MERIDIAN 251 powered zone controller
Meridian goes large by going small with one of a new range built for high-quality mulltiroom audio.
Here we have something rather smaller than the previous Meridian product this reviewer encountered, which was the company’s range-topping active Special Edition 8000 loudspeaker, price $94,999 the pair — a demonstration, were one necessary, that this is a company that reaches to the very heights of audio reproduction. Yet here’s the 251 Powered Zone Controller, a mere 5cm high and a fraction of the price at $2699 — surprisingly affordable for a fairly fully equipped Meridian smart amplifier.
Yet there are a good few links between large and small, both in philosophy, and in the way you control the music playing through them. Meridian is a company which has always had a whole-ofproject view of its systems, and this 251 is the latest of several new releases in a ‘200 Series’ aiming to spread this philosophy easily throughout a home.
Indeed in some ways these new releases take on the like of Sonos and other multiroom systems. This 251 might be considered a hi-fi version of the Sonos Connect:amp (just add speakers), while Meridian’s $1699 218 Zone Controller without amps provides the equivalent of the Sonos Connect (plug it into an existing system). But there’s not much to be gained from this as an ongoing comparison, other than to flag the aim of delivering a multiroom system. The Meridian units clearly do things differently and, crucially, they operate at a different level entirely.
The 251’s title of Powered Zone Controller indicates the main role here. From one point of view this is a stereo amplifier with some conventional inputs, both analogue and digital, with a high-quality switching preamplifier, DAC, and two channels of Class-D amplification. But from the point of view of a Meridian system, it’s also an endpoint for the company’s Sooloos music management platform. Sooloos, which can run on an iPhone or iPad, PC or Mac, provides a beautiful and clever interface (see overleaf) with which to control playback of a file-based music collection, and of Tidal, which integrates seamlessly into the Sooloos interface.
An endpoint in itself
So far so good — but Sooloos does need your system laid out in a certain way. In addition to one or more endpoints (effectively players, where the files are rendered for listening), there must be a designated ‘core’, a server where your files are kept. So for Sooloos to work
with the 251 you’ll also need a core. For this test we were supplied Meridian’s Media Core 200 (shown right), which stands vertically and looks like a large and rather superior NAS drive, which it effectively is, although it is also an endpoint in itself, so can play music to a local zone as well as serving up to 14 other endpoints around the home. You can also run Sooloos core software on some QNAP NAS drives, which could, network allowing, serve up to 50 zones.
For the purpose of this review we won’t dwell on the MC200 — especially as it operated in fit-and-forget mode for the duration of its stay, down in the basement plugged directly into our router; we never once examined it again during our three weeks with the system running. Its stash of music remained available 24/7 over the network, it never failed to be on call, and never once stuttered or dropped in playback, even for the highest resolution files. A great silent success. The MC200 price is $3199.
We needed no convincing when it came to using Sooloos either. It is beautiful software in its iPad or TouchPC form (more utilitarian in its Control:Mac and Control:PC software versions), organising your music, allowing ‘swim’ journeys through metadata and much much more (see panels overleaf). And it completely integrates with Tidal if you have a Tidal subscription.
Otherwise it does prefer to inhabit its own ecosystem — Sooloos is designed for Meridian owners, though that doesn’t mean it must be Meridian all the way. Take that 218 Zone Controller, which is just like the 251 here but without the amplification, so could be a Meridian endpoint that plays into an input on any other system. The Sooloos limitation is more about the music having to come from that ‘core’. If you have your main digital music collection in iTunes, for example, there’s no easy way to integrate it, other than dumping everything into the Sooloos core collection and effectively leaving iTunes behind.
But there is another option, and that’s Roon. Roon can bundle up all your files from anywhere on the network — iTunes, NAS drives, shared folders — and deliver them to a Meridian endpoint without any need for a core other than a computer where the Roon software can run. And Roon’s software is even more beautiful, even better at organising information, also meshes seamlessly with Tidal, and is able to play to any number of devices besides Meridian endpoints (see panel). The downside is that you have to buy Roon membership — and that’s $119 a year, or $499 for life. Until we spent time with Roon, we thought that was a big ask for a piece of software that organises music you already have. After three weeks on Roon, we’re pretty sure we could not now return to life without it — though we must note that Roon kindly gave us a licence with which to evaluate this Meridian unit and other Roon-ready kit down the line.
So, with either Sooloos or Roon in place, you connect the 251 to your network via Ethernet and it sits ready to receive streamed music files from your Sooloos or Roon core, or to be switched to its external inputs, and then to use its internal amplifiers to drive any pair of passive speakers. In this regard it follows the strong current trend for smart amplifiers — conventional inputs plus streaming plus amplification, under app control.
Rack ’em up
While most smart amplifiers are hi-fi-style components, several things point to the 251 being designed with custom installation in mind. It can be easily rack-mounted, for example, with two 251s per standard rack width (pictured overleaf), so a whole home’s worth of zones could be fed from a central equipment room racked up with 251s driving speakers around the home. If a particular zone doesn’t need the amplifiers, perhaps because you have an existing audio system there, Meridian’s 218 Zone Controller can be similarly rack-mounted to do much the same and provide its output on analogue line-level RCA sockets or as coaxial digital. (We gather a new ‘210’ is also on the way, bringing the likes of AirPlay and Spotify Connect.)
The 251 does offer analogue line outs as well, though not digital, and both units have additional inputs — an analogue RCA pair (sampled internally to 96kHz digital), one optical, and one coaxial digital. Further to the installation friendliness, they have IR in and Trigger outputs, and can be controlled over IP via the network connection.
The speaker connections definitely speak to custom installation purposing, as they are not the usual binding posts but rather the small green Phoenix screw-clamp connector blocks you can see in the image to the left.
And control is entirely virtual — there’s no physical remote provided, though you could choose to add Meridian’s MSR+ tabletop system control for $399. But you’ll more likely be using Sooloos or Roon for streaming, while Meridian has a slightly dull but effective ‘IP Control’ app which can be used when listening to the more conventional inputs.
That said, there’s no reason the 251 couldn’t find a home beyond the
hideaway custom purpose. It’s a neat little design for the lounge, exceedingly décorfriendly given its size, it has those additional inputs, and the specs are impressive, especially for one so small.
It’s most certainly friendly for high-res files arriving via Sooloos, Roon or its digital inputs, having unspecified internal twin 24-bit/192kHz DACs, while the Class-D amplifier bandwidth runs up to 40kHz.
The amplifiers are described as “high performance, cool running” (in practise it gets moderately warm), delivering 2 × 65W of Class-D power into eight ohms, or 2 × 100W into four ohms. It’s because these are so efficient — above 95%, says Meridian — that the 251 can live in such a little box without requiring even a fan.
Performance
We reckon Meridian’s first barrier to domestic buyers may be one of its greatest achievements — making the 251 Powered Zone Controller so small. For this price you could bring home an impressive silver or champagne-finished streaming stereo hi-fi amplifier, and very nice it would look in your lounge. Or so might think traditional hi-fi users. But how many others today prefer their hi-fi to be discreet? For the modern home, a small hideaway amplifier perhaps has greater unperceived value than a hulking silver monster amp. After all, amps are only traditionally large in order to fit in a load of inputs and/or heatsinks to disperse heat. With streaming and Class-D amplification, these requirements do not apply. So here’s your tiny box for the money, sir, enjoy. It’s perhaps a mental hurdle the consumer will have to jump before investing in the Meridian’s many fine abilities.
So the 251 is dinky indeed, barely over four centimetres high... small enough, indeed, that as Meridian says, you can pretty much hide it away, since you don’t need it in line of sight for remote control, nor does it have a headphone socket which you might need to access periodically. The only reason ever to look at it is so you can see its indicator lights to check if it’s on (you can choose ‘always on’ or a standby mode), or to see if an MQA file is being correctly delivered, should such things concern you.
It’s also fairly minimalist as a hub for other sources. Just one analogue input — that might be your turntable running through an external phono stage. One optical, maybe for your TV. One coaxial — direct from your CD/Blu-ray player perhaps. And you’re full.
But for the right home, and potentially for several rooms in that home, this selection may be enough, especially when combined with the power of Sooloos or Roon, and all the more so if you have a Tidal subscription.
Unboxed, then set-up is much the same as for any smart amplifier. Plug in any external sources. Connect the network — this is Ethernet only, no Wi-Fi. Be careful to use the right RJ45 socket! There’s a second one on the back panel for Meridian’s SpeakerLink a two-channel high-res digital connection that chains Meridian active speakers and components together.
Then connect your speakers. Those Phoenix screw-clamp connector blocks offer a very easy-to-use connection for bare wire, since the blocks can pop out of the 251 while you insert and clamp the wires, then stick back in, after which you can be sure your speaker cables won’t come out even from a tug of the cables. This is excellent for a ‘back-of-the-rack’ scenario, although those who wish to use the 251 in a more traditional hi-fi context will find it impossible to use spades, bananas or bare wire above 2mm-diameter (24-12 AWG); none of these fit the available holes. Our expensive AudioQuest cables had to be abandoned in favour of lengths of relatively humble stripped speaker cable.
Once in place and powered up, you can access its settings in a number of ways. If you can find its IP address from your router, you can type that into any browser on the network and access all its configuration menus via IP. Or there’s Meridian’s ‘IP Control’ app for iOS/ Android, which can both configure and control the 251. And configuration is highly extensive! The analogue outputs can be filtered or switched to be subwoofer outputs in mono or stereo, with selectable crossover frequency. There are tone, balance and phase controls. You can name and configure each input, adjust sensitivity for each, specify trigger operation and comms type, add audio delay for lipsync (positive only, natch). You can allocate a static IP address. Versatile stuff, especially for installers putting a smart system together.
With Sooloos
We downloaded the Sooloos app to an iPad Pro (below), and soon had the MC200 in the basement working as our ‘core’ and the 251 playing as our ‘endpoint’. It was simple to understand, and since the MC200 arrived with a fair stock of music onboard, it was ready to play. Normally you’d need to load it with files. There are PC and Mac programs available to assist this — we downloaded ‘Control:Mac’ from Meridian’s site, which was quick and effective at loading albums onto the remote ‘core’ — it first confirmed metadata, then whizzed them through as fast as our network would allow. More than this, the software proved able not only to import and export files, but also to act as a standalone player for the Mac, and indeed for any AirPlay devices on the network, and this considerably increases the possibilities for Sooloos playback. With Control:Mac running on a Mac Mini, we could use the iPad’s Sooloos app to select music and play it to the Mac Mini, and out again to, say, an AppleTV
in the lounge, where we could use the iPad for control. Nice. But for the purposes of this review, we served primarily to the Meridian 251 in the music room. And Sooloos is indeed a joy to use as you browse, or explore, or ‘focus’ (see panel above).
With Roon
Effective and attractive as Sooloos is, it pales beside Roon. In a nutshell, Sooloos comes free but you need Meridian hardware with which to use it, and it requires that ‘Core’ device to serve up the music files. With paid Roon software, your computer can act as the Core, and the ‘Endpoint’ or ‘zone’ can be the computer’s own output, or a connected DAC, an iPad on the network, an AppleTV or other AirPlay devices. Plus there are increasing numbers of ‘Roon-ready’ products appearing from any number of manufacturers.
And the software is brilliant — indeed since being given a Roon licence, we have become so addicted that we have been fairly trotting home from work to play with it. With the software on our Mac to operate as Roon’s ‘Core’, we pointed Roon at music folders — our iTunes collection, the MC200, our drive of some 2000+ high-res tracks. Then Roon does a little sorting, and is soon ready to play. (It took 10 days to fully ‘analyse’ our collection, mind you, pushing our Mac Mini into some major fan work day and night in the process. But it didn’t make us wait while it worked in the background.)
Roon combines two things — brilliant use of metadata, and superlative technical delivery. With its metadata it helps you discover things in your collection you didn’t know you had. Like Sooloos you can ‘focus’ on genre, release date, or file quality and format — and Roon does it even more effectively. Shown in the screenshot above right is a simple check of ‘24-bit’ and ‘DSD’, ensuring that only high-res tracks are listed.
We adore the ‘Discover’ tab even more. This delivers a screen of highlights and nuggets and genres you may wish to explore, most with articles detailing the genre, artist or composition in question — all gleaned from somewhere on the internet but presented beautifully, and you can scroll or refresh for more. A short example is shown on the right here. The ‘Discover’ screen is at the top, from which we selected to explore drummer Simon Phillips. This presents information about the drummer, along with all the albums in our collection on which he appears, and also everything available on Tidal. We picked one — a favourite from Tears for Fears — and checking the credits (which Roon lists), we saw the drummers included not only Simon Phillips but the great Manu Katché, so we tapped his name for another bio and list of albums. And on and on. Any time you get bored, head back to a fresh Discover page. We find this a wonderful and addictive system.
Roon’s other merit is being able to play to a wider set of output devices, so with multiple Roon zones available to us, we could easily switch music from the music room to the lounge, say, at the tap of the control app on the iPad, or the software on the Mac.
And best of all for quality geeks, tap the little dot by the track name and Roon shows you the complete quality path for your music (left) — simple when playing to the 251, but reminding you of the multiple layers of processing and resampling going on if you send it out through AirPlay. Geek heaven.
And how does the 251 sound? We spent our first 10 days listening
through our regular system using the 251’s line-level outputs, allowing us to judge the quality of its preamp and DAC in isolation from the amplification — equivalent to the un-amped 218 Zone Controller. (For this we kept the 251’s variable output levels down in the 70s, as full level output appeared to deliver rather more than the usual 2V, overloading our preamp).
The sound was then impeccable; Meridian’s skills in digital signal processing were evident in the delivery of timing and clarity over the full gamut of genres. The Finn Brothers Won’t Give In emerged with solid and naturally formed bass, the plenteous guitar jangles illuminated below the combined sweetness of their harmonied vocals in the chorus, and how wide the Meridian threw the unexpected panned-vocal break at 2:45. Even classics like Lou Reed’s Walk on the Wild Side emerged with rare clarity. One possible cause for such pleasing clarity might be Meridian’s dedication to the use of an apodising filter — a minimumphase low-pass filter which has its null at the original Nyquist sampling frequency. This is able to convert any pre-ringing introduced by Finite Impulse Response filters earlier in the chain (for example at the original A-to-D converters). Pre-ringing produced in this way is exceedingly high frequency, but so unnatural (being forward in time) that some, including Meridian, claim it affects our perception of timing information. Stereophile’s John Atkinson suggests this may be because the human ear/brain system acts as a wavefront detector rather than a spectrum analyser. By shifting the pre-ringing energy until after the event, the apodising filter can actually “clean up” the effects of earlier processing, at the cost of a little headroom loss at the highest frequencies. Clever stuff!
Next we plugged up our speakers. As noted we couldn’t use our usual thick cables with the 251’s screw-clamps, so we used stripped speaker cable to wire up first our high-quality German standmounts, then a twin-horned pair of JBL Studio Monitors. Both sets of speakers were handed with seeming ease, and we spent another fortnight with the 251 dirivng the JBLs, mainly addressed through Roon, but also from analogue inputs — from which the 251’s internal digital sampling did little to dampen the sound of either vinyl or CD.
The 251 rendered delightful imaging of Leonard Cohen on the tricky O2 live recording of Tower of Song, crisp and full without bloat. Indeed tonally the 251 seemed entirely neutral; only the characteristics of the recording and the speakers were evident, so that our leanmixed Dion tester came through peaky (which it is), McCartney’s My Valentine just on the acceptable side of soft (which it is). Only in finessing the most delicate of details — some of the space around and depth between the delicate instrumentation of kd lang’s take of The Air that I Breathe, an occasional slip from smoothness on the peaks of climaxes that a highly resourced Class-AB amplifier might open up to a greater reality — did any limitation reveal itself, and we doubt any comparably-priced smart amp would beat it. A 320k file of Elizabeth by Roy Harper and Jimmy Page sounded a little light and also a bit low-res spitty on the cymbals through the second half, which was not the case through our resident DAC and pre-powers. But timing and edges did seem particular skills: the right-channel Irish drum on Crowded House’s Either Side of the World (one of the understated gems from 2010’s ‘Intriguer’), retained its percussive rattle even through the track’s rising mix, another wonderfully layered but natural delivery from the 251.
One thing we did find an issue — despite having so many software ways to control the 251, it kinda fails the ‘phone rings’ test; there’s simply no quick way to turn it down. If it were coming to our home permanently, we’d certainly consider getting that physical Meridian remote control.
Note also there’s no Android version of the Sooloos app, and also that if you’re on Spotify or have a Google path to voice control, there’s no connection possible to those — Google does Spotify but not Tidal, while Meridian/ Sooloos/Roon do Tidal but not Spotify.
Conclusion
A pint-sized power pack loaded with streaming goodness, the Meridian 251 ticks all the boxes and in many ways is quite brilliant. With Sooloos or, better, Roon as your controller on a tablet, it’s a dream to use both in terms of reliability of operation and discovery of music online or in your own collection. As a traditional amplifier its inputs are somewhat limited, and we’re not fans of the speaker connectors in a hi-fi context. But they are perfectly suited to multiroom custom installations and a combination of 218s and 251s will deliver a true multiroom audio system with perfect file handling and highlevel Class-D amplification that laughs in the face of the compromises inherent in nearly all rival multiroom systems. Jez Ford