The Merging NADAC was launched at the 2015 High End to much acclaim and has received rave reviews for its amazing transparency and for the advantages of the RAVENNA/AES67 networked solution. A variety of player solutions including Merging’s own Emotion player can be used with an external computer but this concept is not the first choice for all users. The ‘single box’ solution with the software and the server combined with a DAC removes the need to have a computer in the living room. The ease with which the whole system can then be controlled by tablet or smart phone enhances the user experience significantly. Integration details such as direct control of the NADAC volume and mute from the Roon user interface also adds to the overall ergonomics by simplifying the control of the entire system from one single page on one single tablet.
Roon is well known to provide a superlative user experience with its friendly interface and the most comprehensive database available for any music lover seeking information on all aspects of his favorite tracks. Marrying Roon to Merging’s NADAC and providing multichannel playback would be noteworthy enough but the addition of true networking advantages provides a degree of in-home flexibility that users could only dream about.
Merging also announced that this solution can be retrofitted to all Merging NADAC units already in the field and to any units shipping from now on, meaning early adopters can take advantage of the upgrade if they wish. Pricing and options for this solution, as well as cost for the upgrade of existing units and delivery date will be announced later this year, at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, 7-9 October 2016, in Denver, Colorado.
Discussing the new partnership with Merging Technologies, Roon’s CEO, Enno Vandermeer commented, “We have admired the innovation and devotion to excellence that Merging has demonstrated with their entry into the audiophile market. This dovetails with our objective to be at the top of the performance table as well as having the best user experience.”
On Merging’s behalf, Head of Software Engineering and NADAC Product Manager, Dominique Brulhart states: “We have carefully evaluated the trends and needs of today’s audiophile and it is clear that a Roon enabled DAC is a very elegant solution. We are delighted to be working with our friends there to maximize all the advantages that we can both offer. Customers can still choose other player solutions with our technology, as well as other DACs with Roon, but we think this combination will be hard to beat.”
Roon is a music management and listening solution that provides a very rich non-list based experience, using credits, artist relationships, genres, lyrics, concert/tour dates, artwork, and more to allow for an informative navigation and exploration of any music library. Roon manages digital music files collected on hard drives and networked storage. It can also watch the iTunes library, and optionally integrate with music streaming services. With the core application, Roon consolidates and “cleans up” music libraries, upgrades the metadata associated with the music, and provides a user interface for rich music exploration and discovery, including rich metadata for genre-specific catalogues, such as classical music.The Roon core also manages playback to audio outputs and multiple zones with synchronized playback of lossy and lossless file formats, including high resolution audio content (PCM and DSD). Additional conveniences such as crossfading and volume normalization make it suitable for both concentrated listening sessions as well as social events.
www.nadac.merging.com | ravenna.alcnetworx.com | roonlabs.com
