New DAC from Merging Technologies for Home Audio Market

[dallasjustice]

Yeah, but at least it can justify some of the price... I have hard time understanding $10k+ DACs that use COTS DAC chips.

 

If the buyers and sellers are free to do what they wish with their money, parts costs and labor costs are irrelevant to price the buyer chooses to pay. IMO,some audiophile manufacturers attempt to persuade folks to buy their product by exploiting economic illiteracy.

[Hiro]

....and no more debates about the best USB cables?

 

I can't wait to sell mine. :-)

 

So that you can invest the money in a fancy new Ethernet cable?

[dallasjustice]

So that you can invest the money in a fancy new Ethernet cable?

 

Nope. I ordered the Hapi yesterday. After I get the Hapi going, I will be saving up for an affordable lower power class A 2CH amp. My YG speakers are 3 way passive and I use a pair of JL subs. Currently, my Audiolense XO setup is a 2 way 2.0 setup to integrate the subs using the AL 2 octave XO.

 

I plan to experimenting with a 4 way 2.0 filter. IOW, I will experiment with a fully active setup. The YG crossovers are easy to disconnect and I still have the plate amps for the woofers which have defeatable crossovers. So, I would only need an additional 2CH amp to drive the tweeters. A fully active system has always been a fascination of mine. However, it's not an urgent need right now. It's nice to have the freedom to do it with the HAPI.

[astrotoy]

Ha, it's the new DAC to play with the mystical Emotion playback software that we have been waiting for years to surface.....?

 

That's my understanding. My consultant should be getting the DAC pretty soon and he told me that Emotion may be ready for prime time. I hope so. I was a beta (alpha?) tester when it first was being tried out a few years ago and it definitely had some promise.

 

Larry

[tailspn]

That's my understanding.

 

In the newest beta version of Pyramix (10.0.1) Masscore and the associated Horus firmware, up pops NADAC and Emotion in the various selection menus and options.

 

Dallas, what Pyramix software package are you getting for your new Hapi? Or are you just downloading the ASIO driver and going to stitch something like JRiver or HQPlayer to it?

[dallasjustice]

I will use ASIO. Is there any advantage to pyramix for playback? I will only use the AtoD when recording log sweeps for DSP. I think I can do everything I want without pyramix.

In the newest beta version of Pyramix (10.0.1) Masscore and the associated Horus firmware, up pops NADAC and Emotion in the various selection menus and options.

 

Dallas, what Pyramix software package are you getting for your new Hapi? Or are you just downloading the ASIO driver and going to stitch something like JRiver or HQPlayer to it?

[tailspn]

Is there any advantage to pyramix for playback?

 

Only for recording and editing. The price also starts to get steep as soon as you want DSD, for you then need the Mastering Pack option. If you're ever interested in Pyramix functions, the Pyramix Native is the way to go, as opposed to the much more expensive Masscore.

[EuroDriver]

Nope. I ordered the Hapi yesterday. After I get the Hapi going, I will be saving up for an affordable lower power class A 2CH amp. My YG speakers are 3 way passive and I use a pair of JL subs. Currently, my Audiolense XO setup is a 2 way 2.0 setup to integrate the subs using the AL 2 octave XO.

 

I plan to experimenting with a 4 way 2.0 filter. IOW, I will experiment with a fully active setup. The YG crossovers are easy to disconnect and I still have the plate amps for the woofers which have defeatable crossovers. So, I would only need an additional 2CH amp to drive the tweeters. A fully active system has always been a fascination of mine. However, it's not an urgent need right now. It's nice to have the freedom to do it with the HAPI.

 

When you are looking at and auditioning class A amps, take a look at the Hypex NCore NC400. For price performance and a very sweet timbre, the NC400 is hard to beat. An amp which can give the NCore NC 400 a run for the money is the Job 225

[dallasjustice]

Only for recording and editing. The price also starts to get steep as soon as you want DSD, for you then need the Mastering Pack option. If you're ever interested in Pyramix functions, the Pyramix Native is the way to go, as opposed to the much more expensive Masscore.

Thanks Jared. I may become interested in mastering later on. A friend of mine who owns a recoding studio wants me to master after he heard my system. :-). It's not in the time budget now though.

[dallasjustice]

When you are looking at and auditioning class A amps, take a look at the Hypex NCore NC400. For price performance and a very sweet timbre, the NC400 is hard to beat. An amp which can give the NCore NC 400 a run for the money is the Job 225

 

I own a pair of Kalugas. They are awesome amps. I may just borrow another pair from my dealer for the setup.

[Kal Rubinson]

Thanks Jared.

His name is Tom.

[astrotoy]

I will use ASIO. Is there any advantage to pyramix for playback? I will only use the AtoD when recording log sweeps for DSP. I think I can do everything I want without pyramix.

 

I have been using Pyramix since 2011 for my ripping project. Absolutely no advantage (except maybe sound quality) to using Pyramix for playback only. It wasn't designed to be user friendly for recording or especially playback. I think the only advantage is that the waveform is there, so if you want to go to a specific point and when playing back, you can expand the waveform to get to precisely where you want to be. Before I got a BADA2 and Exa E28 to playback through a Mac Mini, using A+ mostly, I created playlists for the Pyramix - not very easy to do, and when they were done, not so easy to use.

 

Larry

[tailspn]

I will only use the AtoD when recording log sweeps for DSP. I think I can do everything I want without pyramix.

 

I'm sorry, I didn't consider the second part of your statement. I originally purchased my Horas for playback and mastering only. As Larry states, the Pyramix software is difficult to work with for just simple playback of files. But the DA8P DAC card is single purpose enough that just the ASIO driver can provide a adequate interface with at least JRiver.

 

I don't see however how that would hold for controlling and interfacing the AD8 or AD8P A/D card. Even recording simple PCM log sweeps would require a unique handshake and control interface to make use of the cards many proprietary features and output on Ravenna. The good news is the simplest lowest channel count Pyramix Native Broadcast option package should suffice. But there's gotta be much less expensive ways of recording your log sweeps.

[dallasjustice]

Tom (sorry I called you Jared),:-)

 

I wasn't clear. I plan to use ravenna ASIO as the input as well as output using Audiolense. Ausiolense takes care of sending out the logsweep via ASIO and recording the .wav using the same ASIO driver. I've talked to Dom about this setup. He seems to think it will work over ASIO. A friend of mine uses his Hapi with Acourate, which is similar software. Are you saying you don't think Ravenna ASIO will be able to work as an input with 3rd party software?

 

Michael.

 

 

I'm sorry, I didn't consider the second part of your statement. I originally purchased my Horas for playback and mastering only. As Larry states, the Pyramix software is difficult to work with for just simple playback of files. But the DA8P DAC card is single purpose enough that just the ASIO driver can provide a adequate interface with at least JRiver.

 

I don't see however how that would hold for controlling and interfacing the AD8 or AD8P A/D card. Even recording simple PCM log sweeps would require a unique handshake and control interface to make use of the cards many proprietary features and output on Ravenna. The good news is the simplest lowest channel count Pyramix Native Broadcast option package should suffice. But there's gotta be much less expensive ways of recording your log sweeps.

[tailspn]

Hi Michael,

 

Yeah, we're thought to be interchangeable (unless of course you were to ask Jared)

 

No, I have no idea about how any 3rd party software would, or would not work with Ravenna. I'm only suggesting the DAC card in a Horus/Hapi is simple to interface and control via ASIO and Ravenna compared to the A/D card. If Dominique thinks it'll work; he's the expert.

 

By the same token, I'm unclear about your Hapi configuration. I'm assuming from your previous descriptions that you've also purchased the Merging AD8/P A/D converter card, because you used the word "recording". If that's incorrect, and you've bought only the DA8/P DAC card, then I do see how this will work.

 

In any case, I'm sure you'll be as satisfied with your Merging purchase as I am. It's great hardware engineering that works flawlessly once set up.

[dallasjustice]

I ordered both the DA8P and AD8P. When I get it, I'll report how well it works with Audiolense. I believe the pro audio guys using pro tools and other DAWs capable of using standard ASIO/Core Audio are using Ravenna ASIO and Ravenna core audio without problems. Hopefully, it will work with Audiolense also. :-)

 

Hi Michael,

 

Yeah, we're thought to be interchangeable (unless of course you were to ask Jared)

 

No, I have no idea about how any 3rd party software would, or would not work with Ravenna. I'm only suggesting the DAC card in a Horus/Hapi is simple to interface and control via ASIO and Ravenna compared to the A/D card. If Dominique thinks it'll work; he's the expert.

 

By the same token, I'm unclear about your Hapi configuration. I'm assuming from your previous descriptions that you've also purchased the Merging AD8/P A/D converter card, because you used the word "recording". If that's incorrect, and you've bought only the DA8/P DAC card, then I do see how this will work.

 

In any case, I'm sure you'll be as satisfied with your Merging purchase as I am. It's great hardware engineering that works flawlessly once set up.

[bmoura]

In any case, I'm sure you'll be as satisfied with your Merging purchase as I am. It's great hardware engineering that works flawlessly once set up.

 

I'm wondering if more music fans will be tempted to pick up the HAPI 8-Channel system since it provides A/D and D/A and isn't that much more than the upcoming NADAC from Merging at $7,500. Hmm....

[tailspn]

But no Emotion playout software, and a A/D capability that few would find useful. On the other hand, Michael's forthcoming experience may show that Hapi/ADC/DAC is a steal with third party software.

[bmoura]

But no Emotion playout software, and a A/D capability that few would find useful. On the other hand, Michael's forthcoming experience may show that Hapi/ADC/DAC is a steal with third party software.

 

The lack of playback software is key. But if Michael and others can get the HAPI dancing with third party player apps...

[Miska]

The lack of playback software is key. But if Michael and others can get the HAPI dancing with third party player apps...

 

I have at least two customers using Hapi for playback. I made one small change to make it easier.

 

But I don't have Hapi/Horus myself, so I have not personally tested.

[bmoura]

I have at least two customers using Hapi for playback. I made one small change to make it easier.

 

But I don't have Hapi/Horus myself, so I have not personally tested.

 

You should post that info (HQ Player settings for HAPI) on your web site. Could help the sales of HAPI and HQ Player!

[Miska]

You should post that info (HQ Player settings for HAPI) on your web site. Could help the sales of HAPI and HQ Player!

 

I only want to post stuff there that I can test&verify any day any moment myself...

 

I don't own Hapi at the moment and haven't found motivation yet to buy it. But maybe some day.

[One and a half]

MonoandStereo have what looks like a press release here on the NADAC. It appears that the NADAC can be driven from any music player, (presume Player software --> ASIO --> Ravenna) using the Ravenna protocol over Ethernet, and depending on which NADAC is you buy plays multi-channel, even DSD, DXD. This will please Wappinghigh, this DAC has multi room/building capability, and can preview the next song ahead or something else on another server

 

Inputs are AES3, AES67, World Clock input & Output (hopefully an internal clock?) although this should be already known above somewhere.

 

 

 

I clicked on the Merging Link just now, there's nothing to see

[Kal Rubinson]

MonoandStereo have what looks like a press release here on the NADAC.(

 

Yes, it is a transcription of the brochure they distributed at CES. Was anyone else amused to see the surprise at the end of the page ("Amazing Studio DAC $499") resulting from a fortuitous ad placement from Emotiva?

[matthias]

Yes, it is a transcription of the brochure they distributed at CES. Was anyone else amused to see the surprise at the end of the page ("Amazing Studio DAC $499") resulting from a fortuitous ad placement from Emotiva?

 

And the second picture shows a Hapi.

BTW, can someone enlighten me?

What is the advantage of the NADAC in comparison to the HAPI?

Thanks

Matt