Mercury is the first Mastering DA converter in 120V rail technology.
Mercury is a stereo digital to analog converter that fulfills the highest demands both technologically and tonally.
A total of seven digital inputs, two AES/EBU, two SPDIF, two TOSLINK as well as USB can be connected to Mercury. AES input 2 also supports Dual-Wire (DW) mode.
Each digital sources has its dedicated and illuminated switch for instant selection and fast comparison.
We looked at many converter designs and asked why innovations are almost exclusively on the digital side and very rarely on the analog side. Maybe it's because most of the developers have their background in digital technology and therefore develop analog technology more like a ‘cookbook’.
We have 30 years of experience in analog technology and consider ‘cookbook’ designs rather boring, inefficient and in need of improvement.
The output of the DAC-IC (AK4490) is an analog signal that must be filtered with a low-pass filter. This analog circuit is typically operated with the same voltage as the DAC-IC - for example 5V. Imagine that the first stage that finds the analog signal has a dynamic range and signal-to-noise ratio limited by this voltage. What a bottleneck.
The Mercury uses our 120V technology instead of the standard technology. And this twice in the newly developed DLP120 module. DLP stands for "Dual Low Pass". These are two separate analog filters in 120V technology. Depending on the type of digital signal, the analog signal passes through the PCM or DSD filter and can freely unfold into a huge dynamic range. This is audibly better.
Features
- DAC with DLP120
- Velvet Sound® DA Converter
- AES & DW
- Coaxial
- Optical
- USB
- DSD via USB
- PCM & DSD
- Volume Control
- 0dBfs Reference Level
Specifications
- Analog
- Max. Output Level: + 32,5 dBu
- Reference Levels: 0dBFS = 14 dBu, 15 dBu, 16 dBu, 18 dBu, 20 dBu, 22 dBu, 24 dBu
- Dynamic Range: 127,5 dB (analog); 120 dB (digital), 119dB (measured +24 dBu/0dBFS)
- Output Impedance: 100 Ohms (bal.)
- Noise (A-weighted): -95 dBu
- THD & N (at +20dBu): -101 dB
- Digital
- Dynamic Range: 120 dBu
- THD & N: -112 dB
- Power Consumption:
- 0.7 Amp, 230V/50Hz, 17 Watt, 32 VA
- 0.14 Amp, 115V/60Hz, 17 Watt, 32 VA
- Fuses:
- 230V/50Hz: 0,5 Amp
- 115V/60Hz: 1 Amp
- Dimensions
- Standard EIA 19 Inch Housing/1U: 482 x 44 x 300 mm / ca. 19" x 1.73" x 11.8" (front panel excl.)
- Weight: 4,8 kg / 11 lb
