New DAC from Merging Technologies for Home Audio Market

[dbrulhart]

Hi Dominique,

 

I am sure Merging has a lot do software wise, but will you develop routing in Horus/Hapi driver or through a mini mixer application?

I am aware that this is already possible in your Pyramix application, but not everybody requires its extensive features. Furthermore, quite a few companies in the pro business have this feature for their devices. In the case of DSD having a routing/mapping application would help your users greatly.

Hoping to hear from you soon.

Cheers

 

Hi bibo01,

 

Adding a small mixer in the Horus/Hapi is in our list, however there are other priorities at the moment and not everything will be possible due to hardware/software constraints.

 

Typically a DSD mixer will not be possible to implement in the current hardware.

 

But stay tuned ;-)

 

Cheers,

 

Dominique

[One and a half]

I agree with you - Hapi seems a bargain compared to NADAC.

What is needed is:

Hapi

DA8P card

Power Supply 12V option

Intel e1g42et PCIe lan card

Ethernet cables do not need to be over sophisticated

 

Having/making a good lps is not too expensive. One needs to find a HR10A-7R-4P connector though.

 

Regarding Nikhil's remark on ASIO difficulties, one needs Bonjour protocol to have MTDiscovery seeing Hapi device.

 

The power in for the Hapi is 10-14VDC at 30W, 2.5A at 12Vdc, just right for the JS-2.

 

Nikhil's associate returned their HAPI due to ASIO problem. Perhaps some more detail as to why, was the player at fault, OS incompatibility, something else?

 

I see two uses for the HAPI. One is a direct AES3 feed for 192k PCM to a DAC, for DSD use the analog out. This provides some flexibility to use existing DACs and/or straight to an XLR input on a pre-amp/integrated. Still the DB25 connector is a hurdle.

[dbrulhart]

The power in for the Hapi is 10-14VDC at 30W, 2.5A at 12Vdc, just right for the JS-2.

 

Nikhil's associate returned their HAPI due to ASIO problem. Perhaps some more detail as to why, was the player at fault, OS incompatibility, something else?

 

I see two uses for the HAPI. One is a direct AES3 feed for 192k PCM to a DAC, for DSD use the analog out. This provides some flexibility to use existing DACs and/or straight to an XLR input on a pre-amp/integrated. Still the DB25 connector is a hurdle.

 

Well, that's the problem... the HAPI has been returned before we could actually fully understand the issue... and if we did he may probably not have returned it ;-)

 

What we suspect at this stage is a network setup issue with the Internet setup box. We experienced this issue another time at some customer and could easily solve it by setting a fixed IP address in this very case, but difficult to say without getting to the bottom of it.

 

What we can surely say is that the ASIO driver is certainly not involved, it works like a charm on hundreds of Horus and Hapi setups, and all automated test on NADAC proved it functional flawlessly.

 

We're currently conducting tests with the various players available on market, Roon, JRiver, Audirvana, iTunes, etc... and all work fine... although some players require some settings to be tweaked, but that's common even with USB.

 

There was certainly a network issue to solve in this case, and we're sorry not to have had the time to achieve it, but that doesn't jeopardize at all the usefulness and beauty of the networking as such. We have thousands of happy customers in the pro-audio world, streaming hundreds of channels daily, most in critical live situations with no problem.

 

The Hapi and the Ravenna could definitely be used to replace long cables and carry digital over long distance, this has changed the life of many of our pro-audio users and can certainly apply in the audiophile world, like moving the servers away, or bringing the DAC closer to the speakers, etc...

 

We'll come up with answers to the many questions in this thread about the differences between NADAC and Hapi, there is much more than the price as a difference and both units can perfectly find their place and enjoy their own advantages in the audiophile world.

 

Cheers,

 

Dominique

[bibo01]

Hi bibo01,

 

Adding a small mixer in the Horus/Hapi is in our list, however there are other priorities at the moment and not everything will be possible due to hardware/software constraints.

 

Typically a DSD mixer will not be possible to implement in the current hardware.

 

But stay tuned ;-)

 

Cheers,

 

Dominique

 

Thanks for your reply.

Personally I am looking for a channel mapping application.

I will stay tuned :-)

[dbrulhart]

Thanks for your reply.

Personally I am looking for a channel mapping application.

I will stay tuned :-)

 

Channel mapping ?

 

Mmmmmh... then definitely stay emotionally tuned...

[bibo01]

Channel mapping ?

 

Mmmmmh... then definitely stay emotionally tuned...

 

Sorry, what do you mean? Is there a good hope?

What I need to do it's to duplicate ch1 to ch3, 5 and 7, and ch2 to ch4, 6 and 8. Is that in your projects?

[free]

I am very interested to reading more about the differences between Hapi/Horus and NADAC.

[One and a half]

Well, that's the problem... the HAPI has been returned before we could actually fully understand the issue... and if we did he may probably not have returned it ;-)

 

What we suspect at this stage is a network setup issue with the Internet setup box. We experienced this issue another time at some customer and could easily solve it by setting a fixed IP address in this very case, but difficult to say without getting to the bottom of it.

 

What we can surely say is that the ASIO driver is certainly not involved, it works like a charm on hundreds of Horus and Hapi setups, and all automated test on NADAC proved it functional flawlessly.

 

We're currently conducting tests with the various players available on market, Roon, JRiver, Audirvana, iTunes, etc... and all work fine... although some players require some settings to be tweaked, but that's common even with USB.

 

There was certainly a network issue to solve in this case, and we're sorry not to have had the time to achieve it, but that doesn't jeopardize at all the usefulness and beauty of the networking as such. We have thousands of happy customers in the pro-audio world, streaming hundreds of channels daily, most in critical live situations with no problem.

 

The Hapi and the Ravenna could definitely be used to replace long cables and carry digital over long distance, this has changed the life of many of our pro-audio users and can certainly apply in the audiophile world, like moving the servers away, or bringing the DAC closer to the speakers, etc...

 

We'll come up with answers to the many questions in this thread about the differences between NADAC and Hapi, there is much more than the price as a difference and both units can perfectly find their place and enjoy their own advantages in the audiophile world.

 

Cheers,

 

Dominique

 

Thank you Dominique for the reply. Asio problems are harder to fix, the networking issue is easier to solve by looks of it. Either the local DNS or some minor set-up issue, even multiple inadvertent DHCP servers can cause any device not to work.

 

Any chance to review the pricing on the NADAC in the meantime...? I'm warming to the Hapi since the Horus has too many channels for audiophile uses, unless the sound floor is quieter versus channel crosstalk?

 

What type of dither is used for Pcm and gain control in the Hapi? Does the Hapi pass through (bitstream) DSD256 or is level control managed by (expensive) software?

Sorry for all the questions, maybe should start a new thread.

[YashN]

Congrats on the solid endorsement by Mr. Robinson over at Positive Feedback, Dominique and team.

[matthias]

Nice HAPI review:

 

Review: Merging Technologies Hapi

 

KR

Matt

[The Computer Audiophile]

The NADAC is on the way here. I should have it on 8/31/2015 :~)

[bmoura]

The NADAC is on the way here. I should have it on 8/31/2015 :~)

 

You will enjoy the NADAC. I have the 8 Channel NADAC here burning in. Very impressive!

[One and a half]

You will enjoy the NADAC. I have the 8 Channel NADAC here burning in. Very impressive!

 

Now, is it better than the Lampizator Big 7 for instance?

[ted_b]

Now, is it better than the Lampizator Big 7 for instance?

 

The Big 7 doesn't mean 7 channels, though.

[One and a half]

The Big 7 doesn't mean 7 channels, though.

 

It's not a fair comparison MCH NADAC, but to compare 2CH Lampizator and 2CH Nadac is fair.

[bibo01]

It's not a fair comparison MCH NADAC, but to compare 2CH Lampizator and 2CH Nadac is fair.

In terms of SQ it is possible to compare a MCH NADAC to 2CH Lampizator because in stero mode NADAC duplicates ch1 to 3/5/7 and ch2 to 4/6/8 for internal processing, as Merging's Dominique told me.

[One and a half]

In terms of SQ it is possible to compare a MCH NADAC to 2CH Lampizator because in stero mode NADAC duplicates ch1 to 3/5/7 and ch2 to 4/6/8 for internal processing, as Merging's Dominique told me.

 

I remember this now, internal multistage DAC. Thanks for the jog of neurons.

[bmoura]

Now, is it better than the Lampizator Big 7 for instance?

 

As it turns out, David Robinson at Positive Feedback has a Lampizator Golden Gate DAC - the Big 7's ultimate expression at the moment - in the review queue. So we will know the answer to your question soon.

[bmoura]

The Big 7 doesn't mean 7 channels, though.

 

True. The Big 7 is a 2 Channel DAC while the NADAC MC-8 model is a 2 channel and 8 channel DAC.

Although I only need 6 channels for Multichannel DSD playback.

[free]

Anything new?

[Nes]

I had one in my system for an evening courtesy of my dealer and the importer. Way too short for a fair review and I am not approaching this from any scientific angle but what I heard was real punch in the lower regions, eerie rendering of voices (goose bumps hearing Kate Bush' voice on "Don't Give Up") and the music was extremely detailed. Mind you this was only from CD-quality, I didn't have time to properly listen to higher quality source material.

 

I decided to order one after returning it to the dealer. Should be with me in a couple of weeks.

[bmoura]

I had one in my system for an evening courtesy of my dealer and the importer. Way too short for a fair review and I am not approaching this from any scientific angle but what I heard was real punch in the lower regions, eerie rendering of voices (goose bumps hearing Kate Bush' voice on "Don't Give Up") and the music was extremely detailed. Mind you this was only from CD-quality, I didn't have time to properly listen to higher quality source material.

 

I decided to order one after returning it to the dealer. Should be with me in a couple of weeks.

 

You will enjoy the NADAC. Even better with DSD Downloads sourced from Analog to DSD Conversions and DSD Recordings.

[audio.bill]

bmoura - Are you able to please share more of your impressions of the NADAC, comparisons to other DACs, etc. TIA for your time!

[barrows]

Still no technical descriptions of the Nadac? How about some power supply info, or info on how the ESS DAC is clocked (running synchronously or asynchronously?), or how about whether Merging is using proprietary digital filters on a separate processing chip, or just the filters implemented in the ESS chip? How is the I/V stage implemented? Etc, Etc...

[astrotoy]

Nothing technical (beyond my pay grade), but I had the mch Merging NADAC this past weekend (5 days total) and used it with Merging Emotion. Wonderful sound, get pretty close to my Model Two in stereo PCM (192/24 using my vinyl rips done on the Model Two with Merging Pyramix and Mykerinos). The mch was a real winner. I had the system set up in 6+2, so six channels were going to mch and 2 channels were separately going to stereo. In that configuration, you can play two completely different playlists simultaneously to two different outputs. You can also do 2+2+2+2 and 7.1 and some other formulations. The splitting doesn't gang the 4 DACS to a channel, like the stereo mode does. I talked to Dom (who helped me set up the NADAC on my system using Team Viewer from Amsterdam! very late at night) and you can switch in Emotion between the stereo settings (outputting to only Outputs 1 and 2 and ganging the DACS) and mch (outputting to Outputs 1-6). I asked him about adding some other configuration options to Emotion and that may be coming as a software revision.

 

Bottom line, my mch NADAC is coming at the end of the month.

 

PS. As a former Beta (maybe Alpha) tester of Emotion a few years ago, I can say that Emotion, for my purposes now works wonderfully - very smooth and intuitive and I was able to navigate through my massive set of digital files with little difficulty. Loads much faster than A+ on my Mac Mini. It even picked out my cover album scans (I have front, back, inserts, all in the same folder, and it knew to display "front", even though 'back" comes first alphabetically.) I will most probabaly be using Emotion on a PC. I didn't try their remote function yet. One interesting quirk. It turned out that my MacAfee firewall blocked the data flow through the ethernet cable between the NADAC and my PC. With Dom's help, I turned it off (since I already have dual Firewalls on my router) and it worked like a charm. Apparently, the Merging folks have addressed the Windows firewall issue, but not all the different Anti-Virus/Firewall softwares that are out there. They know about MacAfee now.

 

Larry