Mercury V3 Streamer/DAC Impressions

Discussion in 'Digital: DACs, USB converters, decrapifiers' started by artur9, Dec 24, 2024.

  1. Josh Schor

    Josh Schor Friend

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    well quboz died again, via usb hooked up an external drive, not being found in the program hard drive started to run then quboz stopped working. Have deleted voluimo and reloaded it and shut the mercury off the then on again( not sure how to reboot it) nothing. Im a noob its true would be wonderful if there were instruction on how to do things for us noobs. cannot firnd hard drive also. everything is easy if you know what to do
    What do you choose for dac output? theres no Schitt dac does it matter? the mercury is not connecting to my schitt gungir 2 ? was working fine
     
    Last edited: Jan 17, 2025
  2. joch

    joch Friend

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    I don’t use Volumio anymore, but I believe you only select the DAC if you connect your G2 via USB. If you’re using AES/coaxial/BNC then you should go to configuration>audio and find i2s device section. Scroll to find Hifiberry Digi+ Pro. This is the driver needed to run the Pi2. Save.

    For HD connected to the Pi2, I think you need to go to configure > library. Try clicking regenerate music database.

    Hope the above helps a bit. Again I no longer use Volumio but the steps above should be similar (I use moode).
     
  3. Josh Schor

    Josh Schor Friend

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    thanks will try that
     
  4. artur9

    artur9 Almost "Made"

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    soliciting input here.


    I have the loaner and will use AES/EBU into my Benchmark DAC1.
    Into the Soekris 1221, which has coax and Toslink, does it make more sense to use the AES/BNC into the coax or the Toslink (assuming I can find my adapter, which I know is around here somewhere....)...?

    P.S. The RCA/BNC adapter is going from the Eitr to the Benchmark. I also have an AES/EBU XLR to coax transformer. Choices!
     
    Last edited: Jan 18, 2025
  5. Josh Schor

    Josh Schor Friend

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    I am having more trouble with the Mercury, Michael has been very helpful and suggested I return it to him . Looking at a eversolo dmpa6 master edition as it appears to sound good with a very easy interface.
    best,
    Josh
     
  6. rhythmdevils

    rhythmdevils MOT: rhythmdevils audio

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    Hey Josh, it's probably the RPI software you're having trouble with, not the Mercury itself. I made. a thread for questions and help troubleshooting RPI software (MoOde, Volumio, etc - the Mercury uses Volumio) here

    https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...uctions-for-complete-fing-morons.11731/page-7
     
  7. Josh Schor

    Josh Schor Friend

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    Thanks Whitney, I shipped it back today. It sounded good when it played and it stopped connection to my Gungnir 2 after I tried to hook a hard drive up. I tried rebooting, reloading and it would not work, its just not for me. Im 74 and a noob with electronics. The Lumin was perfect except I needed to par things down so maybe the eversolo will sound good and it has a very easy interface that will run on an iphone.
    best,
    Josh
     
  8. artur9

    artur9 Almost "Made"

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    In Post #2 I posted my impressions of the Mercury as a combo streamer/DAC. Some were disappointed I didn't use it as just a streamer into one of my DACs (Benchmark DAC1 and Soekris 1221).

    I've spent the last day or so listening to the Mercury V3 through those DACs as just a streamer.

    tl;dr: I don't hear significant differences -- no night and day for me!

    I did have some problems (inadequate Ethernet switch, Airplay2 being used instead of Roon/RAAT). I discovered that my Benchmark, which was sounding absolutely awful, had its Calibrated toggle in the wrong position. Fixing that, it sounds much better!

    I overcame those enormous challenges :-D to listen to the below combinations.

    roon server (hp mini) -> Mercury -> AES/EBU -> Benchmark DAC1 -> XLR -> Ayre integrated -> BMR Monitors v2 (speakers)
    roon server -> USB -> Schiit Eitr -> Benchmark DAC1 -> XLR -> as above
    roon server -> USB -> Soekris -> RCA -> as above
    roon server -> Mercury -> BNC/Coax -> Soekris -> RCA -> as above

    I don't listen to much, if any, electronica. Mostly acoustic music: some Jazz, lots of classical, 80s rock.

    The differences amongst the aforementioned are incredibly subtle, and maybe just a figment of my imagination; i.e. trying to hear differences where none exist. Those subtle differences become even more challenging to discern with the Soekris as one needs to get up (horrors!) and toggle the switch from USB to coax. With the other combinations, I can group the DACs in Roon and just switch inputs instantly on my Ayre.

    The one, probably real, difference I heard is that the Eitr does add a veil and/or adversely impacts the blackground of the DAC1. It's not a huge difference, just easily discernible.

    All of the above sounded good, just not quite as good as my old Linn Klimax/DS1. The most noteworthy difference is listening to Almost Like Being In Love from this Joe Stilgoe album, of which I have a local copy. On the above, the double bass solo sounds off, a bit artificial and the drum kit solo sounds really artificial, at one point like something is being slapped.
     
  9. Josh Schor

    Josh Schor Friend

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    Michael is being very helpful, and patient with me. I sent the Mercury back to him he will check it out and then send it back to me. With his help I am determined to make it work
    How often can you say that about someone, not often
     
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  10. MKurup

    MKurup New

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    I recently reloaded volumio from the image on the pi2designs website. everything works, except when I look at tidal, I do not see my playlists. I can play them through Tidal connect, but I thought I used to be able to select them from within Volumio.
    I have rechecked my credentials for Tidal in Volumio...any ideas?

    Thank you
     
  11. MKurup

    MKurup New

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    OK, I found a solution of sorts. I had to delete my playlists in Tidal and recreate them. Maybe it was a timestamp thing, and something in my Volumio Premium told it not to synch playlists it had already done.. not a fun exercise, but it is working now.
     
  12. gaspasser

    gaspasser Flatulence Maestro

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    A special thank you to @Michael Kelly and @ChaChaRealSmooth for making this loaner happen!

    I received the Mercury V3 DAC Streamer and had it up and running in a matter of minutes. I had no issues with the Merc V3 at all. Ropieee and Roon usually play very well together.

    TLDR: Michael Kelly and Pi2Design should be proud of this achievement, and deserve even more recognition especially coming in at this price point. The Merc V3 deserves a Golden Shlong for this year (V, E).

    My system for this evaluation is Roon-based with Roon Rock NUC server into EtherRegen —> Streamer (Merc V3 or Holo Red) —> Yggdrasil MIB —> DSHA-3FN —> ZMF Auteur Classics or ZMF Atrium

    I included the albums I used for the evaluation at the end.

    Initial impressions of the Mercury V3 are very good space, excellent detail, a little harshness, and nice weight via AES.
    This easily surpasses Pi2AES with Noise Nuke.

    How much is this thing again? Holy crap this is a smoking value!

    So now I really need to compare this to my Holo Red.
    Initially I compared with Holo Red OS Roon ready running to Merc V3 Ropieee preinstalled.

    The Holo Red has more (5-10%?) detail and air comparatively and an even lower level of harshness. The Merc V3 is more forward in the mids/vocals and this is what is probably causing the perceived decrease in air and tiny increase in harshness.

    In longer term listening over the course of two days, I was able to hear the forwardness and very slight hardness in the mids. This was more apparent listening to Darkstar on Grateful Dedication and swapping back and forth between Red and Merc V3.

    This could be more of a software issue than a hardware issue. So now I needed to get off my butt and grab a micro SD card to install Ropieee on and get that into Red. I played tracks and went back and forth so the only variable was hardware.

    Merc is indeed thinner in mids and still a little bit forward sounding, but the harshness was not apparent in this comparison. Software obviously has an effect on sound.

    The big caveat here is this all comes down to a preference (gear, music) thing and synergy with your gear. The part that impressed me is the Mercury V3 via AES out is very, very similar to Holo Red AES out.
    So if this is your use-case save over $300 and pick up a Mercury V3. I forgot but an audio friend reminded me that the Holo Red also can function as a DDC. The casework on Red is crazy nice too, but I don’t feel it is worth the extra money and hassle to deal with Holo or Kitsune if you have any issues. I have personal experience and many others here can vouch for the excellent customer service Michael Kelly provides for all of his products.

    EDIT: I just saw @Michael Kelly stated that the front plate of the Mercury V3 is purposely acrylic for WiFi signals. This makes my below complaints section irrelevant and silly. Michael Kelly has thoughtfully engineered this device. I would rather have the acrylic faceplate than an antenna.

    Complaints (nitpicking lol)
    The front faceplate is thin and cheap feeling compared to the rest of the case. Is it 3DP? I would love options of clear or smoked acrylic as a throwback to Pi2AES. However, for $500 I can overlook it no problem.

    Albums listened to:
    Bad Education: Vol. 1 Soul Hits of Timmion Records

    Soul Brothers/Soul Meeting by Ray Charles & Milt Jackson

    Penrose Records Vol. 1

    Grateful Dedication by Dave Murray

    With You In Mind by Stanton Moore
     
    Last edited: Feb 1, 2025 at 11:43 AM
  13. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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    Did you do any comparisons with CD? IIRC you've got the Shanling ET3, right?
     
  14. gaspasser

    gaspasser Flatulence Maestro

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    ET3 is a different, more analog, more smooth, slight treble roll type of presentation. I don’t think they are really that comparable. I would go for Mercury V3 or Red as a daily driver and look at ET3 as a weekend convertible. Let me know when you get the Mercury V3 loaner and maybe we can work it out where you can do the comparison yourself.
     
  15. MKurup

    MKurup New

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    I have had the Mercury V3 for some time now. I bought the lifetime Volumio Premium sub that was recently offered, and am using that OS. I flashed the Volumio image from Pi 2 Designs site, and upgraded to the most recent version using the internal check for updates within the Mercury. I use Tidal, and Spotify. Tidal and Spotify connect work flawlessly and sound great. I have the Mercury connected to a Pontus II 12th vis AES, and a Chord MScaler / Hugo TT2 via BNC. Both sound great. My other streamer is a Hifi Rose 250 and the Mercury sounds every bit as good if not better. I am booting from a 32 GB 3.2 USB Drive instead of the SD Card. It boots quickly, and was very easy to do. I used Balena Etcher and just wrote the img file to the USB stick instead of an SD card. The Mercury automatically boots from the USB when no SD is present. I prefer this only because the USB Drive seems a bit more robust (durable) then the micro SD card. I am sure both are fine. I am very pleased. The backgrounds are very black, the dynamics ( macro and micro ) are wonderful. I am listening through a variety of headphones including HD800s, Audeze LCD-x, Audeze LCD-x closed, Hifiman HE1000, Hifiman Aryas. This is a wonderful streamer!

    My 2 cents...

    Thanks,

    Mohan
     
    Last edited: Feb 3, 2025 at 5:44 PM
  16. Ksorota

    Ksorota Friend

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    Thank you to SBAF and @Michael Kelly for making this loaner possible.

    My last experience with a dedicated streamer was a Pi2AES loaner around 4 years ago and at that time it was a definitive step up from USB to whatever DAC I was using, but I never made the jump because I was in a time of flux and simplicity in a setup. Fast forward to 2025 and the V3 loaner could not have come at a better time. For the last 3-4 months I have been slowly building a system that can take advantage of offloading the source streaming from my PC.
    The Mercury V3 DAC is a very well-appointed little box that has just about any option you could need for streaming. For my testing I was using a BNC connection to the Schiit Gungnir D/S DAC and switching back and forth between the V3 and Unison (via M1 Mac Mini). All the testing was done through Qobuz using wireless.

    Day 1 I was not able to get the Mercury to stream via wifi, and it took a software update (Ropieee) to fix that. The update was responsible for disabling the LED power lights, but adding a couple lines of text from Pi2Designs site fixed that problem easily. Day 2 I was able to start listening casually during the workday, and then more intentionally in the evening. Throughout the day I simply enjoyed what I was hearing and had a mostly technically uninterrupted experience (touch on this later).

    Day 2 I focused more on comparative listening between the V3 and Unison inputs in the Gungnir. The first thing that stood out between the two is how the Unison implementation is darker and a bit more reserved sounding than the V3. The V3 has better depth and a more holographic presentation and whether that is a function of the USB vs. BNC connections I will never know for sure. I enjoy both presentations but found the V3 to be more of a dynamic listen with slightly better background clarity. Overall, the V3 fits more with my preference…dynamic, punchy, airy are all terms I want to be thinking when I am listening to songs. After a few hours of switching back and forth through songs that I know and don’t know I was pretty much set that the V3 was a better transport than the Mac Mini via USB to Unison and I continued to listen exclusively to the Mercury. The V3 pulls out a lot of detail and layering that I didn’t know I was missing. Some of that clarity comes in the form of a cleaner/brighter overall signature from that of Unison, but it is not unnatural or fatiguing to me, just more clear.

    Days 3-5 have just been listening to the V3 as the single source (no comparison to Unison) and it was mostly a seamless experience. I say mostly because I noticed a few interruptions or “quirks” that I think are related to being a wireless setup. I can always tell when a phone call is coming in because I will get a bit of static mixed in with whatever’s playing, and I notice hiccups in the playback from time to time when running Microsoft remote desktop to a pair of PC’s via a VPN. If I had more time/energy I would run a new ethernet line to my desk, but that will have to wait. Despite it not being as solid a connection as the Mac Mini to Unison is, I think the sonic benefits are worth the future tinkering that may be needed to make the setup as solid as possible. I also am intrigued to try diff. software offerings in longer term testing (foreshadowing a future purchase) as well as repositioning the box away from sources of interference like the Mac Mini, monitor, and phone.

    Closing thoughts. I have enjoyed following the progression of the Mercury streamer and enjoy seeing the thoughtful improvements that have been built into the unit. I am nearly convinced that I need to add a streamer to my setup. Decoupling from the PC has been a welcome change.

    Thanks again for including me on this loaner tour.
     
  17. Michael Kelly

    Michael Kelly MOT: Pi 2 Design

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