Merging Anubis

[asdf1000]

We (@tailspn @matthias @Miska @malarz) were chatting a lot in this thread and I thought the upcoming Merging Anubis should get it's own thread.

 

It appears to be the first Merging product to feature their Zman board. It has a lot of Pro Audio related features that will be useless to someone like me but the reason that it's of great interest to me:

 

1. The Premium model supports DXD/DSD256 sample rates on it's ethernet input.

 

2. I hope to be able to eventually get HQPlayer Embedded on Linux to play direct to it over the network, thanks to the recent Ravenna Linux ALSA driver.  No external boxes/converters/renderers and power supplies for those boxes.

 

3. It's said to have a very decent headphone amp section - under 1 ohm output impedance, gobs of powers and very low distortion. Will need to wait for official specs to be released today hopefully

 

4. I can also get my non-HQPlayer audio from Mac and Windows sent to the DAC over the network

 

5. The Premium Anubis is priced similar to a Chord Hugo2 and Pro iFi iDSD - at just over half the cost of the Hapi + DA8P Premium DAC option. So it's the most affordable Merging DXD/DSD256 DAC to date.

 

6. It looks wicked 😁

 

So even with the long list of Pro Audio related stuff that will be useless to me, the list of features that are useful interests me a lot. 

 

I'm not aware of any networked DAC on the planet that is close to this price that supports DXD/DSD256 on ethernet input and supports MacOS + Windows + Linux ALSA driver...

 

More info to be added as more info becomes available.

 

 

 

[asdf1000]

27 minutes ago, Miska said:

This typical pro-audio channel setup is nice, because then I can keep my headphone processing always enabled in the matrix setup and room correction for the line outs. No need to change and both can output simultaneously with different processing.

 

 

But one big question... How does headphone output volume control work?

 

Digitally controlled analogue vol control (so DSD content is not decimated)?

 

Or pure digital vol control (PCM only like RME)?

[asdf1000]

@matthias already mentioned:

 

"I talked already with the German Merging distributor.

This device is terrific.

The premium DSD version is 1900 Euro plus VAT.

The SQ is at least on par with the latest Hapi cards, the HP amp is significantly better. The first batch is sold out."

[asdf1000]

@Kal Rubinson mentioned :

 

"According to what I have heard, the Anubis is not particularly convenient for multichannel because "Two channels come out through XLR connectors, two through line level phone jacks, and the remaining two through the headphone jacks."

 

 

[asdf1000]

7 minutes ago, Miska said:

I don't know how it is implemented in Anubis. 

 

If we are better off  using separate head-amp, that's another reason 6 channels is useful I guess.

 

2 feeding integrated/power amp/powered speakers

2 feeding subwoofer/s as you mentioned before

2 feeding separate headphone amp. Analogue volume controlled on headamp

 

 

7 minutes ago, Miska said:

But ESS has non-decimating digital volume control for DSD. Similar way as the older CS4398 (when not in Direct DSD mode). This piece is always on the way with ESS since it doesn't have a direct mode...

 

Noted. Still, it will be nice to have confirmation from Merging that DSD is not decimated in digital volume control.

A digitally controlled but analogue volume control in Anubis would be sweet.. one can dream 😁

[asdf1000]

Another cool feature, in addition to everything else I mentioned that's useful and unique (to me) is support for power over ethernet (PoE).

 

I can have a PoE switch and long Belden Cat 6A ethernet cable hidden away in the TV furniture.

 

And if I want to listen to music in my living room late at night on headphones while people are sleeping and while I want to watch sport on TV, I could bring Anubis with me from the desk to the couch and just feed it the Cat 6A cable for both power and ethernet.

 

Just one cable coming in and one cable coming out for headphones.

 

No separate PSU to worry about.

 

When I finish, just coil the ethernet cable back into the TV furniture, hidden out of sight when not used.

 

Nice!

 

[asdf1000]

7 minutes ago, malarz said:

Yes, nice one.

Are  you sure it will be possible with a TV and other devices that maybe has not a MERGING (RAVENNA) driver ?

 

No sorry, I meant this is useful when I want to listen to music (say Tidal + HQPlayer) while watching sport on the big TV late at night, on the couch, while everyone is sleeping (so using headphones).

 

The audio itself for sport is not important 😁

 

I would just need to pull out long ethernet cable from the TV and it's ready to rock and roll. Once late night listening is done, the long ethernet cable can be hidden in the TV furniture again, out of sight. And other times, Anubis can be used elsewhere, like office/desk headphones listening or wherever.

 

It's very small and light and PoE just adds another useful function for ease of use.

 

Just one long Cat 6A ethernet cable required for quick hookup. No external PSU required, which suits couch listening late at night with headphones.

 

[asdf1000]

3 minutes ago, Miska said:

Ahh, it has PoE? That is very nice indeed!

 

Yes indeed!

 

3 minutes ago, Miska said:

the reduced number of wiring makes life so much easier and installation cleaner.

 

Yep, this suits a lot of applications, even at home for general consumer like me too. Just from reduced wires and PSU's as you say.

 

[asdf1000]

2 hours ago, weltarm said:

It is slightly disappointing, but I'm certain that the DAC is still excellent. I've preordered Anubis, which will replace my Hapi with DA8P card. HAPI has been rock solid for my uses -- playback/editing of field recordings and listening -- but ANUBIS will work better for me. 

 

Congrats. Did dealer tell you when it should ship? Immediately? 

[asdf1000]

6 hours ago, matthias said:

From the DAC section DA8P remains king.

DA8P has 4dB better dynamic range and 6dB better THD than Anubis.

A little bit disappointing.

Matt

 

Hmmm, yes.

 

But for headphones listening it should be significantly better than Hapi/Horus, just based on output impedance and distortion specs alone. I need to have a listen though. My THX 789 headphone amp specs are pretty state of the art already.

 

In addition to headphones use, I could also use Anubis direct into powered speakers (as a pre) since it features digital volume control knob. So with it's PoE feature Anibus would then be like a slightly bigger Kii Control , for an active speaker system  😁

 

[asdf1000]

9 minutes ago, matthias said:

Can Anubis with its Ravenna interface outperform the best USB DACs in the same price range?

 

Like Hugo2, Pro iDSD DAC I mentioned. Also Benchmark DAC3, the cheaper RME ADI-2 and Chord Qutest etc. Spring2?

 

I don't need Anubis to outperform them - even just matching the performance of those better USB DACs above is enough to make Anubis functionally superior for me (for all the reasons I've mentioned). It's functionally much more flexible for my own use cases.

 

Each person will have their own use cases of course.

[asdf1000]

1 minute ago, matthias said:

 

Yes, the HP amps should be much better than the Hapi ones.

It is a pity that Anubis shines in areas which are not important for me.

I do not need ADCs, use no HP.......but want a great DAC and PS.

 

Matt

 

Maybe Hapi + DA8P is for you?

 

I can see cases where both will be useful for me... but I could uses Anubis everyday now, whereas my need for Hapi is 12 months away when I move into a bigger space, so Hapi can wait.

 

[asdf1000]

24 minutes ago, weltarm said:

 

Thanks, I'm really excited. I was told it would ship the first half of May. 

 

I’m jealous! 

 

Are you a Pro user or one of us lower commoners lol

 

How will you be using it? Which software etc

 

I’m genuinely interested in the different ways people will use this Swiss Amry Knife of a thing

[asdf1000]

3 minutes ago, weltarm said:

Neither and worse -- a prosumer! lol

 

LOL. Great to see good sense of humour.

 

3 minutes ago, weltarm said:

I do nature/field recordings and am after excellent conversion. When I demo'd the HAPI, I found it better than anything I had heard. 

 

ANUBIS has ADC and a few other features that I'll use, including a smaller footprint. So, the HAPI must go. 

 

Fantastic.

 

[asdf1000]

New video up. 

 

Cool iPad Control app and assignable physical and touch buttons - wasn’t aware of these before. Cool.

 

 

[asdf1000]

6 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

Maybe in some scope for testing HQPlayer Pro recording features... So far I've been testing DSD256 recording with RME ADI-2 Pro...

 

 

 

Based on specs on paper (that’s all we have for now) do you expect better recording resolution than ADI-2 Pro?

 

Or impossible to tell from current info.

[asdf1000]

26 minutes ago, Miska said:

ADI-2 doesn't have mic preamps, so that is one difference. So if you count mic pre's in as an extra component,

 

Noted. One less PSU in the chain is sometines a good thing.

 

They are emphasising the quality of Anubis mic pre in the marketing, so should be decent quality I assume.

 

[asdf1000]

2 hours ago, Miska said:

It is not very easy to find a headphone focused preamp with balanced I/O. Most preamps have a headphone connector, but not so much thought or effort put into the actual headphone amp section...

 

Oppo HA-1 was really nice (except for it's DAC section).

 

Balanced inputs and outputs and very nice headphone amp section. Ted Smith still uses one for headamp duties.

 

A digitally controlled analogue volume control too, with remote control.

 

I really wish I'd kept mine now 😞

 

[asdf1000]

19 minutes ago, matthias said:

if Ravenna offers better SQ than USB for example.

 

As you know, some potential issues with USB have been discussed at length over the years (8kHz packet noise, signal integrity maybe and others):

 

https://uptoneaudio.com/pages/j-swenson-tech-corner

 

But networked inputs (networked DACs/amps/speakers) essentially require a little computer inside. A nice source of noise/RF, inside the DAC housing...

 

So a lot of care needs to be taken with isolation/shielding etc, especially from the sensitive analogue electronics.

 

So like USB, implementation is everything.

 

Merging aren't new to networked converters/interfaces of course, so I trust they have a lot of know-how / experience / lessons learnt.

 

But if you compare NADAC with Hapi for example (not just comparing price), NADAC's networking components AND the Xilinx FPGA (another nice noise/RF source) are on a separate board to the D-to-A board... I would guess that would be intentional..

 

Generally speaking (not talking about just Merging DACs here) I wouldn't just see a networked input on a DAC and assume that is the best sounding input (assuming it has other digital inputs). Implementation is everything.

 

 

[asdf1000]

3 minutes ago, matthias said:

AFAIK, the networking board is separate in Hapi as well, as it is in Bricasti, Linn.......etc.

 

But I also mentioned the Xilinx FPGA above... on NADAC (see above photo) it is on the networking board. So with NADAC they keep digital and analogue components on separate boards (as much as practicably possible anyway).

 

On Hapi the FPGA (nice noise/RF source) is much closer to the D-to-A stage and on the same board.

 

3 minutes ago, matthias said:

In Anubis there seems to be one board only with the Zman as daughterboard which is of course not the complete networking board.

 

Yep, no doubt a space constraint with Anubis of course.

 

[asdf1000]

8 minutes ago, bmoura said:

 

Merging's CEO explained in this video why they use Ravenna/Ethernet and don't use USB for audio. 

Comments start at 4:00 into the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p6fvS9KhZg

 

 

 

 

Ah yes, but they don't go into technical nitty gritty about USB. They moreso cover the functionality and robustness of ethernet in that video. Good points of course.

 

https://uptoneaudio.com/pages/j-swenson-tech-corner

 

They also don't cover the challenges with networked input in that video but I'm sure some of the technical reasons in NADAC they keep digital and analogue components on separate boards (as much as practicably possible anyway), have to do with trying to isolating/separating the analogue components from noise/RF sources (as much as practicably possible)...

 

Especially both the networking components and Xilinx FPGA, together on a separate board to the D-to-A conversion board...

 

[asdf1000]

2 minutes ago, matthias said:

 

If you look at the back of Hapi you see at the left hand exactly the same digital in/outs as on the green board in the NADAC.

So do not see any superiority of NADAC in comparison to Hapi/Horus quite the contrary.

 

Matt

 

 

But the Xilinx FPGA is on the D-to-A board for Hapi, no?

 

Of course it has to be, the way it's designed to be a bit more modular with slots of Hapi/Horus.

 

 

[asdf1000]

1 minute ago, matthias said:

I do not think so, the green board is basically the same as the digital in/out board of Hapi.

The inside of Hapi looks much better than inside of NADAC in my view.

 

Matt

 

You sent me a photo of Hapi DA8P board. I can see the Xilinx FPGA on the board 🙂

 

Check out NADAC below. Xilinx FPGA is together with networking components. D-to-A board is separate. More space and more budget to do so of course.

 

[asdf1000]

5 minutes ago, matthias said:

You can use the Xilinx for different tasks, maybe there is one on the digital in/out board and one on the DAC board.

 

Matt

 

Sure we are all guessing here.

 

My only point was regarding your comment "if Ravenna offers better SQ than USB for example."

 

 

Ethernet doesn't make it automatically better SQ... I'm sure @Miska will confirm that a poorly implemented network interface can measure worse than RME ADI-2 DAC, the latter which doesn't seem to have any of the normally discussed USB issues...

 

So my only point is, implementation matters even with networked interface...

 

 

 

[asdf1000]

As an example: there is a high end DAC who's networking card is powered by the same power supply that powers the analogue section of the DAC.. so there is no isolation between the networking card/board and the analogue section..