Specifications

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Bob Stuart answers Questions about the Meridian 598

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Design philosophy…?

1 What is the Meridian 598?

The Meridian 598 is the latest in a new series of optical disc players in the 500 Series. 598 is

an advanced, high performance CD, DVD-Audio and DVD-Video player. It features a flexible

and high-performance architecture that delivers state-of-the-art sound and picture with a

degree of upgradability.

Meridian is the world leader in CD and DVD playback quality having set the benchmark with

the 800 Reference CD/DVD machine. 598 brings much of this technology and DVD-Audio to

the 500 Series.

2 What is the 598 configuration?

The 598 plays back DVD-Audio, DVD-Video, CD, CD-R, Video CD, and MP3 using a carefully

selected DVD-ROM drive.

This player has a modular build. The electronics are split into 4 major PCBs: control,

decoding, audio and video and, in addition, the back panel is modular.

598 comes in six variants, each offering a different combination of outputs. For audio outputs

you can chose between low-jitter multichannel digital outputs featuring Meridian’s MHR Smart

Link or a very high-quality 6-channel analogue output option. Both these options provide an

additional 2-channel or bitstream digital output as an alternative feed to a processor or to

drive a second zone. 598 has three video options. All offer composite and S Video with

variants that provide Interlaced or Progressive Component on BNC or RGB on SCART. The

options are clarified in the table below.

The 598 can also be your system controller – ideal for building a 2-channel system based on

Meridian DSP33 Loudspeakers.

Model name Audio Output type Video Output type

598 DC MHR Smart Link Standard BNC

598 DP MHR Smart Link Progressive BNC

598 DS MHR Smart Link Standard SCART

598 AC 6 Channel Analogue Standard BNC

598 AP 6 Channel Analogue Progressive BNC

598 AS 6 Channel Analogue Standard SCART

3 Why is 598 made this way?

The modular construction in 598 maximises the likelihood that we can provide a range of

suitable options or refinements in the future. Meridian has a proven track record of providing

effective upgrades to its products. In fact, its stable-mate 596 will be able to receive some of

598’s features in a future upgrade program. See Q. 87.

Summary of content (16 pages)

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Bob Stuart answers Questions about the Meridian 598 Design philosophy…? 1 What is the Meridian 598? The Meridian 598 is the latest in a new series of optical disc players in the 500 Series. 598 is an advanced, high performance CD, DVD-Audio and DVD-Video player. It features a flexible and high-performance architecture that delivers state-of-the-art sound and picture with a degree of upgradability.
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Bob Stuart answers Questions about the Meridian 598 4 Why is a ROM drive used? The 598 uses a ROM drive because this is the best type of drive to ensure accurate data recovery on all disc types while providing a stable platform that can be changed in the future to keep pace with new requirements. For more on this, see Q. 5. 5 How can a ROM drive be so good? ROM drives recover the data from computer discs perfectly. Loading a computer program rarely fails due to the ROM drive.
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Bob Stuart answers Questions about the Meridian 598 9 How does CD playback on 598 compare to a 588? Meridian’s 588 CD is a close relative of 598; many of the same components and principles are used. Their performance on CD is similarly excellent. Obviously 598 is overall a more useful high-quality music player because, even without bothering with the pictures, it can play both DVD-Audio and music from DVD. 588 is ideal for someone who seeks just a great CD player.
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Bob Stuart answers Questions about the Meridian 598 15 What is MHR? MHR (Meridian High Resolution) is a proprietary method for getting the highest possible sound quality in playback systems that use Meridian components like 598, DSP Loudspeakers or decoders such as 568.2 or 861. MHR also uses proprietary encryption and anti-copy techniques to ensure secure transfer of audio streams between elements of a Meridian-only system for the purpose of playback only.
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Bob Stuart answers Questions about the Meridian 598 For historical reasons NTSC in the USA (and some other territories) uses a reduced video dynamic range (contrast) – spanning from 7.5% to 100% (7.5 to 100IRE). In Japan, NTSC uses the whole dynamic range (0 to 100IRE). PAL also uses the whole 0 – 100% range. The 598 can generate NTSC in either form and selecting 0 IRE means the 598 will use the full 0 to 100% range.
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Bob Stuart answers Questions about the Meridian 598 responsive – but even more important – 100% compliant with the specification assuring you of trouble-free access to all discs. In a recent review, Meridian’s 800 scored the highest points for navigation among a wide variety of players tested. Meridian has developed navigation for DVD-Audio providing the crucial benefit of the ability to adapt to the content on the disc.
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Bob Stuart answers Questions about the Meridian 598 33 What are the Advanced Display options? Advanced displays are available for CD and all DVD and are accessed from the 96 menu (with the tray open, press ‘9’, ‘6’, ‘Enter’). The default setting is ‘Off’. On DVD the second OSD bar substitutes a bitrate meter for the Repeat status icons. The display shows the data rate on the disc in kbits-per-second. On CD, this OSD display gives information about the state of the disc.
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Bob Stuart answers Questions about the Meridian 598 advanced navigation features of DVD-Audio), the player is also able to automatically pick stereo or surround material according to its setup. 39 Does it play VCD? Yes – very well! This feature provides access to thousands of titles. 40 Does it play DAD? DAD (Digital Audio Disc) and SAD are actually DVD-Video discs that have 96kHz 2-channel audio streams. The 598 plays them very well! 41 Does the 598 play DTS DVDs? Yes.
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Bob Stuart answers Questions about the Meridian 598 47 What about playability? Playability is a measure of the player’s ability to cope with discs that have errors, manufacturing defects, fingerprints or surface damage. DVD is incredibly robust regarding errors and has 1000 times more protection than CD. The drive used in the 598 is superb at playing DVD. Of course, you can put a huge fingerprint on a DVD that causes problems! See Q. 48.
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Bob Stuart answers Questions about the Meridian 598 52 Why two digital outputs? The 598 has sophisticated down-sampling DSP so it is possible to feed different playback systems with normal rate (44.1/48kHz) or double-speed (88.2/96kHz) digital audio. In addition, the Meridian 598 supports MHR and this can be used with either socket. See Q. 15.
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Bob Stuart answers Questions about the Meridian 598 Although there are connections for Composite, S and Component, they do not always operate simultaneously. This is done to maximise quality. If Interlaced Component is selected then the S-Video output is disabled. S and Composite can be available if Progressive is in operation. 58 What video outputs are available on the Component version? 598 comes in three video versions, see Q. 2.
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Bob Stuart answers Questions about the Meridian 598 Systems that use surround controllers or receivers to do bass management for movies, and then separately expect the player to do bass management for multichannel are inelegant, illconceived and always result in a much worse performance. 63 598 and 2-room 598 has two audio and two video outputs, one pair can be used to feed a second room. 598 with 568.2…? 64 How do I connect a 598 to my 568.2? If the 568.
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Bob Stuart answers Questions about the Meridian 598 Multichannel analogue input cards are available for 861. You can fit IA45 or IA40. You might do this because you prefer to have the analogue output version of 598. Multichannel analogue inputs on 861 are also useful to connect other sources which are always analogue like 35mm projectors, SACD or third-party DVD-Audio players.
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Bob Stuart answers Questions about the Meridian 598 73 What is DVD-A Mode? In the special ‘96’ menu (see Q. 33) there is an item called ‘DVD-A Mode’ and the choices offered are, DVD-V and DVD-A. What does this mean? Normally this is set to DVD-A which allows the player to navigate DVD-Audio discs. Many DVD-Audio discs have a DVD-Video region (Video Title Set) which is intended to be played by DVD-Video players to provide backward compatibility. These regions are normally invisible to a DVD-Audio player.
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Bob Stuart answers Questions about the Meridian 598 78 What are the three vertical stripes in the Logo screen? The wavy Meridian logo screen has precisely calibrated video. The background is within 0.1% of true black. The intensity of the logo is adjustable in Setup. When set ‘high’ the Meridian logo is at 50% contrast, it is reduced to 12% on ‘low’ and there is an off (black) option as well. In the bottom right corner we include a PLUGE pattern – three successive regions below black, black and above black.
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Bob Stuart answers Questions about the Meridian 598 http://www.meridian-audio.com/lib_soft2.htm. 86 My controller is a Meridian 501, 502, 541, 551 – how do these work with 598? To use 598 with one of these you should update their software. The minimum software version required is as follows: 501 requires 1.6 or 2.6 (depending on hardware); for 502 use 1.1; 541 needs 1.3 and for 551 get 1.6 or 2.6 (depending on hardware).