Riv_Ian
Well-Known Member
That the R1T had a Meridian sound system was a selling point for me. I would consider myself an audiophile and have a Meridian 818.3 digital preamp in my home system which serves as a Roon endpoint for streaming stored music and Tidal, Qobuz etc. It is an MQA renderer meaning it can do the MQA unfolding in hardware at the endpoint. MQA can alternatively be rendered in software (Roon can do this) then streamed in hi-res. Meridian Audio developed MQA when Bob Stewart (one of the founders) was still running the company. He has subsequently left with the spin out of MQA to run that. Meridian have been at the forefront of DSP since the advent of CD. They brought out what many consider to be the first audiophile CD player, developed MLP, the tech behind DVDA now owned by and used in Dolby Digital. Bob Stewart has a very solid record of sound science and peer reviewed publications in audio journals behind his claims.
The original “perfect sound forever” claim of CD - that everything we can hear can be reconstructed from digital sampling at 20 kHz and 16 bit was challenged by many analog fans’ ears. It turns out that aliasing effects of the sample reconstruction was creating digital harshness audible to those complaining about digital sound. This can be somewhat ameliorated by filters such as Meridian’s apodising filter, but the effects can’t be removed within the audible 20 Hz to 20kHz range unless the sampling is increased to 24 bit 96 kHz (like DVDA). Personally, I can hear the difference between CD done well and DVDA on the same system, but I’d say the difference is fairly subtle. People claimed to be able to hear improvement in higher sample rates like 192 kHz which others were initially skeptical of given that DVDA resolution removes any aliasing effects beyond the audible range. What Bob Stewart subsequently discovered was that there was information above 96kHz sampling rate that has audible effects for timing reconstruction. Apparently, we can here timing differences between each ear as low as 50ms (needed to determine the direction sounds are coming from).
MQA does multiple things. It takes the high resolution information above CD resolution and folds it in below the noise floor of the CD standard. This makes it compatible with the CD standard and makes the same size, but allows equipment that’s MQA compatible or software to render that information. Full MQA also encodes information about the original A to D recording equipment so the D to A rendering can reverse the bias of the original encoding.
I don’t know if the R1T’s system has a hard or software renderer, but even if it doesn’t, there’s potential for an MQA file to sound better than CD.
Personally, I must say I’m very happy with the Tidal integration and sound quality through the Meridian system. It’s significantly better than Bluetooth streaming Apple lossless files from my iPhone. I can hear the differences between CD, DVDA and MQA versions of the same music on my home system, but the differences are somewhat subtle. To my ear, the sound becomes progressively more relaxing at the same time as increasing in detail, naturalness of the soundstage and rhythm. I do think these kinds of difference will be difficult to discern in the car, even if stationary and listening carefully. I do agree with the earlier comment that the bass response is a little lacking in depth. The bass that’s there is accurate and taut; I wouldn’t want more bass volume at the expense of accuracy, and accurate deep bass is difficult and expensive to do.
The original “perfect sound forever” claim of CD - that everything we can hear can be reconstructed from digital sampling at 20 kHz and 16 bit was challenged by many analog fans’ ears. It turns out that aliasing effects of the sample reconstruction was creating digital harshness audible to those complaining about digital sound. This can be somewhat ameliorated by filters such as Meridian’s apodising filter, but the effects can’t be removed within the audible 20 Hz to 20kHz range unless the sampling is increased to 24 bit 96 kHz (like DVDA). Personally, I can hear the difference between CD done well and DVDA on the same system, but I’d say the difference is fairly subtle. People claimed to be able to hear improvement in higher sample rates like 192 kHz which others were initially skeptical of given that DVDA resolution removes any aliasing effects beyond the audible range. What Bob Stewart subsequently discovered was that there was information above 96kHz sampling rate that has audible effects for timing reconstruction. Apparently, we can here timing differences between each ear as low as 50ms (needed to determine the direction sounds are coming from).
MQA does multiple things. It takes the high resolution information above CD resolution and folds it in below the noise floor of the CD standard. This makes it compatible with the CD standard and makes the same size, but allows equipment that’s MQA compatible or software to render that information. Full MQA also encodes information about the original A to D recording equipment so the D to A rendering can reverse the bias of the original encoding.
I don’t know if the R1T’s system has a hard or software renderer, but even if it doesn’t, there’s potential for an MQA file to sound better than CD.
Personally, I must say I’m very happy with the Tidal integration and sound quality through the Meridian system. It’s significantly better than Bluetooth streaming Apple lossless files from my iPhone. I can hear the differences between CD, DVDA and MQA versions of the same music on my home system, but the differences are somewhat subtle. To my ear, the sound becomes progressively more relaxing at the same time as increasing in detail, naturalness of the soundstage and rhythm. I do think these kinds of difference will be difficult to discern in the car, even if stationary and listening carefully. I do agree with the earlier comment that the bass response is a little lacking in depth. The bass that’s there is accurate and taut; I wouldn’t want more bass volume at the expense of accuracy, and accurate deep bass is difficult and expensive to do.
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