TONEAudio Reviews the Explorer DAC/Headphone amp...

Tonepub

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Jun 3, 2011
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TONEAudio has a full review of Meridian Audio's new Explorer DAC and headphone amplifier. Plays 24/192 files, and is built in Cambridge at the Meridian factory. Product was announced a few hours ago, but we managed to snag an advance sample. $299 at your Meridian dealer.

http://www.tonepublications.com/macro/meridian-audios-explorer/
 

Andre Marc

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Mar 14, 2012
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TONEAudio has a full review of Meridian Audio's new Explorer DAC and headphone amplifier. Plays 24/192 files, and is built in Cambridge at the Meridian factory. Product was announced a few hours ago, but we managed to snag an advance sample. $299 at your Meridian dealer.

http://www.tonepublications.com/macro/meridian-audios-explorer/

Hey Jeff:

What a surprise. This looks like a serious portable DAC. It looks like it has
stereo RCA jacks/stereo headphone output. Way cool.
 

opus111

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Feb 10, 2012
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This launch is interesting. Firstly as evidence of market bifurcation - Meridian has up until now been chasing higher and higher end customers. Now they're doing an AMR (with their iFi) - but without creating a distinctly separate brand. To me this keeping of the same brand on both upper and lower branches seems odd. Are they going to keep the same dealer margins with both?
 

FrantzM

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Apr 20, 2010
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This launch is interesting. Firstly as evidence of market bifurcation - Meridian has up until now been chasing higher and higher end customers. Now they're doing an AMR (with their iFi) - but without creating a distinctly separate brand. To me this keeping of the same brand on both upper and lower branches seems odd. Are they going to keep the same dealer margins with both?

Interesting comments. Perhaps they are waking up to the fact that the market isn't growing, that selling their ware to an aging constituent is not the way to growth. As a segue to your second point. I would like to know what would be the distribution channel for the product? Regular dealers? Online Stores like Amazon?
 

opus111

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A year or so ago I was lurking a bit on the 'Meridian Unplugged' forum and noting that what I'd call the 'middle users' were complaining about getting short shrift. This mirrors what's going on in society - the middle classes are being hollowed out. The top branch of the market is most certainly growing in revenue terms, but simply jacking up the prices without delivering any more innovation (coz the top end customers are becoming less and less interested in quality) must become disheartening for the design engineers. Doing some budget products like this one could be just the thing to stop them leaving.

From what it says above the products are from the same dealers as ever before. I wonder how they'll get significant volumes going that route though as this DAC has much broader appeal than the expensive stuff. If it goes online direct then existing dealers will get pissed off very quickly - I doubt Meridian has the clout to control the selling price with Amazon. Hence my puzzlement.

Here's a diagram to illustrate what bifurcation looks like to a chaos systems theorist: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:LogisticMap_BifurcationDiagram.png
 
Last edited:

Andre Marc

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Mar 14, 2012
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A year or so ago I was lurking a bit on the 'Meridian Unplugged' forum and noting that what I'd call the 'middle users' were complaining about getting short shrift. This mirrors what's going on in society - the middle classes are being hollowed out. The top branch of the market is most certainly growing in revenue terms, but simply jacking up the prices without delivering any more innovation (coz the top end customers are becoming less and less interested in quality) must become disheartening for the design engineers. Doing some budget products like this one could be just the thing to stop them leaving.

From what it says above the products are from the same dealers as ever before. I wonder how they'll get significant volumes going that route though as this DAC has much broader appeal than the expensive stuff. If it goes online direct then existing dealers will get pissed off very quickly - I doubt Meridian has the clout to control the selling price with Amazon. Hence my puzzlement.

Here's a diagram to illustrate what bifurcation looks like to a chaos systems theorist: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:LogisticMap_BifurcationDiagram.png

Interesting points.

I do believe however Meridian does make a bunch of stuff at the "middle" price point.

Also, this product should not be too much of a surprise, after all, Meridian has always been at the forefront
of digital.

As far as how they are going to sell it..well the AQ Dragonfly is doing just fine being sold all over the place.
Dealers are doing just fine selling Soolos and other good margin Merdian products.
 

JackD201

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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Not Meridian's first effort at targeting a wider market. They actually co-branded with Ferrari for a table top box. The F80 I believe it was.
 

daytona600

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Sep 9, 2012
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astell kern ak100 does 24/192 and fits in your pocket - love mine
 

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