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RayDunzl

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Thomas wants transparent, you won't beat that!


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This one has a lower measured noise floor and harmonics...

upload_2016-6-30_3-54-12.png
 

bibo01

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Hrmm..That tube is interesting. I wonder if the Incoming Ethernet is converted to Fiber/Light then back to Eth before it reaches the Eth cable with the filter on it?

I see the term "Ethertube" on the board. Can't imagine it being anything other than a conversion to light since the tube appears to be the only link to the other board :)

Cool stuff
I think the transparent tube is just a light guide for the network interface LED.

EDIT: yes, confirmed by the Merging distributor
 
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dallasjustice

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I did order a Hapi a year ago. I had it for a couple of days. I could not get the driver to work right. In particular, it wouldn't measure a logsweep. IOW, it couldn't do in and out at the same time. Now, the problem may be been user error or maybe the driver wasn't mature enough at that point. I really don't know. So I sent it back to Merging. I was told to wait for the NADAC. The NADAC's driver is more friendly to home networks. The new NADAC firmware and driver work flawlessly.

I don't have any way of comparing the two units. For me, the NADAC is my preference but I know the pro audio guys on the Acourate forum snicker and say it's just an overpriced Hapi. Whether that's the case or not, I don't care. It works well and it sounds awesome.

Michael,

last year you were saying that you were getting the HAPI (I am not sure if in the end you got it) and that you were not interested in the NADAC. What made you change your mind?

Did you have a chance to compare Merging's Emotion and HQPlayer? How do you feel about it?

BTW, NADAC uses two ES9008 chhips, not ES9018.
 

bibo01

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I did order a Hapi a year ago. I had it for a couple of days. I could not get the driver to work right. In particular, it wouldn't measure a logsweep. IOW, it couldn't do in and out at the same time. Now, the problem may be been user error or maybe the driver wasn't mature enough at that point. I really don't know. So I sent it back to Merging. I was told to wait for the NADAC. The NADAC's driver is more friendly to home networks. The new NADAC firmware and driver work flawlessly.

I don't have any way of comparing the two units. For me, the NADAC is my preference but I know the pro audio guys on the Acourate forum snicker and say it's just an overpriced Hapi. Whether that's the case or not, I don't care. It works well and it sounds awesome.
Thanks.
Did you have a chance to compare Emotion and HQPlayer?
Furthermore, compared to Hapi, I found Nadac has more 2nd and 4th order distortion that's why is more euphonic. It has selective phase rotation on certain medium and high frequencies that's why the sound-stage gets wider.
 
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dallasjustice

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How do you know what order distortions the NADAC has compared to the Hapi? I know Merging sends their year out for 3rd party testing lab and they published a paper. But I can't seem to find the paper. You may be correct about the distortion signature. I just can't find that paper.

I wouldn't say the NADAC is euphonic tho.

I've never used emotion. I only use HQplayer so I can upsample everything to DSD256 and I feel it's the best way to do that with convolution filters.

Thanks.
Did you have a chance to compare Emotion and HQPlayer?
Furthermore, compared to Hapi, I found Nadac has more 2nd and 4th order distortion that's why is more euphonic. It has selective phase rotation on certain medium and high frequencies that's why the sound-stage gets wider.
 

bibo01

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How do I know?! :D

You'll need quite a beast of PC for 6ch convolution to DSD256 though... Anyhow, I am sure you will have many hours of enjoyment ahead of you.
 

Mivera

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This one has a lower measured noise floor and harmonics...

View attachment 2243

Not when you look closer. The Merging plot goes up to +18db. That must be subtracted off. Look at the second plot with the 1k fundamental notched out. This is the measurement with the output stage putting out the full 18db of gain.
 

Mivera

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I think the transparent tube is just a light guide for the network interface LED.

EDIT: yes, confirmed by the Merging distributor

Ahh because the board from the Horus was used so they didn't have it custom built to be flush mounted to the rear panel.
 

bibo01

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Ahh because the board from the Horus was used so they didn't have it custom built to be flush mounted to the rear panel.
Well... that is of course a multipurpose board that Merging Tech could not, or did not want to, put flash mounted to the rear. As you can see there are also other high-density ports for debugging and testing,
 

Mivera

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Well... that is of course a multipurpose board that Merging Tech could not, or did not want to, put flash mounted to the rear. As you can see there are also other high-density ports for debugging and testing,

Yes you can also see it was designed in 2011 4 years before the NADAC came out.
 
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dallasjustice

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I use 4 channels now. But you are right about the computer power, especially since some of my filters are long due to the delays needed to integrate subs. I use a MSI gaming laptop with an i7 6700 and a gtx980m. The beta version doesn't offload to the GPU and I can upsample all sample rates with filters except DSD files. I hope the GPU will make it possible for me to play the DSD files.

How do I know?! :D

You'll need quite a beast of PC for 6ch convolution to DSD256 though... Anyhow, I am sure you will have many hours of enjoyment ahead of you.
 

RayDunzl

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Not when you look closer. The Merging plot goes up to +18db. That must be subtracted off. Look at the second plot with the 1k fundamental notched out. This is the measurement with the output stage putting out the full 18db of gain.

Ok, I'll give you that one.

But I have to see what "+18dB 0dBFS" means in dBu. It's 6.15vrms 17.4v ppk

Not when you look closer. The Merging plot goes up to +18db. That must be subtracted off. Look at the second plot with the 1k fundamental notched out. This is the measurement with the output stage putting out the full 18db of gain.

I looked closer at mine, too, and the label says "odBFS = 23 dBu"

Oh well.
 
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hvbias

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I've never used emotion. I only use HQplayer so I can upsample everything to DSD256 and I feel it's the best way to do that with convolution filters.

Is this to bypass the internal PCM to multibit DSD conversion within the DAC?

If the album is in PCM I take it the workflow goes PCM to convolution engine to DSD256? And is a 48 khz logsweep sufficient or do you do one at various resolutions?
 
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dallasjustice

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Is this to bypass the internal PCM to multibit DSD conversion within the DAC?

If the album is in PCM I take it the workflow goes PCM to convolution engine to DSD256? And is a 48 khz logsweep sufficient or do you do one at various resolutions?

I don't know why DSD256. All the cool people are doing it, so I just follow them. :D

The 48khz logsweep is recorded; filters can be generated at various sample rates. I use a 64 bit floating point filter sampled at 384khz. I'm not sure what Jussi's convolver does with that filter to produce DSD256 output. But I like how it sounds and my DAC isn't constantly changing sample rates.

48khz covers the audible range well. If you go to the Acourate forum, you will see some threads on taking logsweeps at higher sample rates. You'll see that Uli doesn't recommend doing that. I don't recall why, but I think it has something to do with the brickwall filter in the second macro for inversion. The other issue with taking a logsweep at higher sample rates, is that you end up with too much detail in the measurement which leads to an overcorrection. I've used Acourate for two years now and I am just now feeling comfortable with flying the plane unassisted using advanced functions; eg. TD function for phase rotation and digital crossovers. Acourate can be a real challenge for a guy with a degree in Psychology and Law. I'm sure it would be much easier to use for those of you with engineering and/or CS degrees. :)

Acourate is much simpler to use if you only need two channels output.
 
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Mivera

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Is this to bypass the internal PCM to multibit DSD conversion within the DAC?

If the album is in PCM I take it the workflow goes PCM to convolution engine to DSD256? And is a 48 khz logsweep sufficient or do you do one at various resolutions?


You can't bypass the SRC/SDM section in a Sabre chip. But you can upsample to the max rate the DAC is capable of. Doing this kinda bypasses because the chip doesn't have to do the work itself. But it still goes through the Multibit conversation to control volume etc. With a chip that has a true bypass like the akm4490 and 4497, you need an analog volume control of you bypass.
 

Mivera

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bibo01

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Michael,

coulld you please try to find out the part no. (brand and so on) of the ethernet passive filter?
 

Mivera

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