Overview of 518

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∙De-jittering. This is vital to getting good sound when recording or playing back from a computer-based sound storage system.

∙Matching wordlengths input to output. Hard disc storage systems tend to use 16 or 24 bits. While 16 bit storage is quite adequate for simple transfer, it does not allow any headroom for manipulation of the signals – without degrading noise. 518 can be used to ensure that all the headroom in the disc storage is used by boosting the incoming signals to full code. 518 is also ideally suited to translating 24 bit storage to a downstream 16 bit recording medium like DAT or CDR. In fact, the noise-shaping options of 518 allow most of the subjective dynamic range of a 20 bit master to be retained in the 16 bit storage device.

∙Accurate DSP. The quality of signal processing used in 518 is substantially higher than that normally found in PC editors or sound API functions. For example, 518 uses the most sophisticated re- dithering technology combined with 72 bit internal processing to ensure that any level changes or equalisations are made truly transparent to the listener. Much of this technology is proprietary to Meridian.

∙RS232 control. The 518 supports direct RS232 control from a PC– effectively turning it into a 2-channel DSP peripheral.

Customising features

As the previous sections illustrate, the 518 is very flexible. You have the opportunity to significantly customise its functions to give you the functionality that exactly suits your application.

The section ‘Customising 518, an overview' on page37 describes the options in detail.

We recommend that you first get to know the 518 using one of the standard setups, and by working through this manual. Do not be afraid later to experiment with customising – we have given you a simple way to get back to where you started! (See page 23).

518 as provided has three standard configurations that we call Type settings. Each Type gives a different set of options; this feature is described fully on page 23.

Note By selecting a Type you automatically reset all custom settings for 518 to that default.

518 has four operating modes (not to be confused with setup Types):

∙Normal

∙Standby

∙Type

∙Config

Normal and Standby are the everyday operating modes: the basic operating instructions refer to these.

Type, and Config are used to make choices about the way 518 works. These are described later in the section: ‘Configuring 518, an overview' on page 37.

518 User Guide