I’ve been running a 5.1 system for years. Recently, I expanded it to 5.3 with the addition of two more subwoofers. This system is manageable with one of my eight-channel DACs.
Even more recently, I dipped my toe into Dolby Atmos, which made it necessary to lash up at least four more channels.1 That was a big problem, since neither JRiver nor Roon can support and sync more than one output device at a time, and the multichannel DACs I already owned tap out at eight channels.
I turned to the Arvus H2-4D Renderer, which offers 16 channels of digital output over AES3 and 16 channels of balanced-analog output. This worked, but piping everything through the Arvus meant forswearing DSP, including DiracLive. I really needed a DAC with at least 12 channels.
The Merging+Hapi has been around for years.2 It’s one of Merging Technology’s professional audio converters, intended for studio monitoring, at recording sites and in mastering studios that employ Merging’s Pyramix software, which supports DSD recording and playback up to DSD256. The MkII is the latest generation.
Via the Hapi, you can almost smell the cigarette smoke.
Merging Technology has first-class audio performance in its DNA. Its founder, Claude Cellier, formerly worked for famous Swiss audio maker Nagra Kudelski, where he played a key role in the design and development of the Nagra IV-S and T-Audio TC analog tape recorders. One need only scan the Hapi MkII’s specifications (see below) to be impressed with their depth of detail and impressive performance of this unit.
In its base configuration, the Hapi MkII supports eight channels of input or output via AES3, ADAT, or stereo S/PDIF. Expansion slots allow you to add up to two plugin cards, each of which can support eight channels of D/A, A/D, or two-way A/D/A. The DA8P board provides eight channels of D/A conversion, with balanced analog output—so, two such boards support 16 channels of D/A conversion. It is capable of converting PCM up to 384kHz and DSD up to DSD256, with extremely low specified
