DAC Meridian Director
Meridian, lest we forget, was one of the very earliest entrants to the DAC market, way back in the mid nineteen eighties. It has taken digital very seriously, and subsequently built much of its business around it. So when this Huntingdon-based company does a new digital convertor, the world sits up and takes notice. The Director is one of Meridian's more affordable products in real terms, but there's no sign it has scrimped on either the design or the build - ergonomically it's an essay on how to do a small, functional object in a stylish and desirable way.
The elliptical case is a beautiful little thing, made (in Britain) from very finely finished extruded aluminium with gloss plastic end caps and rubber feet. One end has a source selector button and LEDs to show which source is in use, and also sampling rates of 44.1/48, 88.2/96 or 176.4/192kHz. The other sports a USB 2 socket (working up to 24/192) and a single combination S/PDIF and 3.5mm coaxial digital input; adaptors are supplied to permit the use of normal digital cables, but we substituted a bespoke Chord Co. RCA-to-minijack cable, which gives superior results. Finally, there's a stereo pair of RCA analogue outputs. Inside, the silicon includes Meridian Upsampling and Apodising filter; separate precision oscillators are included for sample rates based on 44.1kHz and on 48kHz, minimising jitter. Audiophile-grade capacitors, resistors and gold-plated phono sockets are specified, Meridian says.
The Meridian's sonic presentation couldn't be more opposite to its tiny, sleek, organically shaped bodywork. Here we find a really rather vivid, bracing, bold sort of sound. One panelist describes it as very powerful with big boots on - not the usual svelte, almost genteel sound we're used to from Meridian. The Kraftwerk track comes over in a thumping, punchy sort of way, the Director showing us that it knows how to push bass around the place. It's a decently tuneful performer, but still by the standards of the group isn't the most natural sounding here.
On the Beth Rowley track, the Meridian creates a big, commanding sort of sound, with lots going on and the sense that it is in complete control of events. It gives a striking piano with oodles of ringing harmonics, and a super-fast, almost lacerating sound from the fast-plucked steel string guitars. Her vocals sound particularly close miked and very direct, while the backing drum kit is tight and the cymbals sparkle very brightly. Again though, this seems to be a little unsubtle by the standards of some others on test here - the Director seems to be very good at giving an impressive surface to the music, but the more you listen in, the less satisfying it becomes. This contrasts strongly to the Pro-Ject DAC Box DS for example, which presents almost the exact opposite type of performance.
The opening bars of the Bruce Springsteen track don't impress; it sounds a little opaque, as if the DAC isn't really getting into the essence of the recording in some way. The piano work sounds bold, but again the rhythms plod along in a way that is at odds with an initially very striking presentation. This DAC is certainly interesting to listen to alright, but doesn't quite satisfy deep down the more time you spend with it, which leaves the listener to yearn for the deeper, more subtle and involving attributes of the Arcam irDAC, Audiolab Q-DAC or NAD D 1050, for example. Overall then, the Director is a beautifully packaged product which is ideal for small spaces, but not quite the class of its field sonically.
