Meridian sooloos, Olive 6HD, ??

Vhiner, this is exactly the reason why I got the Meridian Sooloos system. I'm keeping the headaches to a minimum and still enjoy reference sound. Using the 800 reference series as audio endpoint in my system and the MC200 as my store/core. It's good for about 2500 CD's and when more is needed I can add an MD600 store or several for the largest collections.

Example of a Reference setup:
Meridian 818V2(streamer/preamp) or 808.5 (CD/streamer/preamp)
Meridian MD600 4TB storage/core with two mirrored 3.5" HDD
iPad generation 4

High-End setup:
Meridian MS600 (streamer with high-end DAC)
Meridian MC200 1TB fanless storage/core/audio endpoint
iPad generation 4

Starting setup:
Meridian MC200 1TB storage/core/audio endpoint
iPad generation 4

This is all it takes. And the server maintenance is just keeping a current backup from time to time on a NAS or HDD.

Sorry for the sales pitch, but you really can have the cake and eat it. :D

Crion,

The reference system *must* be good because you rarely see the package at an affordable used price. Or have I been asleep at the wheel?

Hi I have been following this thread with great interest. I am looking at getting a media server also, I don't care about the color, I care about the sound, what about the music vault media servers, how do they stack up againts the big company media servers

I have the greater storage option of the "High End Set-Up" of the Meridian Sooloos system above.

MD600 - 2 TB RAID back-up storage/system core
MS600 - audio endpoint/dac
Simaudio 650D dac/transport
Simaudio P-8/W-8
Revel Studio 2

I can say that the dac in the MS600 is on par with the very well reviewed Simaudio 650D dac. Slightly different "flavours" of sound, but the difference is subtle at best. I can't wait for Meridian to offer their high end ID41 card (the one in the Meridian 818) in a Sooloos endpoint option without the pre-amp, which I don't need, at a more realistic price!

I tried the Simaudio 180 MInD streamer as well using Access as a library management software tool. Although the Sim streamer sounded very good, the Sooloos software is still lightyears ahead, and I stuck with Sooloos because of that.

You owe it to yourself to check out the Music Vault servers made by Neal van Berg. I have the Music Vault Emerald and have been thrilled with it for years. I don't doubt that the Olive and Sooloos are good products, but they do not come with the unrivaled personal support that Neal provides.