It’s been 1,5 years lol. Did you in the end get the Merason DAC-1. Would love to hear what you think about it now!
Has anyone had the chance to listen to the new DAC in Merason’s catalog called Reuss?
I got the TT2 volume matched to the Merason Reuss which does 1.5V out of the SE outputs this afternoon and did some listening.
I dug out the Vio remote so I could switch inputs…it’s a pretty sweet setup
I listened to the Robb Watts Can Jam talk where he said optical was the best connection for his DACs so I’m using that out of streamer (Sonnet Hermes) I wish I had something super eloquent to say about the differences I’m pretty shitty when it comes to 3D sound space measurements. I don’t think either has a bigger stage. The TT2 is a detail monster and I don’t think the Reuss loses at all there (edited)
The best thing I can say right now is the TT2 is very sharp. The sounds are precise sharp/narrow. The Reuss is more rounded, but not in a crappier bloated sounding way. It doesn’t seem less detailed or less impactful.
I tried to draw this in a picture.
I’ll include a few listening notes:
I was listening to Veinte Años by Buena Vista Social Club, Compay Segundo, Eliades Ochoa, Manuel 'Guajiro' Mirabal, Orlando "Cachaito" Lopez, Rubén González, Ibrahim Ferrer, Omara Portuondo and I’ve listening to this song a zilliion times. This is first time it popped into my head that the snare work was with a brush or some stick/brush hybrid. Of course I restarted it and switched over the TT2 and heard it there too, but it had never really stood out to me before.
I also had no trouble imaging both voices, the male’s just seemed to be a touch more present in the Reuss
I was listening to The Funeral (Live Acoustic) by Band of Horses swapping back and forth, the Reuss just had a warmer sound to the voice and the TT2 seemed to add sharpness I swapped to some guitar on Moonlight Sonata by Marcin, Ludwig van Beethoven and this is where the picture/diagram really came into my head for the sharpness vs rounded. For its roundness, it didn’t really seem like the Reuss was losing impact level there was just…more there
I swapped over to get some vibes going on in https://songwhip.com/šimunmatišićtrio/nocturno-in-fminor Here again I could tell the impact level was the same. At around 3:00 vibes come back in very ghostly and the Reuss wasn’t missing any of them
I always like to try and gauge if I’d pass a blind test. I think my confidence level is pretty high, If I’ve been sitting listening to them. It would have to be from the sharp/warmer-rounder ness, not from any missing microdetail. If I had to come home from work and just blind pick one, I’m not 100% sure, probably not as high there but I haven’t gotten that sharpness feeling from the Reuss at all.
Sonnet Hermes → Merason Reuss/Chord Hugo TT2 → Violectric V550 → Arctic Gladius → ZMF Caldera
Power form a PS Audio P3 and power, digital and IC cables by me. Toslink by Lifatec
Thankfully it’s a local dealer and I’m very tempted to also try the DAC 1 Mk2…and a little scared because I’m not sure my wallet can take it 
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Might make sense to edit the thread title to include the Reuss and the DAC1 Mk2
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The DAC1 MkII portion of this thread seems to have fizzled out.
Are any of you out there using the DAC1 MkII and have you compared it to anything else? The positive reviews keep piling up. I just purchased one and will be very curious to try it against my Mojo Audio DACs.
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Hello, first post here. Been lurking for some time, but thought I could contribute an answer here.
I had the metrum onyx and wanted to demo the pasithea dac. The dealer who would let me home demo also brought to my surprise the merason dac1 mk1 as they were similar in price. The pasithea had more small detail information, but the merason was more musical/less digital sounding. As my foot was tapping way more with the merason I bought that one.
When the mk2 came as a option it was a nobrainer for me. With the mk2 everything got a boost and the details were on par or better then pasithea.
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Hans mentioned something in his review of the Frerot, that Merason using a hybrid 16 bit DS and 4 bit R2R to get to 20 bit output. Is that also the case with the DAC1?
Damn Mitch! First the Aero now the DAC 1 mk2, congrats!
I havent seen anything regarding this in any of the reviews
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6:11 mark is where he makes the reference.
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My apologies I meant in regard to the dac1 specifically, in answer to your previous question.
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That’s why I asked. I haven’t read anything online about it and even in some interviews so I wasn’t sure if this is an across the board philosophy on their product or just on the Reuss.
It’s interesting none the less and it’s the first time I’ve come across the reference.
It’s because of the burr brown chips the dacs use, they’re multilevel sigma delta, used to be somewhat more common in some of the older chips out there, not unique to merason and seems consistent across their lineup
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Hi Virion, did you do the factory upgrade or simply buy a new Mk2?
Hello flashbolt, I did the factory upgrade. I already really liked the mk1, so upgrading decision was easy.
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So closing in on almost three months since I purchased the Merason DAC1 MkII. The unit I purchased is an upgraded MkI, which is sort of cool in that it has the plexiglass face and stainless steel case with the art deco’ish top.
I recently finished my Six DAC Comparison over on A’gon, and you can read about all six DACs over there. The purpose of the comparison was not to pick a “winner” but, in the process, three DACs stood out to me from the rest, the two Mojo Audio DACs and the Merason DAC1 MkII. The SMc DAC-2 was close. I respected what the LTA Aero brought to the party but the sound of that DAC just wasn’t for me. The Benchmark DAC3, with the excellent S’phile measurements, just didn’t inspire me as much as the others did.
Back to the Merason, what I hear is a great combination of tone, body, refinement, and deep, full-sounding bass, which makes listening to my system very enjoyable. Similar to Mojo’s EVO Pro, I could listen to the Merason all day without fatigue. It sounds a tiny bit smoother (more refined?) than the Mojo DACs (sort of like a Delta-Sigma DAC) but it also has every bit as much tone and body as the Mojo Audio DACs. The Merason uses dual BB PCM1794A DAC chips that are neither R2R chips nor Delta-Sigma chips. I found this about the chips:
"Segmented PCM1794 is described as having ‘true’ multibit DAC for the most significant bits, while a multi-level delta sigma modulator for lower bits.”
Benjamin Zwickel at Mojo Audio said this about the PCM1792/4 chip:
“The BB PCM1792A chips (same series as 1794A) are what is called a segmented R-2R.”…To me segmented DAC chips sound halfway between R-2R and single-bit Delta-Sigma DAC chips…sort of smoothed over by the algorithms."
After I listen to those top three DACs some more, I will probably make a last post to that Six DAC Comparison thread on A’gon. It is not about which of the DACs is “best” but rather about explaining how their presentations differ from each other, and which of them I believe I will most enjoy listening to for the long term, which may not be the same as the one I find to display the best performance from an audiophile perspective.
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Yes. This.
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Nice comparison. I agree with your assessment of the Merason. Mine does the same for my system.
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Thanks for sharing your journey toward the comparison, I’m still parsing my way through the linked thread on Audiogon and haven’t reached your conclusion post yet.
On the BB 1792 chip, Ben is parsing information with a bit of liberty, it’s not a multibit R2R, or segmented R2R as he puts it:
My Musical Fidelity DAC has the 1792, and it’s a lovely DAC especially when paired with its matching tube buffer box and external PSU. In fact quite a few DACs/CD/SACD players from the early 2000’s used the 1792 in either single, dual, or quad form. Here is a decent listing of components and their DAC chips and there are about 63 components indicating the BB 1792:
For full details on the 1792, including its description which Ben took editorial liberties to plug “R2R”:
The PCM1792 is a monolithic CMOS integrated circuit …… The data converters use TI’s advanced segment DAC architecture to achieve excellent dynamic performance and improved tolerance to clock jitter.
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