In For Review: The Merill Audio Veritas Monoblocks..interesting...

[GuidoCorona]

To add to the extant Merrill Veritas lore, my detailed findings about Merrill Veritas have been posted in an article to Positive Feedback No. 68:

http://positive-feedback.com/Issue68/merrill_audio.htm

In my opinion, Veritas are for patient audiophiles and not for seekers of instant gratification. The amps take a significant time to mature out of early audible imperfections and then give their best. They are sensitive to footers, positioning, and connectivity. Once the amps were properly broken in with 1,000 hours of active operations, I did not detect any musical bandwidth limitations, nor any stereotypical class D artifacts with Veritas. Music appeared to be the name of the game with these creatures. If you have the opportunity, try to bi-wire them... The benefits are not insignificant.

Other extant or upcoming amps based on Ncore technology (such as Mola-mola Kaluga, Audience NC1200, or ATSAH by Acoustic Imagery), deserve and require separate hands-on careful evaluations, based on their own particular designs, sonic merits, and relative price-performance. If Veritas excellent performance were found to be part of a trend, it may indicate that Ncore NC1200 may be one valid path for class D amplifier topologies to grow up into more general musical adulthood.

G.

 

[Kingsrule]

Nice review

Too bad you didn't try the Merrill's with a speaker that presents a tough load, like Sasha's or Alexia's

IMO one area where class D has issues is with speakers that are hard to drive....

 

[beaur]

I'll chime in as another tube lover whose heard the Veritas and liked them. Most of my experience (shows) has been with the Sanders electrostatics but I have heard them with the original Pipe Dreams prototype that is about 81db efficient and thought they were the best SS amp I have heard in that system.

 

[GuidoCorona]

Thank you G997,

Vienna Die Muzik are relatively demanding speakers, having a complex impedance curve centered around 4 Ohms. If I ever acquire some Wilson speakers, I may include them in the test environment.

The Merrill Veritas monoblock amps, being based on the Hypex Ncore NC1200 power conversion module, and on the matching SMPS1200 supply, have published specs that appear to imply a high degree of outcomes under problematic loads, as shown in the specs at the bottom of the article:

Power: 400 Watts / 8 ohms, 700 Watts / 4 ohms, 1,200 Watts / 2 Ohms
Input Impedance: 90 kOhms
Output Impedance: 3 milli Ohms
Current: 38 amps typical max

Furthermore, a google search for “Merrill Veritas Damping yields a search result suggesting that the manufacturer declares a damping factor of 2000 for the amp, implying a high degree of compatibility with low impedance speakers:

https://www.google.com/search?site=...=false...0...1.1.25.hp..6.17.1937.ukjVcTFmZII

Regards, Guido

G.

 

[mep]

So based on the fact that Merrill is using off the shelf Hypex Class D modules and the attendant power supply, what are they bringing to the table over any other DIY amp that is using the same Class D module and the same power supply? Anything more than the fancy case?

 

[GuidoCorona]

Hi Mep, VERITAS is not a DIY implementation. the NC1200 module and SMPS1200 power supply are not available to DIY implementors. The components are sold only to OEMs. Conversely, DIY can source the NC400 module and its associated power supply for their private projects from Hypex.

As I tried to illustrate in the article, Veritas is an enchanting sonic/musical performer in an absolute sense. The device achieves its performance by -- or in spite of -- a conservative approach to the implementation surrounding the two Ncore modules.

Undeniably, depending on the particular variant of one’s audiophilic disorder, its minimalistic approach will be appealing, or be a negligible factor, or may instead constitute an obstacle to adoption.

Needless to say, I am looking forward to experiencing other members of the Ncore family... E.g. Mola-Mola Kaluga ($16K), Audience WavePower ($18K), and Acoustic Imagery ATSAH ($9K), and find out if and how differing design approaches influence audible parameters and my own preferences.

G.

 

[mauidan]

Guido,

From your review, it seems that the Veritas monos outperformed your Rowland amps. Are you going to replace your Rowlands with the Veritas?

Since the MolaMola and Audience amps use discrete input circuits instead of the stock IC opamp in the Veritas, I hope you do a review on these amps.

Interesting that the Mola Mola amp only uses a single pair of output binding posts:



BTW, there are some DIY NC400 (NC-400 also uses a discrete input circuit) builds that look better then the OEM products:

 

[GuidoCorona]

Hi Devert, Veritas outperformes one particular old Rowland amplifier in my stable: the M312 stereo, which is a withdrawn product based on ICEpower 1000ASP. M312 was my reference until 2011.

Conversely, my absolute reference amp since 2013 is and remains the Rowland M925 monoblock.

Audience WavePower as well as Mola-Mola Kaluga are definitely devices that I am interested in reviewing for those very reasons that you mentioned.

The Veritas amps that I used in the project were review samples, and were returned to the manufacturer.

Guido

G.

 

[Brucemck2]

How hard would it be for a competent modder to change the opamp input stage to something discrete (a-la a Burson-type discrete module) or to a simple tube stage? Is there anything complicated and/or "constrained" about the input stage?

 

[GuidoCorona]

Brucemck2, any modifications to a device will likely void the manufacturer's warranty. If you were interested in implementing custom I/O, you may want to source DiY versions of Ncore (NC400) directly from Hypex instead. Furthermore, the Veritas cases are custom milled to fit Ncore modules, and may be unable to house tubes. G.

 

[Brucemck2]

Any modifications to a device will likely void the manufacturer's warranty.

I do that a lot. It's usually worked out OK, albeit with a few spectacular flops along the way. I may give the NC400 a shot though.