#Meridian explorer dac with mqa portable#
The Meridian Explorer ticks all the right boxes for its portable design. In the box there’s a user guide, a short mini USB-to-USB cable to connect the DAC to your laptop, and a soft carrying pouch (with two compartments) to keep the Explorer scratch- and smudge-free.
We like the sense of occasion this gives – great to feel when you’re spending £250 on a USB DAC. The Explorer comes neatly packed in an impressive, slender black box (above). The Explorer DAC, then – at £249 – marks a Meridian foray into the affordable end of the market, taking the competition straight to the DragonFly’s £215 and even the microStreamer’s £180 price tags. The Meridian 808v5 Signature Reference CD Player 808.5, for example, costs a mighty £11,000. So we’re accustomed to seeing one or two more zeroes in its prices. Meridian Audio is, after all, hi-fi royalty, being the first British manufacturer of CD players way back in 1983. We’re used to seeing the Cambridgeshire-based company occupy the more high-end side of the hi-fi market. And now British hi-fi company Meridian Audio has upped the stakes with its £250 Explorer USB DAC. The HRT microStreamer quickly followed suit, gaining a glowing five-star review in our March issue for its superb sonic strengths and convenience. We hailed it as ‘hi-fi’s newest superstar’ in our October issue, and a 2012 Product of the Year Award was duly handed out. It looks fantastic, is dead easy to use, and transforms your laptop-based music collection into proper hi-fi.