Fosi Merak Review (CD Player)

[Nutul]

Scale is in dBv and 2 Vrms = 6 dBv on both graphs.

ouch... I must be too much Amir oriented

 

[NTTY]

Devil is in the details

 

[NTTY]

Thanks, I did not notice the other DAC ...

Both graphs are surprisingly identical, like the difference we get between two runs. And they both show higher distortion than what I measured. I suspect the limiting factor is the analyzer, but none of the two DACs.

 

[Nutul]

I see the harmonics past the 10th (or so...) being higher, but then again, still at very low levels... cannot comment about the measuring equipment, so I trust your word on this.
I'd like to get one, but as long as the 1-second-skip at the beginning is not a solved issue, it's a no-go for me.

 

[Droid_chinchilla]

I see the harmonics past the 10th (or so...) being higher, but then again, still at very low levels... cannot comment about the measuring equipment, so I trust your word on this.
I'd like to get one, but as long as the 1-second-skip at the beginning is not a solved issue, it's a no-go for me.

I read that Fosi engineers deliberately did that the player enters a mute function when skipping tracks in order to avoid popping sounds and that depends on the time required to pass between tracks and this maybe can be adressed by future fw updates…

 

[Nutul]

I read that Fosi engineers deliberately did that the player enters a mute function when skipping tracks in order to avoid popping sounds and that depends on the time required to pass between tracks and this maybe can be adressed by future fw updates…

When skipping. this does not mean start playback *while* restoring the volume... or when starting an album from the beginning...
Many players (hopefully all of them...) don't suffer from this issue, so it can be done.

 

[Joe Smith]

I used my Merak again yesterday, noticed no dropout of music at the start of track #1 on several different disks.

 

[Jccai99]

I used my Merak again yesterday, noticed no dropout of music at the start of track #1 on several different disks.

Hi, were you using the rca out or optical? Thanks in advance for your feedback.

 

[Joe Smith]

The RCAs, I believe.

 

[telecode101]

Thanks for review.

 

[techgod92]

This device is beautiful.

 

[Nicholas B]

Thanks for the review! Mine just arrived yesterday. I used it to replace a Marantz CD5005. Nothing wrong with the Marantz, just that I needed the smaller form factor. With the Fosi Merak also being a perfect transport, it seemed ideal. It is easy to use and functions without any flaws as far as I can tell.

Cheers,
Nicholas

 

[atothek]

Ordered the Merak and will keep it. As good as a CD-T can be. Thanks Fosi, again.
Merak, Phono X5 and P4 - third Fosi-component that I keep and had lots (!) of rather expensive so called "high-end" stuff during the last two decades.
Thanks to ASR!!!

 

[ccrnnr9@]

Thanks for the review! Mine just arrived yesterday. I used it to replace a Marantz CD5005. Nothing wrong with the Marantz, just that I needed the smaller form factor. With the Fosi Merak also being a perfect transport, it seemed ideal. It is easy to use and functions without any flaws as far as I can tell.

Cheers,
Nicholas

Curious how it compares to the 5005? I’m considering the same move (well CD5004) for the same reasons. The added perk of CD ripping is nice. I don’t play CDs too often but don’t want to give up the option of easily doing so at home.

 

[Nicholas B]

Curious how it compares to the 5005? I’m considering the same move (well CD5004) for the same reasons. The added perk of CD ripping is nice. I don’t play CDs too often but don’t want to give up the option of easily doing so at home.

I find the Merkak easier to operate in the sense that the drawer button on the Marantz was sometimes a bit sticky ('switch-bounce') unless you pressed it firmly. Also, without adequate lighting it was almost impossible to read the button labels on the front of the Marantz. The Merak is faster to read and play any disc. The Merak's remote control is a pleasure to use compared to the clunky one of the Marantz. The latter's has features for also controlling a matching amp, etc., so is much more complicated than it needs to be. I find the Merak's top loading system quicker and more practical to use - but that would depend on where you locate the player - mine sits on the top shelf at almost waist height.

Having said all that, you won't be able to hear a difference in playback between the two. Maybe there are measurable differences - but not audible ones. The Marantz has both optical and coax digital outputs, the Merak only an optical one. Not an issue in my case.

As for durability, only time will tell. In any case, I still have the Marantz stashed in a cupboard as back-up . Certainly the Merak seems built well enough.

 

[ccrnnr9@]

Thank you for that. I often I have trouble telling too much difference between CD players. I really enjoy my marantz but agree with your sentiments above.

 

[Jim T]

Hello Everyone,

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Fosi Merak CD Player and Transport.

View attachment 530947

Sorry, not the best picture ever, but done in a rush between two storms


Fosi Merak - Presentation

This is a low cost CD Player and actually @Rocky Rococo did a good presentation and mini-review of it yesterday, so I won't repeat. And as opposed to him, I had to finance it

The back of the unit shows the essential:

View attachment 530950

Line output from a 3.5mm jack, and a standard Toslink optical output (cool).


User Experience

I liked the speed of the drive to skip one or multiple tracks, and also to FFW/REW which is always practical for me with my test CD.

It took me some time to find that the power on/off button is also the one to select the operating mode. At one point, I thought it would not read a CD

The Merak is gapless playback but does not apply de-emphasis. It had no issue playing a lengthy 76+min hybrid SACD from beginning to end.

Only one output is active at a time (opti, line, headphones) which I regret.

I had pleasure listening to it with a Beyer DT 770 Pro (80 ohms) but I had to push the volume high (no measurements of the phones out, sorry). And please don’t trust my ears, they are not golden So, just saying…

And seeing the disc spinning through the glass top window is a winner for me. I love it!


Fosi Merak - Measurements (Line out)

All measurements performed with an E1DA Cosmos ADCiso (grade 0), and the Cosmos Scaler (100kohms from unbalanced input) for analog outputs, and a Motu UltraLite Mk5 for digital.

I am now consistent with my specific measurements for CD Players, as I described them in the post “More than we hear”, and as I reported them for the SMSL PL-200 review. I used the commercial version of my Audio Technical CD for all measurements. Over time, this will help comparing the devices I reviewed.

The Merak outputs 1.954Vrms from left and right channels, meaning perfect channel balance (nice). However the phase showed a 180° shift across the BW

Since the two channels are identical, I will show only one channel as it speeds up the review for me.

----

As usual, let's start with my standard 999.91Hz sine @0dBFS (without dither) from the Test CD (Line out):

View attachment 530951

This is not best in class, and we loose 0.5bits of resolution because of the distortion. Note that the calculated SNR is near max possible at 98.3dB (unweighted) despite the full scale test tone.

Same 999.91Hz but @-6dBFS, no dither:

View attachment 530953

Unfortunately, the distorsion rose, but it is still acceptable. Not best in class, again, but more than decent if you ask me.

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Let's have a look a potential Power Supply leakages, the below is a 20Hz to 1kHz zoom with a punishing 512k FFT length to reveal issues:

View attachment 530954

Very limited BUT I had to power the Merak with my PC to get there. As a matter of facts, it is relatively sensitive to the quality of the power supply, so you better use a battery pack.

----

Next is the bandwidth:

View attachment 530955

The two channels are overlaid, so you can appreciate the perfect balance.

Only -0.2dB at 20Hz, this is a near perfect trace.

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Let's have a look at the behavior of the oversampling filter beyond 20kHz:

View attachment 530956

We see the effect of the noise shaper beyond 45kHz, and the attenuation is roughly -90dB, fully active at 24kHz and that is good.

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Next is the multitone test that a lot of you like very much, but you won't be happy with the results:

View attachment 530957

Oops, we have distortion, especially at lower frequencies. Let's have a closer look at that with a 100Hz tone @0dBFS (with dither):

View attachment 530958

Yep, lots of distortion (no noise), and we get lucky this is only in the lowest frequencies, where we are less likely to suffer from that.

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On the contrary, the jitter test is one of the best I measured:

View attachment 530959

Red is from digital output and blue from the line output. Very low noise if you compare with many of my other reviews.

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Started with the Teac VRDS-20 review, and on your request + support to get it done (more here), I'm adding now an "intersample-overs" test which intends to identify the behavior of the digital filtering and DAC when it come to process near clipping signals. Because of the oversampling, there might be interpolated data that go above 0dBFS and would saturate (clip) the DAC and therefore the output. And this effect shows through distorsion (THD+N measurement up to 96kHz):

Intersample-overs tests Bandwidth of the THD+N measurements is 20Hz - 96kHz	5512.5 Hz sine, Peak = +0.69dBFS	7350 Hz sine, Peak = +1.25dBFS	11025 Hz sine, Peak = +3.0dBFS
Teac VRDS-20	-30.7dB	-26.6dB	-17.6dB
Yamaha CD-1	-84.6dB	-84.9dB	-78.1dB
Denon DCD-900NE	-34.2dB	-27.1dB	-19.1dB
Denon DCD-SA1	-33.6dB	-27.6dB	-18.3dB
Onkyo C-733	-88.3dB	-40.4dB	-21.2dB
Denon DCD-3560	-30.2dB	-24.7dB	-17.4dB
Myryad Z210	-70.6dB (noise dominated)	-71.1dB (noise dominated)	-29.4dB (H3 dominated)
Sony CDP-X333ES	-30.5dB	-24.8dB	-16.3dB
BARCO-EMT 982	-32.7dB	-24.5dB	-16.3dB
TASCAM CD-200	-73.5dB	-36.3dB	-19.7dB
Sony CDP-597	-30.4dB	-24.7dB	-16.5dB
SMSL PL100	-53.1dB	-31dB	-19.1dB
OPPO BDP-95	-39dB	-28.8dB	-19.2dB
OPPO BDP-95 (vol -2dB)	-95dB	-97.5dB	-32.7dB
SMSL PL200	-94.8dB	-97dB	-39.5dB
SMSL PL200 (vol -1dB)	-94.8dB	-97dB	-58.7dB
Orpheus Zero	-88.7dB	-87.3dB	-56.8dB
Azur 640C V2	-89.8dB	-91dB	-64.5dB
NAD C540	-34.1dB	-26.3dB	-20.4dB
Consonance CD120B	-84.3dB	-39.6dB	-20.9dB
Fosi Merak	-38.8dB	-28.5dB	-18.5dB

The interpolator of the Merak has no headroom for intersample overs as so many other CD Players. Too bad since so many CD Masters are recorded too hot.

----

Let's continue with the good old 3DC measurement that Stereophile was often using as a proof of low noise DAC. It is from an undithered 997Hz sine at -90.31dBFS. With 16bits, the signal should appear (on a scope) as the 3DC levels of the smallest symmetrical sign magnitude digital signal:

View attachment 530961

This is a very beautiful trace, proof that the noise is extremely low in this little thing. The shape of the "squares" (descending ringing) tells us about the impulse response of the digital oversampling filter (limited pre-ringing):

View attachment 530962

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Other measurements (not shown):

• IMD AES-17 DFD "Analog" (18kHz & 20kHz 1:1) : -87.1dB
• IMD AES-17 DFD "Digital" (17'987Hz & 19'997Hz 1:1) : -88.5dB
• IMD AES-17 MD (41Hz & 7993Hz 4:1): -94.4dB
• IMD DIN (250Hz & 8kHz 4:1) : -82.9dB
• IMD CCIF (19kHz & 20kHz 1:1) : -88.7B
• IMD SMPTE (60Hz & 17kHz 1:4) : -82.6dB
• IMD TDFD Bass (41Hz & 89Hz 1:1) : -79.1dB
• IMD TDFD (13'58Hz & 19841Hz 1:1) : -82.6dB
• Dynamic Range : 99dB (without dither @-60dBFS)
• Crosstalk: 100Hz (-116dBr), 1kHz (-116dBr), 10kHz (-116dBr)
• Pitch Error (GPSDO corrected) : 19'995.60Hz (19'997Hz requested) ie -70ppm
• Gapless playback : Yes

The IMD scores are decent expect for the lowest frequencies, as I already mentioned, and as we saw with the multitone test.
The Dynamic range is best in class.
Crosstalk is very low and constant across the bandwidth.
Pitch error is higher than usual at -70ppm, but that will remain hidden to your ears. An external DAC with low phase noise clock would correct that.

----

Last and not least, I like to run a THD vs Frequency sweep at -12dBFS as it shows how the conversion has evolved over time. I am currently using the beta version of REW and I discovered that this sweep gives better and more reliable results than before. I overlayed the results with the SMSL PL200:

View attachment 530963

Yes, the Merak suffers from distortion, especially at low frequencies.

----

As I did with the Sony CDP-597, I add a "max DAC resolution" measurement test. It is performed from a 999.91Hz sine @-12dBFS with shape dither (from Audacity). I restrict the THD+N span to 20Hz - 6kHz in REW not to account for the noise of the shape dither beyond 6kHz. I take the calculated ENOB and simply add 2bits to it (due to the -12dB attenuation, as 1bits=6dB). The potential maximum, when calculated from the digital WAV file, is 18.7bits under this test. A "transparent" DAC should achieve 18.7bits, ie 100% in this test.

Here are the results compared to others:

CD Player model or DAC	Calculated ENOB (999.91Hz sine @-12dBFS with shape dither, THD+N span = 20Hz - 6kHz)	Percentage of max resolution achieved (higher is better)
SMSL PL-200	18.7bits	100%
OPPO BDP-95	18.7bits	100%
SMSL PS-200 (from CD player)	18.6bits	99.47%
Denon DCD-900NE	18.5bits	98.93%
Orpheus Zero	18.4bits	98.40%
Azur 640C V2	18.3bits	97.86%
Consonance CD 120B	18.2bits	97.33%
Onkyo C-733	18bits	96.26%
SMSL PL150	18bits	96.26%
SMSL PL100	17.9bits	95.72%
Fosi Merak	17.7bits	94.65%
Sony CDP-597	17.5bits	93.58%
Onkyo DX-7355	17.3bits	92.51%
Denon DCD-3560	17.2bits	91.98%
Yamaha CD-S303	16.8bits	89.84%
Revox B-226S	16.8bits	89.94%
Accuphase DP-70	16.6bits	88.77%
NAD C540	16.6bits	88.77%
Sony CDP-337ESD	16.6bits	88.77%
Teac VRDS-25x	16.5bits	88.24%
Marantz CD-73	14.9bits	79.68%

Again, the Merak is let down by its distortion, but as you can appreciate, the end result is not too bad.


Fosi Merak - Testing the drive

What would be good measurements if the drive would not properly read a slightly scratched CD, or one that was created at the limits of the norm? The below tests reply to these questions.

Here are the results:

Test type	Technical test	Results
Variation of linear cutting velocity	From 1.20m/s to 1.40m/s	Pass
Variation of track pitch	From 1.5µm to 1.7µm	Pass
Combined variations of track pitch and velocity	From 1.20m/s & 1.5µm to 1.40m/s & 1.7µm	Pass
HF detection (asymmetry pitch/flat ratio)	Variation from 2% to 18%	Pass
Dropouts resistance	From 0.05mm (0.038ms) to 4mm (3.080ms)	Pass
Combined dropouts and smallest pitch	From 1.5µm & 1mm to 1.5µm & 2.4mm	Pass
Successive dropouts	From 2x0.1mm to 2x3mm	Pass

Yeah! Best in class here. I saw it interpolating from 2mm, but I could not hear anything.


Fosi Merak - Digital output

Ok, so we get a decent CD player, and to expect better from a modern DAC, we need a perfect digital output. Let's check that.

This is my standard 999.91Hz @0dBFS (no dither):

View attachment 530970

Yep, as I like to see, no modifications.

Next is the 3DC test:

View attachment 530971

Peeeerfect!

My ultimate proof of "perfect" digital output is when I reuse the intersample overs test at 5512.50Hz, with a phase shift of 67.5°, like I did for the TASCAM CD-200 review. This signal generates an overshoot of +0.69dB. And so, if the signal would be modified before being sent (by an ASRC for instance), it would show either a reduction of amplitude or we'd see some sort of saturation/increase of noise/distorsion. So, here we go:

View attachment 530972

No distortion and the dashboard shows +0.69dBFS as expected. No ASRC on the digital path here. SNR is only 95.6dB because there is rectangle dither in this test file (consuming half a bit of resolution).

We get a perfect transport in case you're not happy with the internal DAC, and this is very cool.


Conclusion

The only flaws of the Merak are the distortion and the non-linear phase from its analog output. Other than that, it is often reaching best in class results, especially on the noise side.

From the digital output, I must qualify it as the "Absolute Transport". It is impossible to be asking for more since it ranked #1 in all my demanding tests. Looking again at the price… I’m speechless.

With an external DAC and very good headphone amplifier, it will be a killing machine. That is why I personally rated it as Excellent. It is the best CD Transport I measured, and the cheapest.

Very well done to Fosi!

Enjoy your weekend.

I merely bought the Merek for the ripping capability. It took me a while to get it to rip having to keep it in CD mode and it did not always go into tipping mode for me at first go. I will take the blame so far. I did finally get it to rip about 12 CDs to my Thumb drive for use in my 2025 Chevrolet Malibu RS. No cd players in cars is a bad Idea.

Once ripped it appears in my Chevy that it reads the first track in all the ripped CDs, then goes onto track 2 in all of them, and so on and so on. That is not a big deal for me as it is just back ground while driving. I will say that the sound quality of the ripped files is very good, so I am very pleased with this purchase. I did not want to have to go through the hassle of uploading them into my computer. It also gives me another CD player I can use with its own HP output. Keep in mind this unit needs 5VDC all the time as it had no internal battery. I have a separate portable battery CD player for when on the go. The track playback may be something unique to GM products. Also I mine you had to go into the "other" menu and find "USB' to get them to recognize the thumb drive. Still, a very unique player for this emerging market. Make sure your 5vdc adaptor is capable of 2 amps.

 

[Droid_chinchilla]

I just received the Merak today....stayed for 19 days in transit. For what I can say, it sounds just as good as a DCD F109 Denon transport on an external DAC Toping DX9. I say this because the Fiio DM15 sounded less good (duller) than the same Denon on the same DAC, and we saw NTTY's review that had showed the Fiio's digital output was modified. More, the Fosi better reads scratched CDs than the Denon (I have a scrathed one for testing ). For the price paid, I will keep it. It will be a desktop CD player, no battery needed. And the Denon goes upstairs to replace a SL-PG5, also working

 

[Sunship]

I do not have the 'missing the first second of a track' problem except with the automatic start upon closing the lid. If I stop the CD and then hit the play button (On the unit or on the remote) no loss of the first second and I've never missed a second when accessing a track. It is absolutely gapless and I'm really enjoying it after two months of use (Into a Benchmark DAC with optical out). It has no issue with any scratched CD, plays vertically and feels like a very reliable CD drive. If you play CDs as your main source all day you'll probably want a full sized more ergonomic drive with bigger buttons and display. But if you understand what you're buying it is great IMHO.

 

[AgarWave]

Do you know if they shipped directly to you from China or used some sort of consolidated shipper?

I actually picked up my unit directly from emiuzek.com recently. Honestly, at this price point, you usually expect some hidden customs fees when ordering overseas, but they didn't charge any tax, and I even managed to negotiate a slight discount with their support. They shipped it out via a fast courier straight to my door without the usual consolidation delays. Given how fast we hit diminishing returns on DACs these days, saving a few bucks upfront on a solid, audibly transparent unit makes a lot of sense.