Meridian America 221 - Manual

High-resolution 2-channel
24-bit, 96kHz A/D and S/PDIF
format converter
Studio-quality analogue to
digital conversion
Connect personal stereos
and analogue components to
Meridian DSP Loudspeakers
or other S/PDIF inputs
Line or headphone level in
Converts S/PDIF Optical
input to S/PDIF Coax out
3.5mm stereo jack, optical
S/PDIF and dual phono in
Coax S/PDIF phono output
USB or DC powered
221 Media Player Digital Link
2-channel A/D & digital format converter
The vast majority of personal stereos, such as the Apple ® iPod ® offer a stereo analogue
output at headphone level, designed for a 3.5mm stereo jack plug. Some additionally offer
line level outputs or even S/PDIF optical outputs. Products like the Apple Airport Express
®
provide a USB connector as well as analogue/optical digital connectors.
The MPMax 221 Media Player Digital Link allows all these sources and many more to be
connected directly to a pair of Meridian DSP Loudspeakers, or to any other system that
requires a standard S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface) phono input.
The MPMax 221 includes the highest quality of analogue to digital conversion, in keeping
with Meridian’s long tradition of superb digital and analogue audio engineering. Two chan-
nels of conversion are provided, operating at 24-bit, 96kHz resolution – the standard format
used both in the studio and by Meridian DSP Loudspeakers. Special attention has been paid
to minimising jitter and power supply interference with the conversion process. Audiophile-
quality analogue components are coupled with the latest in studio-quality digital conver-
sion technology, optimised for sources and levels of this type.
The MPMax 221 Media Player Digital
Link, the latest in Meridian’s ‘MAX’ series
of problem-solving boxes, overcomes a
difficult challenge – getting analogue
signals such as a personal stereo into
digital products such as Meridian DSP
Loudspeakers – with a simple one-piece
solution.
The MPMax 221 allows the headphone or line-
level analogue output from a typical personal
stereo such as the Apple iPod – or any line-level
analogue signal, such as that from a legacy
hi-fi component – to be fed directly into a pair
of Meridian DSP Loudpeakers, thus making it
possible to create a simple and compact replay
system suitable, for example, for a bedroom
or den, for which no additional components
are required: volume control capability is
provided by the Meridian loudspeaker remote.
The MPMax 221 can also be used to connect
analogue and digital optical components to any
system which requires an S/PDIF coaxial digital
input at up to 24-bit, 96kHz.
The MPMax221 also includes a digital optical
input which can be used with devices that offer
a digital optical output, allowing a completely
digital path. If the audio files played back have
been ripped with a lossless format such as
FLAC, AAC/Apple Lossless or WMA Lossless, the
system can offer full digital audio quality.
The MPMax 221 contains a state-of-the-art
2-channel, multibit Delta-Sigma Analogue
to Digital converter and converts analogue
input signals at true studio quality – 24-bit
word-length, 96 kHz sampling – to match the
high-resolution S/PDIF digital coaxial input of
Meridian DSP Loudspeakers and components.