antalistvan1968
Member
Fosi Audio Merak cd player presentation based on real in my user points of view.
Fosi has once again taken a completely new direction, they have developed a small CD player and surprised the fans.
When I opened the copy that arrived to me, I was very surprised. I saw some Fosi short videos and pictures from, for example, expo (Axpona)and other places and I was not expecting this device at all. It came to me in a beta test state in a plain white box. Not the packaging of the device that is already on the market in future.
So let's see what I am going to write about, let's see "what's in the box"
Merak CD Player
Power cable (no power supply)
Trigger cable
Remote control
User manual
I apologize in advance for the digression at the beginning, but I consider my message important:
To be honest, I was a little surprised. This is partly due to its color, the Merak is silver. Almost all Fosi audio desktop products are black. Except for the new S3 streamer, but that is not that color either, it is dark silver. It will definitely not look good in a Fosi tower, it definitely needs a different placement. The new Merak is smaller than what you see in the videos (expona and anywhere..) and its design is completely different.
Returning to the design, dimensions and colors of each new device and the front design are not the same. Unfortunately, sometimes even the paint on black devices is not exactly the same black color, and many others and I have already mentioned this. Because of this, the devices do not look good placed on top of each other, and it would be worth taking this into account by mixing our own "Fosi color" when painting each device in the future, and always following the same recipe for future devices. It is important to coordinate the design of the front panels and the housing. Now, when a new product is released, it is completely unpredictable what the new appearance will be like. Most of them are not the same at all, unfortunately! Let's skip this, let's hope I find some open ears with this.
Now, as always, the internal technical content of Fosi is excellent!
It is completely incomprehensible to me that there is no Fosi Audio logo and type designation on the front panel. The brand name is only located on the bottom of the device, and on top in the disc tray, which is covered by the inserted disc. Well, the good place is on the front panel, and even a Fosi logo could be in the middle of the round, transparent window of the opening door, like on the top of the S3 streamer. Now the manufacturer's name and type designation are completely hidden. Yes, this can be attributed to the excessive rounding of the corners and the small size of the buttons. There is simply no more space on the front panel.
It would have been nice to at least match the size and color of the two new models, the S3 streamer and the Merak CD player. They would have made a perfect pair. The Merak would have had a lot more space, and could have had some bigger buttons or a larger display, and a normal RCA output on the back instead of a jack. It would have been nice to have been front-loading, so that a tray could fit, or just a front-panel slot that only accepts discs. The Merak device is thin, but if we consider that because of this, when inserting the toslink (optical) or jack cable, the door that opens, which originally opens at a greater angle without a plug, when opening the door, the bottom of the door rests on the inserted toslink or the jack plug plugged into the line output, and the opening angle is therefore somewhat limited.
This results in wear and tear on the paint of the plug and door due to long-term, repeated encounters. The housing is made of plastic with a metallic effect paint. The bottom plate is thin for its size, which gives a cheap impression. It vibrates when tapped. Obviously, I don't have any price information yet. This also counts for a realistic assessment of the material consumption. It's strange that there is no own power supply in the factory package.
Let's move on to the real, essential part of the presentation.
At first glance and knock, physical examination:
I see it as a bit of a mix of a portable DVD player and a portable CD "discman". This appearance is also observed in some other manufacturers. This is not a problem, but it is not an advantage either.
Now comes the good:
The remote control is great and handles all functions well. All function good and the Merak display has adjustable brightness.
The player reads quite quickly and accurately. In addition to factory CDs, it stably reads my own CD-Rs written a long time ago, and even CD-RWs, and even MP3s. It handles changes during playback quickly(skip) . The mechanics are quiet, and the reading is accurate. I can safely say that the interior is much better than I suspected from the external examination of the device. I haven't disassembled the device, but I think the built-in CD drive may be of high quality. I find it very good, even though my other Technics sl-ps7 desktop player is quite a tough control A/B test for the Merak, both mechanically and electronically. I don't have any precise information about what exactly was installed, there are currently no factory specifications, but in addition to the mechanics, the dac and the entire electronics are noticeably good. The Fosi player really brings the usual Fosi quality in terms of sound. It is definitely highly enjoyable. The sound is real hi-fi! Detailed, precise, airy. Surprisingly, the sound is also very good from a normal phone charger! It is also very pleasant to listen to on the headphone output. The long way side volume control is enjoyable to use. You can experience some uncertainty here, but only in the lowest position, this can be experienced with almost every physical volume control in the quietest starting position. Later there is no problem, the long-distance volume adjustment is enjoyable.
Loooooong way volume control:
It reads the external drive very well (in my case it is a pendrive). I tested the USB input with Wav. Ape. Flac and mp3 files. It plays in high quality and accurately. Perfect. The ESP (shock protection) switch surprised me a bit for a desktop device, but in the meantime I saw a box with a ready-made label that said this device is portable. Although this is funny because the Merak has rubber feet and the door does not close to fix to walking music listen.. There is no built-in battery, using it as a discman from a power bank with a cord would be strange. But if it is not portable then why is the ESP? Interestingly, it didn't skip even with ESP turned off, not even when I shook the device a lot or turned the Merak upside down and hit it a little harder.. This is good because the playback is extremely stable, but it is a little strange because with the ESP turned off, what keeps the playback stable?
Backside:
ESP on/off switch - 3.5mm jack line out – USB host – Optical out – 12v trigger out - USB-C DC5v input.
The sound of the line output is very good by the way. The optical output is also excellent. I have to say that I find both the mechanical and electronic components to be very top-notch. When playing digital silence noise played from USB, I did not experience any significant added noise even at full amplification volume. Tested with Fosi i5 planar headphonesAt full volume, you can barely hear a little minimal "hiss" noise. The Merak cd player sound from the wall power supply and power bank is also very good. When stopping playback, it immediately goes silent. There is a slight delay when starting. This can be a problem when playing music that starts suddenly if it cuts off the beginning sounds. I have not experienced this so far, but it is worth paying attention to. The record button surprised me. The Merak saves as uncompressed WAV files at 16-bit/44.1kHz, preserving the original audio quality without loss. I have to say that I really enjoyed using it. There are two ways to record: one track or the entire disc. I grabbered a full CD onto a pendrive and it sounded good. Good point!
Bottom view:
Overall, Fosi has produced a very good device with high-quality internal features. The sound of the player and its features are very good, even excellent, since even CD grabbing is among them, it has become a real hi-fi product. It would be very appealing to me in awould be completely in line with the style, color and size of the new S3 and possibly in a front loading version. Another idea about a pendrive or any USB devices is playing dsd files.
Overall, I was able to examine a very useful media unit. With high quality sound. With a sufficiently high volume. The recording option is great!
The latest Fosi Audio devices:
UPDATE!!!
Some technical information about the built-in dac and other technical parameters has just been published on the official website, so I'll update the article.
"At the heart of the Merak is a carefully designed audio architecture built around the CS43131 DAC and TPA6120 headphone amplifier. This combination allows the system to achieve a signal-to-noise ratio of up to 124 dB and a total harmonic distortion of up to 0.0009%, ensuring a clear and extremely transparent sound with excellent detail retrieval.
The headphone output delivers 210 milliwatts per channel into 32 ohms, providing enough power to drive headphones from 16 to 300 ohms while maintaining clarity and control. Meanwhile, the line output offers a standard level of at least 2Vrm, allowing for seamless integration with external amplifiers or powered speakers without compromising signal integrity.
Together, these specifications result in quieter backgrounds, more refined details, and greater They result in a listening experience with a sense of space and dynamics.
For USB playback, the device supports drives up to 128GB and is compatible with a wide range of audio formats, including MP3, WAV, FLAC, AAC, APE and WMA. The rip function supports FAT32-formatted USB drives with a capacity of up to 32GB, ensuring stable performance during file transfer and storage.”
Pro:
Excellent electronics and mechanics.
Very good sound on all outputs.
Stable and accurate reading from both disc and USB (CD-CDR - CDRW - mp3 from disc. + In the case of USB, wav. flac, ape, mp3 files)
A weight that inspires confidence. It feels like it's not a cheap disc reader.
Good remote control
A smaller media center because of the USB handling and the high quality playback of lossless files. (if it could handle dsd files it would be the top)
It handles self-made audio CDs even on rewritable discs
Easy CD grabbing to USB device
Cons:
1. Not a good color
2. Critically different design and size from existing products
3. Lack of branding in the right places
4. The opening door touches the plugs inserted. This narrows the door opening angle and wear can occur.
5. Does not have its own good quality power supply
6. Slightly portable DVD player due to the small display, the use of small buttons and the whole design.
7. Cannot be fitted on top of existing products because the front panel is critically different.
8 Thin bottom plate. vibrates, although this can be remedied at home. but it really spoils its perception from a hifi perspective. knocks. Gives the feeling of a cheap box.
9. The sound should be faster to start when starting because it can cut off music files that start suddenly. This can probably be resolved with a software update.
If you liked it, please read my other presentations.
by: Antal István
Fosi has once again taken a completely new direction, they have developed a small CD player and surprised the fans.
When I opened the copy that arrived to me, I was very surprised. I saw some Fosi short videos and pictures from, for example, expo (Axpona)and other places and I was not expecting this device at all. It came to me in a beta test state in a plain white box. Not the packaging of the device that is already on the market in future.
So let's see what I am going to write about, let's see "what's in the box"
Merak CD Player
Power cable (no power supply)
Trigger cable
Remote control
User manual
I apologize in advance for the digression at the beginning, but I consider my message important:
To be honest, I was a little surprised. This is partly due to its color, the Merak is silver. Almost all Fosi audio desktop products are black. Except for the new S3 streamer, but that is not that color either, it is dark silver. It will definitely not look good in a Fosi tower, it definitely needs a different placement. The new Merak is smaller than what you see in the videos (expona and anywhere..) and its design is completely different.
Returning to the design, dimensions and colors of each new device and the front design are not the same. Unfortunately, sometimes even the paint on black devices is not exactly the same black color, and many others and I have already mentioned this. Because of this, the devices do not look good placed on top of each other, and it would be worth taking this into account by mixing our own "Fosi color" when painting each device in the future, and always following the same recipe for future devices. It is important to coordinate the design of the front panels and the housing. Now, when a new product is released, it is completely unpredictable what the new appearance will be like. Most of them are not the same at all, unfortunately! Let's skip this, let's hope I find some open ears with this.
Now, as always, the internal technical content of Fosi is excellent!
It is completely incomprehensible to me that there is no Fosi Audio logo and type designation on the front panel. The brand name is only located on the bottom of the device, and on top in the disc tray, which is covered by the inserted disc. Well, the good place is on the front panel, and even a Fosi logo could be in the middle of the round, transparent window of the opening door, like on the top of the S3 streamer. Now the manufacturer's name and type designation are completely hidden. Yes, this can be attributed to the excessive rounding of the corners and the small size of the buttons. There is simply no more space on the front panel.
It would have been nice to at least match the size and color of the two new models, the S3 streamer and the Merak CD player. They would have made a perfect pair. The Merak would have had a lot more space, and could have had some bigger buttons or a larger display, and a normal RCA output on the back instead of a jack. It would have been nice to have been front-loading, so that a tray could fit, or just a front-panel slot that only accepts discs. The Merak device is thin, but if we consider that because of this, when inserting the toslink (optical) or jack cable, the door that opens, which originally opens at a greater angle without a plug, when opening the door, the bottom of the door rests on the inserted toslink or the jack plug plugged into the line output, and the opening angle is therefore somewhat limited.
This results in wear and tear on the paint of the plug and door due to long-term, repeated encounters. The housing is made of plastic with a metallic effect paint. The bottom plate is thin for its size, which gives a cheap impression. It vibrates when tapped. Obviously, I don't have any price information yet. This also counts for a realistic assessment of the material consumption. It's strange that there is no own power supply in the factory package.
Let's move on to the real, essential part of the presentation.
At first glance and knock, physical examination:
I see it as a bit of a mix of a portable DVD player and a portable CD "discman". This appearance is also observed in some other manufacturers. This is not a problem, but it is not an advantage either.
Now comes the good:
The remote control is great and handles all functions well. All function good and the Merak display has adjustable brightness.
The player reads quite quickly and accurately. In addition to factory CDs, it stably reads my own CD-Rs written a long time ago, and even CD-RWs, and even MP3s. It handles changes during playback quickly(skip) . The mechanics are quiet, and the reading is accurate. I can safely say that the interior is much better than I suspected from the external examination of the device. I haven't disassembled the device, but I think the built-in CD drive may be of high quality. I find it very good, even though my other Technics sl-ps7 desktop player is quite a tough control A/B test for the Merak, both mechanically and electronically. I don't have any precise information about what exactly was installed, there are currently no factory specifications, but in addition to the mechanics, the dac and the entire electronics are noticeably good. The Fosi player really brings the usual Fosi quality in terms of sound. It is definitely highly enjoyable. The sound is real hi-fi! Detailed, precise, airy. Surprisingly, the sound is also very good from a normal phone charger! It is also very pleasant to listen to on the headphone output. The long way side volume control is enjoyable to use. You can experience some uncertainty here, but only in the lowest position, this can be experienced with almost every physical volume control in the quietest starting position. Later there is no problem, the long-distance volume adjustment is enjoyable.
Loooooong way volume control:
It reads the external drive very well (in my case it is a pendrive). I tested the USB input with Wav. Ape. Flac and mp3 files. It plays in high quality and accurately. Perfect. The ESP (shock protection) switch surprised me a bit for a desktop device, but in the meantime I saw a box with a ready-made label that said this device is portable. Although this is funny because the Merak has rubber feet and the door does not close to fix to walking music listen.. There is no built-in battery, using it as a discman from a power bank with a cord would be strange. But if it is not portable then why is the ESP? Interestingly, it didn't skip even with ESP turned off, not even when I shook the device a lot or turned the Merak upside down and hit it a little harder.. This is good because the playback is extremely stable, but it is a little strange because with the ESP turned off, what keeps the playback stable?
Backside:
ESP on/off switch - 3.5mm jack line out – USB host – Optical out – 12v trigger out - USB-C DC5v input.
The sound of the line output is very good by the way. The optical output is also excellent. I have to say that I find both the mechanical and electronic components to be very top-notch. When playing digital silence noise played from USB, I did not experience any significant added noise even at full amplification volume. Tested with Fosi i5 planar headphonesAt full volume, you can barely hear a little minimal "hiss" noise. The Merak cd player sound from the wall power supply and power bank is also very good. When stopping playback, it immediately goes silent. There is a slight delay when starting. This can be a problem when playing music that starts suddenly if it cuts off the beginning sounds. I have not experienced this so far, but it is worth paying attention to. The record button surprised me. The Merak saves as uncompressed WAV files at 16-bit/44.1kHz, preserving the original audio quality without loss. I have to say that I really enjoyed using it. There are two ways to record: one track or the entire disc. I grabbered a full CD onto a pendrive and it sounded good. Good point!
Bottom view:
Overall, Fosi has produced a very good device with high-quality internal features. The sound of the player and its features are very good, even excellent, since even CD grabbing is among them, it has become a real hi-fi product. It would be very appealing to me in awould be completely in line with the style, color and size of the new S3 and possibly in a front loading version. Another idea about a pendrive or any USB devices is playing dsd files.
Overall, I was able to examine a very useful media unit. With high quality sound. With a sufficiently high volume. The recording option is great!
The latest Fosi Audio devices:
UPDATE!!!
Some technical information about the built-in dac and other technical parameters has just been published on the official website, so I'll update the article.
"At the heart of the Merak is a carefully designed audio architecture built around the CS43131 DAC and TPA6120 headphone amplifier. This combination allows the system to achieve a signal-to-noise ratio of up to 124 dB and a total harmonic distortion of up to 0.0009%, ensuring a clear and extremely transparent sound with excellent detail retrieval.
The headphone output delivers 210 milliwatts per channel into 32 ohms, providing enough power to drive headphones from 16 to 300 ohms while maintaining clarity and control. Meanwhile, the line output offers a standard level of at least 2Vrm, allowing for seamless integration with external amplifiers or powered speakers without compromising signal integrity.
Together, these specifications result in quieter backgrounds, more refined details, and greater They result in a listening experience with a sense of space and dynamics.
For USB playback, the device supports drives up to 128GB and is compatible with a wide range of audio formats, including MP3, WAV, FLAC, AAC, APE and WMA. The rip function supports FAT32-formatted USB drives with a capacity of up to 32GB, ensuring stable performance during file transfer and storage.”
Pro:
Excellent electronics and mechanics.
Very good sound on all outputs.
Stable and accurate reading from both disc and USB (CD-CDR - CDRW - mp3 from disc. + In the case of USB, wav. flac, ape, mp3 files)
A weight that inspires confidence. It feels like it's not a cheap disc reader.
Good remote control
A smaller media center because of the USB handling and the high quality playback of lossless files. (if it could handle dsd files it would be the top)
It handles self-made audio CDs even on rewritable discs
Easy CD grabbing to USB device
Cons:
1. Not a good color
2. Critically different design and size from existing products
3. Lack of branding in the right places
4. The opening door touches the plugs inserted. This narrows the door opening angle and wear can occur.
5. Does not have its own good quality power supply
6. Slightly portable DVD player due to the small display, the use of small buttons and the whole design.
7. Cannot be fitted on top of existing products because the front panel is critically different.
8 Thin bottom plate. vibrates, although this can be remedied at home. but it really spoils its perception from a hifi perspective. knocks. Gives the feeling of a cheap box.
9. The sound should be faster to start when starting because it can cut off music files that start suddenly. This can probably be resolved with a software update.
If you liked it, please read my other presentations.
by: Antal István
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