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The added processing power allows the Explorer 2 to upsample lower-frequency inputs to 176.4 or 192kHz, and to use a filter of Meridian's design. The original Explorer employed a minimum-phase reconstruction filter probably native to the Texas Instruments DAC chip used. There's "a much more powerful (XMOS) processor at the heart of the Explorer 2," says Meridian's Jason Randall, the DAC's principal engineer. Inside, the changes are substantial, especially on the digital side. "It glows blue to indicate it is playing an MQA Studio file—an artist/producer-approved studio release." The only visible differences are the superscript 2 in the name, the absence of a red LED shining from the line-out port (gone is the original Explorer's TosLink output), and a new light that glows blue or green when an MQA file is playing: "The LED glows green to indicate that the unit is decoding and playing an MQA stream or file, and that the sound is identical to that encoded," according to the company's website. It looks just like its predecessor, which was reviewed by Art Dudley in in the September 2013 issue. Like the original Explorer, the Explorer 2 offers asynchronous USB, and decodes PCM files up to 24 bits and 192kHz. Yet there's also a line output (in addition to the headphone jack), purpose-built for connecting to a home stereo system, and ideal for a car stereo's aux input. That makes it perfect for someone without furniture, since it works in Internet cafés. It runs off power from a computer's USB port, so you don't have to plug it in. My kitchen scale says it weighs an ounce and a half≱.8oz with its short mini-USB cable attached. There's another advantage to the Explorer 2: It's portable. The Explorer 2 remains, as of this writing, the cheapest ticket into the world of MQA, and that world needed.

And beyond the low price, there was yet another good reason for pulling the trigger: Master Quality Authenticated (MQA), a new digital audio format from MQA Ltd., that promises big improvements in sound quality in small, streamable packages. Music is good for that.Īnd the Explorer 2 is that kind of product: not quite a cup-of-coffee purchase, but $299 isn't too much to spend to escape a temporary funk. (Internet access was courtesy of the occupants of a neighboring apartment, identity unknown.) It was still hot, but the loneliness had passed, and I was happy. Thanks to Amazon Prime, 24 hours later I was sitting on a newly delivered bar stool—still no other furniture—streaming Tidal through my new Meridian DAC. Which is how I rationalized the decision to buy an Explorer 2, Meridian Audio's tiny, inexpensive ($299) digital-to-analog converter. Not as grim as it sounds—it's a nice apartment, and the mattress was new, and had just been delivered—but it was hot (no air-conditioning), and my family and my furniture were still in my condo up in Maine, and I was lonely. I was lying on a mattress on the floor of an empty apartment on Manhattan's Upper West Side.