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Fig.1 D/A Processor with 20-bit resolution, waveform of undithered 1kHz sinewave at -90.31dBFS (16-bit data, 120µV/vertical div.).

Fig.2 Meridian 518, spectrum of undithered 1kHz tone at -90.31dBFS, with noise and spuriae, 16-bit precision.

Fig.3 Meridian 518, spectrum of 1kHz tone at -90.31dBFS, with noise and spuriae, 20-bit precision.

Fig.4 Meridian 518, spectrum of 1kHz tone at -90.31dBFS, with noise and spuriae, 16-bit precision, calculated from 20-bit data with 518 set to "20C16" using the "Shape B" noise-shaping algorithm.

Fig.8 Meridian 518, spectrum of 1kHz tone at -90.31dBFS, with noise and spuriae, 16-bit precision, calculated from 20-bit data using the "Flat TPDF" noise-shaping algorithm (linear frequency scale).

Fig.9 Meridian 518, spectrum of 1kHz tone at -90.31dBFS, with noise and spuriae, 16-bit precision, calculated from 20-bit data using the "High-Pass TPDF" noise-shaping algorithm (linear frequency scale).

Fig.10 Meridian 518, spectrum of 1kHz tone at -90.31dBFS, with noise and spuriae, 16-bit precision, calculated from 20-bit data using the "Shape A" noise-…

Goodbye

Editor: Thank you for a fun half-decade of sheer delight! It has been most enjoyable indeed. But I have purchased the Meridian 518 processor JA reviewed in January, some sound cards and music software for the ole PC, and am generally flying the flag of the Computer Camp. I'm not kidding myself, it's not hi-fi...yet, but it's one fun sandbox to play in! Anyway, it's not goodbye. I'm sure that I'll be seeing you guys again in five years when a fair portion of your advertisers will probably be selling…

Reader Gregory Comnes of Tampa, Florida took exception to my January 1996 review of the $1650 Meridian 518 Digital Audio Processor (Vol.19 No.1, p.249): "Shame on you for missing the point..." he thundered. "You allude to Meridian's claim that, when used as a digital preamp, the 518 can sound 'frighteningly good,' but you didn't have time to use it as a preamp! How long could it have taken to hear what for most of is the most compelling reason for CD-only users to own this piece: the elimination of a compromising…

If you listen in order to the sounds of the three previous piano recordings I have produced—Anna Maria Stanczyk performing Chopin on the first Stereophile Test CD, Robert Silverman performing Brahms on Intermezzo, and performing…

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John Atkinson: You had mentioned at the sessions that while it was the same Steinway you'd played on Concert, a year had gone by and it actually felt more responsive under your fingers. To the lay person, all instruments look the same. Are they really individuals? How different are pianos?

Silverman: How different are amplifiers? [laughs] I'd say pianos are more different. By a lot, actually.

But…

Sonata in B-Minor (Searle.178): Franz Liszt is credited with having written only one full-fledged sonata for piano, if one doesn't include the Fantasia quasi sonata, Après une lecture du Dante (from his Années de Pèlerinage, Book II: Italy), which is more dependent on its literary base. At least that's all that has come down to us from the composer's time. A C-Minor sonata had been mentioned by Liszt, and there evidently also was a sonata for four hands at one keyboard. Additionally, the composer as late as 1881 was able to recall the first 16 bars of a two-hand…