Hi Iain,

Thanks for the heads on on the Meridian MQA - it sounds very much like the system that Bono from U2 is working with Apple on. Maybe there's some collaboration going on :) Very interesting hi-res 24 bit music with tiny file sizes!

I really don't think Bono has any qualifications in respect of audio compression! Bob Stuart on the other hand is staggeringly knowledgeable in both theoretical and practical senses.  If there was an Apple link, I think it would have been publicly trumpeted.  Bear in mind that MQA has been shown to journalists some 2 years ago - although the name had not been decided on.

the fact it can be delivered inside standard wrappers (ALAC for example) will be a huge plus.  My order for an Explorer 2 is already placed.

It's very exciting - I just hope that there's a demand for it - it's sad that the majority of the young generation that I talk to (18-25) won't pay for music downloads and even look at me as though i'm insane when I say that I 'pay' to download a HD movie :)

I do hope that you find enjoyment in your Avant Iain. Do you have Apple TV connected to it? I really wise that B&O would use more Panasonic parts in their products. My heart is still with Panasonic as their products simply last & last & last. I've never had less than 10 years heavy use out their products. I have a 15 year old Panasonic VCR still in my house that we used for 12 hours a day every day for 7 years as an output back up at one of my former radio stations and it works as well as day 1 (AND it was £150 when new in 1999.)

Good luck with whatever you decide on!

Nothing beats the steve hoffman vinyl masters!

And now iPlayer has changed to a WWW page? 

It's really hard trying to enter characters into the search field - is there a keyboard facility I haven't discovered?

The arrow (mouse arrow) responds to the direction controls - but it is incredibly awkward to navigate!