receiving and playing an MQA Master file. I connected the Explorer to a recent Mac Air, set the Tidal desktop App to Masters, and the output to the Meridian in exclusive mode, which I gather entrains the DaC to Tidal's output. I have encountered two early problems with two different Macs- I will start with the second one first because its the main question, which involves sample rate and Tidal Masters. I would normally say "check out an Explorer2" but in the Trump era Im trying hard to learn a foreign language to facilitate emigration. OK, so caught up in the MQA thread excitement, I decided to take a punt on a Median Explorer2. Im starting this separately from the MQA/Tidal thread because this is very specific and that thread is very long.